VS Arduino - Serial debugging - watch a variable globally

Mar 18^th, 2026 at 3:04am (UTC)

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VS Arduino › › › Serial debugging - watch a variable globally

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Serial debugging - watch a variable globally (Read 2768 times)

tfact129 Junior Member Offline Posts: 14 Joined: May 30^th, 2019	Serial debugging - watch a variable globally Jan 3^rd, 2021 at 2:22pm	Print Post
	Hi, I have a global 'int status' variable that is changed in some different parts/functions of my sketch. I'm interested how this variable globally changes during execution of the sketch. Where and how should I set a BP to watch the change of this variable?


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Simon@Visual Micro Administrator Offline Posts: 2867 Joined: Feb 13^th, 2019	Re: Serial debugging - watch a variable globally Reply #1 - Jan 3^rd, 2021 at 4:31pm	Print Post
	This can be watched using the Breakpoint Actions, and you can add the variable name in curly braces e.g. {status} to output its value when that break/trace point is hit, which will also add it to the Expressions window. See the section "More on Breakpoint Action Message Texts" on the below page for further information: https://www.visualmicro.com/page/User-Guide.aspx?doc=Working-With-Breakpoints-Wh...


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tfact129 Junior Member Offline Posts: 14 Joined: May 30^th, 2019	Re: Serial debugging - watch a variable globally Reply #2 - Jan 3^rd, 2021 at 9:08pm	Print Post
	Thank you, but if I understand correctly this shows only the current value of the variable when the debugger hits exactly this one breakpoint. I have something in mind that the expressions window shows the current value of the variable wherever the variable is changed in the sketch. I have dozens of places in the sketch where the variable changes. I did a workaround by placing 'status = status;' in the loop and put there a breakpoint {status}. Do I understand something wrong?


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Simon@Visual Micro Administrator Offline Posts: 2867 Joined: Feb 13^th, 2019	Re: Serial debugging - watch a variable globally Reply #3 - Jan 4^th, 2021 at 9:50am	Print Post
	You understand this correctly, and the breakpoints need to be set wherever you want to stop or trace the value of the variable, and a single break in loop allows it to be checked each time loop runs.


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tfact129 Junior Member Offline Posts: 14 Joined: May 30^th, 2019	Re: Serial debugging - watch a variable globally Reply #4 - Jan 4^th, 2021 at 1:42pm	Print Post
	Ok - but it would be helpful if I could define a variable in VM expressions to be observed globally without putting that variable in the sketch loop where I actually don't need it. Maybe you could think about such a feature?


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Simon@Visual Micro Administrator Offline Posts: 2867 Joined: Feb 13^th, 2019	Re: Serial debugging - watch a variable globally Reply #5 - Jan 4^th, 2021 at 2:15pm	Print Post
	You can just watch the variable value on a breakpoint expression in loop(), without having to add the additional line of code into loop.


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tfact129 Junior Member Offline Posts: 14 Joined: May 30^th, 2019	Re: Serial debugging - watch a variable globally Reply #6 - Jan 4^th, 2021 at 2:36pm	Print Post
	Thank you!


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