Windows Monks,

Do you use Notepad++ as your preferred editor? Have you done some things with NppExec to move towards an IDE? Do you want integrated debugger support?

I was out of luck on the last one and a myriad of Google-ing didn't help. There was a debugger plugin for Notepad++ (DBGp - http://sourceforge.net/projects/npp-plugins/files/DBGP%20Plugin/) but it was for PHP debugging with XDebug ... originally. I set out to get Perl working with it and lo and behold - I did it!

UPDATE: I'm on Windows 7 x64 and using Strawberry Perl 5.18.1 MSWin32-x64-multi-thread.

The gory details can be found here:

Essentially, you need:

• Notepad++ (assuming you already have this and it's relatively up-to-date)
• DBGp plugin - http://sourceforge.net/projects/npp-plugins/files/DBGP%20Plugin/
• Perl debugger for Komodo IDE - http://downloads.activestate.com/Komodo/releases/archive/4.x/4.4.1/remotedebugging/
• NppExec (optional for automation)

DBGp plugin

Get it from the SourceForge page at http://sourceforge.net/projects/npp-plugins/files/DBGP%20Plugin/. Get the latest (0.13 beta as of this writing) and you'll only need the DLL. Current file name is: DBGpPlugin_0_13b_dll.zip. Unzip the DLL to your Notepad++\plugins directory.

Perl Debugger for Komodo IDE

We only need this since there isn't a "Perl Debugger for Notepad++ IDE". It essentially supplies the interface via "perl5db.pl" and subdirectory "DB" of various supporting modules. You get it here: http://downloads.activestate.com/Komodo/releases/archive/4.x/4.4.1/remotedebugging/ and you'll want the Komodo-PerlRemoteDebugging-4.4.1-20896-win32-x86.zip file. NOTE: I tried newer releases, but found other issues cropped up in addition to the ones I show you how to fix below, so use this version, or the rest of this won't make much sense.

I created a directory in my Notepad++\plugins directory called "PerlDebug"; so, (...)\Notepad++\plugins\PerlDebug. I unzipped only the "perl5db.pl" file and the entire "DB" directory and its sub directories into that PerlDebug directory.

Getting it to Work

You need to make some edits to the Perl Debugger scripts from the Komodo IDE as well as set some environment variables. First, the edits.

Edit DB\DBgrProperties.pm

Open the Notepad++\plugins\PerlDebug\DB\DBgrProperties.pm file. Line 657-659 is something like:

    $res .= sprintf(qq(<value%s><![CDATA[%s]]></value>\n),
            $encoding ? qq( encoding="$encoding") : "",
            $encVal);
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Change that to:

    $res .= sprintf(qq(<![CDATA[%s]]>\n), $encVal);
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Also, further up on line 131, you'll see:

    context_id="%d"
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Change that to:

    context="%d"
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Edit perl5db.pl

Open the Notepad++\plugins\PerlDebug\perl5db.pl file. On line 1525:

    $res .= sprintf(' line="%s"',
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change to:

    $res .= sprintf(' lineno="%s"',
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And, after line 2898, which should read:

    my $bpInfo = getBreakpointInfoString($bkptID, function => $bFuncti
+on);
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add the following three lines:

    if ($bpInfo) {
        $res .= $bpInfo;
    }
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Environment Variables

You'll need some environment variables to get this to work. I wanted them to be volatile so as not to upset normal operations. This where I used NppExec. I'll assume you have it installed as it's an awesome plugin that you should have installed. If not, get if from the Plugin Manager.

The only essential environment variables to set are:

set PERL5LIB=C:\path\to\Notepad++\plugins\PerlDebug
set PERLDB_OPTS=RemotePort=127.0.0.1:9000
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where "\path\to\Notepad++" is your directory path to Notepad++. I have mine at "C:\usr\bin\npp\plugins\PerlDebug". Yours may be "C:\Program Files\Notepad++\plugins\PerlDebug". Note if your path has a space (like between "Program" and "Files" in the example, you'll probably need to double-quote the entire path assigned to PERL5LIB like: set PERL5LIB="C:\Program Files\Notepad++\plugins\PerlDebug".

I set my variables with an NppExec script:

NPP_SAVE
cd "$(CURRENT_DIRECTORY)"
NPP_MENUCOMMAND Plugins\DBGp\Debugger
ENV_SET PERLDB_OPTS=RemotePort=127.0.0.1:9000
ENV_SET PERL5LIB=$(SYS.PERL5LIB);$(NPP_DIRECTORY)\plugins\PerlDebug
INPUTBOX "Command Line Arguments: "
cmd /c start "Perl Debug" cmd /c perl.exe -d "$(FILE_NAME)" $(INPUT)
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I saved it as "Perl - Debug" and used NppExec to add it to my "Macro" menu in Notepad++. It saves the current file, changes to the working directory, enables the DBGp plugin, sets the environment variables (only temporarily within the Notepad++ context, and careful not to step on a current value that may be in PERL5LIB), prompts for any command-line input to pass to your script to get it to run and finally starts the Perl debugging session - integrated in Notepad++!

Some options I used to tune the DBGp plugin; from the Notepad++ "Plugins" menu, select "DBGp" and then "Config...".

• Ensure the top checkbox "Bypass all mapping (local windows setup) is checked
• No configuration in the "Remote Server IP", "IDE KEY" ... window
• Under the "Misc" section, check:
• "Break at first line when debugging starts"
• "Refresh local context on every step"
• "Refresh global context on every step"

Hope it works for you - happy debugging!