remix-project/docs/tutorial_debug.md

Debugging transactions

There are two ways to start debugging, each one corresponds to a different use case.

• from the transaction log in the Terminal - use this when you want to debug a transaction.
• from the Debugger - use this if you have a transaction hash.

Initiate Debugging from the transaction log in the Terminal

Let's start with a basic contract ( or replace this one by your own ) :

• create a blank file in the file explorer (by clicking the + icon) and give it a name.
• copy the code below.
• compile the code.
• click the Run & Deploy icon in the icon panel.

pragma solidity >=0.5.1 <0.6.0;
contract Donation {
    address owner;
    event fundMoved(address _to, uint _amount);
    modifier onlyowner { if (msg.sender == owner) _; }
    address[] _giver;
    uint[] _values;

    constructor() public {
        owner = msg.sender;
    }

    function donate() payable  public {
        addGiver(msg.value);
    }

    function moveFund(address payable _to, uint _amount) onlyowner  public {
        uint balance = address(this).balance;
        uint amount = _amount;
        if (_amount <= balance) {
            if (_to.send(balance)) {
                emit fundMoved(_to, _amount);    
            } else {
               revert();
            }
        } else {
            revert();
        }
    }

    function addGiver(uint _amount) internal {
        _giver.push(msg.sender);
        _values.push(_amount);
    }
}

For the purpose of this tutorial, we will run the JavaScript VM. This simulates a custom blockchain. You could do the same using a proper backend node.

Let's deploy the contract:

Click the Deploy button

You'll see the deployed instance (AKA the udapp).

Then open it up (by clicking the caret).

We are going to call the Donate function and will send it ether.

To do this: in the value input box put in 2 and select Ether as the unit (and not wei like I did in the image below - well you could - it won't really change anything).

Then click the Donate button.

This will send Ether to the this function.

Because we are using the JavaScript VM, everything happens almost instantly. (If we had been using Injected Web 3, then we would have to need to approve the transaction, pay for gas and wait for the transaction to get mined.)

Remix displays information related to each transaction result in the terminal.

Check in the terminal where the transaction you just made is logged.

Click the debug button to start debugging it.

Before we get to the actual debugging tool, the next section show how to start debugging session directly from the Debugger.

Initiate Debugging from the Debugger

Click the bug icon in the icon panel to get to the debugger in the side panel.

If you don't see the bug icon, go to the plugin manager and activate the debugger.

You can start a debug session by providing a transaction hash.

To find a transaction hash:

1. Go to a transaction in the terminal.
2. Click a line with a transaction - to exand the log.
3. The transaction hash is there - copy it.

Then click in the debugger paste the hash and click on the Start debugging button.

Using the debugger

The debugger allows one to see detailed informations about the transaction's execution. It uses the editor to display the location in the source code where the current execution is.

The navigation part contains a slider and buttons that can be used to step through the transaction execution.

More explaination of what these buttons do.

1. Step Into
2. Step Over Into

11 panels give detailed information about the execution:

Instructions

The Instructions panel displays the bytecode of the current executing contract- with the current step highlighted.

Important note: When this panel is hidden, the slider will have a courser granularity and only stop at expression boundaries, even if they are compiled into multiple EVM instructions. When the panel is displayed, it will be possible to step over every instruction, even those that refers to the same expression.

Solidity Locals

The Solidity Locals panel displays local variables associated with the current context.

Solidity State

The Solidity State panel displays state variables of the current executing contract.

Low level panels

These panels display low level informations about the execution:

• Stack
• Storages Changes
• Memory
• Call Data
• Call Stack
• Return Value (only if the current step is a RETURN opcode)
• Full Storages Changes (only at the end of the execution - display every storage change of every modified contract)

Reverted Transaction

A transaction can be reverted (because of an out of gas exception or Solidity revert statement or because of a low level exception).

It is important to be aware of the exception and to locate where the exception is in the source code.

Remix will warn you when the execution throws an exception. The warning button will jump to the last opcode before the exception happened.

Breakpoints

The two last buttons from the navigation area are used to jump either back to the previous breakpoint or forward to the next breakpoint.

Breakpoints can be added and removed by clicking on the line number in the Editor.

When using debug session with breakpoints, the execution will jump to the first encountered breakpoint.

Important note: If you add a breakpoint to a line that declares a variable, it might be triggered twice: Once for initializing the variable to zero and second time for assigning the actual value. As an example, assume you are debugging the following contract:

pragma solidity >=0.5.1 <0.6.0;

contract ctr {
    function hid () public {
        uint p = 45;
        uint m;
        m = 89;
        uint l = 34;
    }
}

And let's says that breakpoints are set for the lines

uint p = 45;

m = 89;

uint l = 34;

then clicking on Jump to next breakpoint will stop at the following lines in the given order:

uint p = 45; (declaration of p)

uint l = 34; (declaration of l)

uint p = 45; (45 assigned to p)

m = 89; (89 assigned to m)

uint l = 34; (34 assigned to l)