gecko-dev/devtools/docs/backend/client-api.md

Client API

DevTools has a client module that allows applications to be written that debug or inspect web pages using the Remote Debugging Protocol.

Starting communication

In order to communicate, a client and a server instance must be created and a protocol connection must be established. The connection can be either over a TCP socket or an nsIPipe. The start function displayed below establishes an nsIPipe-backed connection:

Components.utils.import("resource://gre/modules/devtools/dbg-server.jsm");
Components.utils.import("resource://gre/modules/devtools/dbg-client.jsm");

function start() {
  // Start the server.
  DebuggerServer.init();
  DebuggerServer.registerAllActors();

  // Listen to an nsIPipe
  let transport = DebuggerServer.connectPipe();

  // Start the client.
  client = new DebuggerClient(transport);

  // Attach listeners for client events.
  client.addListener("tabNavigated", onTab);
  client.addListener("newScript", onScript);
  client.connect((type, traits) => {
    // Now the client is conected to the server.
    debugTab();
  });
}

If a TCP socket is required, the function should be split in two parts, a server-side and a client-side, like this:

Components.utils.import("resource://gre/modules/devtools/dbg-server.jsm");
Components.utils.import("resource://gre/modules/devtools/dbg-client.jsm");

function startServer() {
  // Start the server.
  DebuggerServer.init();
  DebuggerServer.registerAllActors();

  // For an nsIServerSocket we do this:
  DebuggerServer.openListener(2929); // A connection on port 2929.
}

async function startClient() {
  let transport = await DebuggerClient.socketConnect({ host: "localhost", port: 2929 });

  // Start the client.
  client = new DebuggerClient(transport);

  // Attach listeners for client events.
  client.addListener("tabNavigated", onTab);
  client.addListener("newScript", onScript);

  client.connect((type, traits) => {
    // Now the client is conected to the server.
    debugTab();
  });
}

Shutting down

When the application is finished, it has to notify the client to shut down the protocol connection. This makes sure that memory leaks are avoided and the server is terminated in an orderly fashion. Shutting down is as simple as it gets:

function shutdown() {
  client.close();
}

Attaching to a browser tab

Attaching to a browser tab requires enumerating the available tabs and attaching to one:

function attachToTab() {
  // Get the list of tabs to find the one to attach to.
  client.listTabs().then((response) => {
    // Find the active tab.
    let tab = response.tabs[response.selected];

    // Attach to the tab.
    client.attachTab(tab.actor).then(([response, tabClient]) => {
      if (!tabClient) {
        return;
      }

      // Now the tabClient is ready and can be used.
    });
  });
}

The debugger client will send event notifications for a number of events the application may be interested in. These events include state changes in the debugger, like pausing and resuming, stack frames or source scripts being ready for retrieval, etc.

Handling location changes

When the user navigates away from a page, a tabNavigated event will be fired. The proper way to handle this event is to detach from the previous thread and tab and attach to the new ones:

function onTab() {
  // Detach from the previous thread.
  client.activeThread.detach(() => {
    // Detach from the previous tab.
    client.activeTab.detach(() => {
      // Start debugging the new tab.
      start();
    });
  });
}

Debugging JavaScript running in a browser tab

Once the application is attached to a tab, it can attach to its thread in order to interact with the JavaScript debugger:

// Assuming the application is already attached to the tab, and response is the first
// argument of the attachTab callback.

client.attachThread(response.threadActor).then(function([response, threadClient]) {
  if (!threadClient) {
    return;
  }

  // Attach listeners for thread events.
  threadClient.addListener("paused", onPause);
  threadClient.addListener("resumed", fooListener);
  threadClient.addListener("detached", fooListener);
  threadClient.addListener("framesadded", onFrames);
  threadClient.addListener("framescleared", fooListener);
  threadClient.addListener("scriptsadded", onScripts);
  threadClient.addListener("scriptscleared", fooListener);

  // Resume the thread.
  threadClient.resume();

  // Debugger is now ready and debuggee is running.
});

Debugger application example

Here is the source code for a complete debugger application:

/*
 * Debugger API demo.
 * Try it in Scratchpad with Environment -> Browser, using
 * http://htmlpad.org/debugger/ as the current page.
 */
Components.utils.import("resource://gre/modules/devtools/dbg-server.jsm");
Components.utils.import("resource://gre/modules/devtools/dbg-client.jsm");

let client;
let threadClient;

function startDebugger() {
  // Start the server.
  DebuggerServer.init();
  DebuggerServer.registerAllActors();
  // Listen to an nsIPipe
  let transport = DebuggerServer.connectPipe();
  // For an nsIServerSocket we do this:
  // DebuggerServer.openListener(port);
  // ...and this at the client:
  // let transport = debuggerSocketConnect(host, port);

