NerdVision Debugger Revamp

Ben

January 29, 2021

The nerds have been working hard over here to produce the next iteration of NerdVision; and we are excited to announce that it has arrived! We have just released our revamped debugger! This new debugger includes many fixes, improvements and features that are all aimed at supporting you in debugging your problems as fast as possible.

The over all style and feel of the new debugger is much the same as the old version. We have however added full theme support and better responsiveness for smaller screens. In this article I will run down the major features and changes that have been released with this new debugger.

Repository selector and file tree in NerdVision

Code and Repositories

The code and repositories are still a major part of the debugger and we have tried to add some simple improvements to these areas to ensure a smooth experience. Improvements such as search (both in the repository list and the file tree) allow you to quickly find the repositories and files that you are looking for.

Accompanied with improvements to the authentication systems used mean you can better understand the reasons why you cannot see your code in NerdVision.

We have also improved the code view section, this is the middle section that contains the code, we have improved the state management for both the open files and file tree to restore the state of the repository from the last time you have used it. We have also added drag-and-drop tabs to make it easier to organize your repositories to quickly find the code you are looking for.

Being able to identify new snapshots is key to our success - say our long term customers
snapshots from a tracepoint

Tracepoints and Snapshots

One of the most important features of NerdVision is the real time updates when tracepoints fire and new snapshots are available. One of the most common requests we received was about making it easier to identify the new snapshots over ones that had already been viewed. With the new debugger we have introduced a new indicator to show new snapshots that have arrived while you are use NerdVision.

When it comes to tracepoints, we have also improved the way these can be managed. Adding a new tab to the right panel of the debugger dedicated to the tracepoints, with improved filtering and controls. We have also added a new tracepoint modal to configure the tracepoints. Differing from the old debugger you are now asked to confirm the tracepoint config when creating the tracepoint, and have the ability to set the 'default' config for new tracepoints.

We are continuing to work on this part of the new debugger and we hope to release a further improved configuration modal in the coming weeks.

Log messages

Log Messages and Variables

In the bottom sections our focus has been on the presentation of the data, and we are very happy with the result. We have worked hard to produce a user experience that is familiar yet modern.

The outcome is just start of the journey with more features to come in the presentation of the data, advanced watch and log statements, as well as tighter integrations with your eco-systems to stream data to other platforms such as Datadog.

Theme support

NerdVision also now supports different themes with the click of a button that allow you to customise the experience you have within our software

What is next

This is just the start of our planned improvements to both the debugger and the app in general. We have started the year strong with this huge release and we want to continue with this momentum. We are always looking to get feedback, so please join us on Discord or contact us by email.

Ben

Ben

Experienced developer in various languages, currently a product owner of nerd.vision leading the back end architecture.