Auto-step

[jw3]

Consider an additional stepping state (called auto-step in the gui demo) where step commands get put in the queue without manual intervention, one example would be a customizable interval. You get the visual feedback of stepping but with lower cost of interaction.

Is there already a function for this in VS Code, or is this a unique usability enhancement, idk offhand.

Thought of this while reading #12, but this is an enhancement to common debug functionality so will track it here.

[arosien]

I think the protocol itself is agnostic, so the requests will be delivered as they occur. However I'm not sure if VS Code only sends the next step command, for example, once the response from the previous is received.

We could experiment with the current code by delaying sending responses. It may turn out that the java-debug AbstractProtocolServer ensures only one request is handled at a time, which would mean we would need an alternate command to enqueue a step.

[arosien]

/**
   * The debug adapter supports stepping granularities (argument 'granularity')
   * for the stepping requests.
   */
  supportsSteppingGranularity?: boolean;

https://microsoft.github.io/debug-adapter-protocol/specification#Types_Capabilities

https://microsoft.github.io/debug-adapter-protocol/specification#Types_SteppingGranularity:

The granularity of one ‘step’ in the stepping requests ‘next’, ‘stepIn’, ‘stepOut’, and ‘stepBack’. Values:

• ‘statement’: The step should allow the program to run until the current statement has finished executing. The meaning of a statement is determined by the adapter and it may be considered equivalent to a line. For example ‘for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++) could be considered to have 3 statements ‘int i = 0’, ‘i < 10’, and ‘i++’.
• ‘line’: The step should allow the program to run until the current source line has executed.
• ‘instruction’: The step should allow one instruction to execute (e.g. one x86 instruction). etc.