  // Start the client.
  client = new DebuggerClient(transport);
  // Attach listeners for client events.
  client.addListener("tabNavigated", onTab);
  client.addListener("newScript", fooListener);
  client.connect((type, traits) => {
    // Now the client is conected to the server.
    debugTab();
  });
}

function shutdownDebugger() {
  client.close();
}

/**
 * Start debugging the current tab.
 */
function debugTab() {
  // Get the list of tabs to find the one to attach to.
  client.listTabs().then(response => {
    // Find the active tab.
    let tab = response.tabs[response.selected];
    // Attach to the tab.
    client.attachTab(tab.actor).then(([response, tabClient]) => {
      if (!tabClient) {
        return;
      }

      // Attach to the thread (context).
      client.attachThread(response.threadActor, (response, thread) => {
        if (!thread) {
          return;
        }

        threadClient = thread;
        // Attach listeners for thread events.
        threadClient.addListener("paused", onPause);
        threadClient.addListener("resumed", fooListener);
        threadClient.addListener("detached", fooListener);
        threadClient.addListener("framesadded", onFrames);
        threadClient.addListener("framescleared", fooListener);
        threadClient.addListener("scriptsadded", onScripts);
        threadClient.addListener("scriptscleared", fooListener);

        // Resume the thread.
        threadClient.resume();
        // Debugger is now ready and debuggee is running.
      });
    });
  });
}

/**
 * Handler for location changes.
 */
function onTab() {
  // Detach from the previous thread.
  client.activeThread.detach(() => {
    // Detach from the previous tab.
    client.activeTab.detach(() => {
      // Start debugging the new tab.
      debugTab();
    });
  });
}

/**
 * Handler for entering pause state.
 */
function onPause() {
  // Get the top 20 frames in the server's frame stack cache.
  client.activeThread.fillFrames(20);
  // Get the scripts loaded in the server's source script cache.
  client.activeThread.fillScripts();
}

/**
 * Handler for framesadded events.
 */
function onFrames() {
  // Get the list of frames in the server.
  for (let frame of client.activeThread.cachedFrames) {
    // frame is a Debugger.Frame grip.
    dump("frame: " + frame.toSource() + "\n");
    inspectFrame(frame);
  }
}

/**
 * Handler for scriptsadded events.
 */
function onScripts() {
  // Get the list of scripts in the server.
  for (let script of client.activeThread.cachedScripts) {
    // script is a Debugger.Script grip.
    dump("script: " + script.toSource() + "\n");
  }

  // Resume execution, since this is the last thing going on in the paused
  // state and there is no UI in this program. Wait a bit so that object
  // inspection has a chance to finish.
  setTimeout(() => {
    threadClient.resume();
  }, 1000);
}

/**
 * Helper function to inspect the provided frame.
 */
function inspectFrame(frame) {
  // Get the "this" object.
  if (frame["this"]) {
    getObjectProperties(frame["this"]);
  }

  // Add "arguments".
  if (frame.arguments && frame.arguments.length > 0) {
    // frame.arguments is a regular Array.
    dump("frame.arguments: " + frame.arguments.toSource() + "\n");

    // Add variables for every argument.
    let objClient = client.activeThread.pauseGrip(frame.callee);
    objClient.getSignature(response => {
      for (let i = 0; i < response.parameters.length; i++) {
        let name = response.parameters[i];
        let value = frame.arguments[i];

        if (typeof value == "object" && value.type == "object") {
          getObjectProperties(value);
        }
      }
    });
  }
}

/**
 * Helper function that retrieves the specified object's properties.
 */
function getObjectProperties(object) {
  let thisClient = client.activeThread.pauseGrip(object);
  thisClient.getPrototypeAndProperties(response => {
    // Get prototype as a protocol-specified grip.
    if (response.prototype.type != "null") {
      dump("__proto__: " + response.prototype.toSource() + "\n");
    }

    // Get the rest of the object's own properties as protocol-specified grips.
    for (let prop of Object.keys(response.ownProperties)) {
      dump(prop + ": " + response.ownProperties[prop].toSource() + "\n");
    }
  });
}

/**
 * Generic event listener.
 */
function fooListener(event) {
  dump(event + "\n");
}

// Run the program.
startDebugger();

// Execute the following line to stop the program.
//shutdownDebugger();