Using the debugger in Excel
Using the debugger is yet another debugging technique, but it has greater power and flexibility. It is not necessarily better or easier to use, it is just a slightly more advanced way of checking your code for errors.
The debugger is, in fact, a set of tools in the VBA environment, specifically incorporated in the VBA Editor to ease the process of debugging.
We will be using two tools in this section:
- Setting breakpoints
- Using the Watch window
Setting breakpoints
The first tool under discussion allows you to inspect your code by stopping it at specific, pre-set points. It is, in a way, similar to the MsgBox
function, because it also halts the running of your procedure in the middle of execution. The difference, however, is that you don't have to click on buttons to close dialog boxes, because you'll only work in the VBA Editor.
In this recipe, we will be going through the details of setting breakpoints.