Proposal to change default openMSX's debugger disasm scrolling

Champion (304)

19-02-2022, 13:22

Hi all,

I've got a proposal to change the default behavior of the openMSX's debugger disassembly view.
When debugging, something I dislike is that all the code scrolls up and down. At least for me, that is quite displeased since I really can't focus on a particular piece of code since it's moving all the time. Instead, I think it's way better that it's simply the cursor which moves and the disassembled code view only changes when strictly necessary.

But of course it's a matter of preference. So, before sending a PR in Github I'd like to know your thoughts. If you guys don't like it I'll just keep it for myself. Otherwise I'll PR.

The commit:
https://github.com/mcolom/debugger/commit/ed1192e25fbd64b92e...

Cheers!

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Van Grauw

Ascended (10680)

19-02-2022, 14:50

Hey mcolom, I’m not bothered by the current behaviour, but I guess I couldn’t say if I would prefer it differently without seeing it. By the way, I think a better name than Quiet would be something like OnDemand or something.

Van mcolom

Champion (304)

19-02-2022, 15:00

Well, you can clone it from my repo and test it if you wish, the debugger compiles quite fast
I could change the name to OnDemand, why not.

Van pizzapower

Master (133)

19-02-2022, 15:31

I like this idea. Sometimes I get lost trying to follow the code in the disasm widget because there is just too much going on everywhere.

Van Manuel

Ascended (19219)

19-02-2022, 15:12

In case opinions differ a lot, it might be a good idea to make it a setting and support both ways.

Van Grauw

Ascended (10680)

19-02-2022, 15:57

I generally prefer a good default over a setting though .

Van mcolom

Champion (304)

20-02-2022, 12:53

Thanks you all for your comments. I'm happy to see nobody complained furiously about the idea
I'll PR and we'll see what happens... It's possible that the PR gets also some comments.

Van mcolom

Champion (304)

27-02-2022, 01:11

I've just fixed a bug after Grauw told me about two variables in my PR not being initialized (thanks again). Actually that hid a larger bug, since DisasmViewer::memoryUpdated needs also to be aware of OnDemand. I confess it's been stressful to fix this, since no way I want to introduce a bug in a good tool used by some many of us :/ Hopefully with my second PR this will be fixed.

Also related to the debugger, I've added a comment about this commit: https://github.com/openMSX/debugger/commit/8792d7b76ad848649... since I think that a different bug could be introduced, since after that it's not possible to add new breakpoints, at least for me.

Van Grauw

Ascended (10680)

27-02-2022, 01:31

I think it’s nice that the debugger is seeing attention from various people. The more of us who have touched the code base, the more of us who will have gained familiarity with it. In the past the debugger has not always gotten the active development support it deserved, and it stagnated. Overall it is better for the tool and its users if it gains more traction even if some oopsies are made along the way.

Van santiontanon

Paragon (1734)

27-02-2022, 05:13

+1 to that!

Van Parn

Paladin (815)

27-02-2022, 11:37

I, for one, am excited too about all this recent attention to the debugger. It is past time the best MSX emulator has the best debugger as well. Not that the current debugger isn't good, I personally like it. But if it can be better, why not?