Probe points and probe point IDs

Probe points include breakpoints, trace points, and inject points.

Probe point is a generic term for the following three Streams Debugger concepts:

  • Breakpoints that are used for suspending execution.
  • Trace points for tracing data that is flowing into or out of an operator.
  • Inject points for inserting new tuples and punctuation into the application's data flow at a specified port.

When you define a new breakpoint, trace point or inject point a new probe point ID is assigned. The probe point ID is a numeric value to uniquely identify the probe point within the debugger session. You might need to use the probe point ID on subsequent commands to refer to the probe point.

The most typical scenarios would be to set one or more breakpoints or trace points, or both and then resume program execution with the (g)o command as shown here:

(sdb) b CountAllLines o 0
Set + 0 Breakpoint CountAllLines o 0 stopped:false
(sdb) b CountOneLine i 0
Set + 1 Breakpoint CountOneLine i 0 stopped:false
(sdb) g
(sdb)
This console example shows:
  • The (b)reakpoint command to set a breakpoint on operator CountAllLines output port index zero (0).
  • The (b)reakpoint command to set a breakpoint on operator CountOneLine input port index zero (0).
  • The (g)o command to continue (start) execution of the suspended application.