Actionscript 3 Tools - MonsterDebugger

I recently came across a really great tool for debugging Flash applications – It is called MonsterDebugger.

Overall it is a very helpful tool. It allows you change public variable values on the fly and features trace filtering and a tree listing for tracing lists such as Objects, Arrays, JSON, XML, etc… It also gives you a detailed list of all active display objects. It has a very simple API and also features a walkthrough minigame to help familiarize you with the features. It gives you the current frame rate as well as memory usage information. There is one one caveat. It reports memory usage for all flash applications currently running. So, if you have a bunch of flash games running in background tabs, don’t be surprised if your ram usage looks insanely high!

Incorporating MonsterDebugger into your projects is very easy. It has a very lightweight API that is easy to use. I had it integrated into some large projects within minutes and I have found myself using it more and more. Its trace output is much nicer and more organized than searching through Flash’s console output. I tend to use MonsterDebugger along side Flash’s console. I use Flash console to trace simple text messages and variable values. Then, I use MonsterDebugger to trace larger data structures such as Objects and Arrays. The expandable tree listing for Objects and arrays is very nice.

To integrate MonsterDebugger into your projects, just install the MonsterDebugger.air application and export it’s .SWC library to your project classpath. Then, this is all the code you need to get started:

/** initialize the debugger - Remove this code for Release */
MonsterDebugger.initialize(this);
/** Sample Trace Output to MonsterDebugger */ 
MonsterDebugger.trace(this, "Hello World!");

Note: You will need to have the MonsterDebugger air application running to see its trace output. Otherwise, nothing will happen.

I have found MonsterDebugger to be a huge help on my projects. Maybe you will too! It is definitely worth checking out!

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