Better javascript development environment/debugger in Outsystems
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Hi

This might sound as a lazy idea, but I say this from my personal experience. I started using outsystems due to how easy it is to utilize its tools, which allowed me to make apps and projects which I'd never would, given that I'm not graduated in computer sciences or any field related to front/back-end development.

Among many things that I learned during the period that I've been using Outsystems, like HTML and SQL, another major point tool that I'm learning how to use is javascript, which is one of the foundations of the integration between Outsystems and the resulting web/mobile apps developed.

Given how difficult it is for beginners/intermediates to quickly find problems and bugs within javascript during development (most of the time I have to deploy the app and test in the browser to check if my JavaScript is working), I'd like to suggest the implementation of more robust debugging and testing of JavaScript sections inside Outsystems.

As I said, this might sound as a lazy idea, since the main solution for this problem would be "go study JavaScript". However, I believe that one of the foundations of Outsystems is allowing people who have no previous knowledge of web/mobile development to utilize these tools. I believe that adding more tools to help newcomers to utilize these features would help in this regard.

For instance: better indications on how/when JavaScript are loaded to the webpages; better code completion/quick info tools for javascript windows; better code checking; etc.

Best regards

This idea may bring some value and my answer doesn't deal with the laziness ;) but think about "Debug in personal area".

Found this troubleshooting manual on debugging Public and Personal Areas

I agree that debugging of Javascript inside the Javascript widget could really get some attention. I would like for example to also be able to set a breakpoint inside a script (and not via the debugger statement) and why not even being able to step through the lines itself.  

I never found debugging javascript thru the browser DevTools problematic. Not sure what OutSystems could do better than for example Chrome DevTools.

It's about integration and consistency. When I develop an Angular application for instance I can place breakpoints inside my TypeScript* and when I run the application the debugger stops where it needs to and I can step through my TypeScript lines from within VS Code. This makes it all a bit simpler because when I find the issue that I'm debugging I'm already at the point where I need to be. 

That is the same thing I expect when I'm debugging from within OutSystems. I want an as seamless experience as possible. Of course I could do with 2 debuggers but why would I want to have that? By having one debugger that works from within Service Studio I can optimize my development experience and improve development speed.

*: For those that don't know: TypeScript is a superset on top of JavaScript. When the code is compiled the TypeScript is compiled into JavaScript. 

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