Running console commands through node inspector?

Question

I have connected node inspector to my running node.js program. But I'd like to issue commands through the console - not necessarily on a breakpoint. For example, I have global variables and functions in my server.js program. For example:

var express = require('express');
var app = express();

function test() {
    console.log('yo');
}

app.listen(3000);

Now in node-inspector I go into the console and I type 'test()' and it returns "ReferenceError: test is not defined", same things with global variables I type 'app' and it tells me it's not defined. Any idea how to make this thing work? I just want to run my node program and then issue commands to it via a command line interface.

Answer 1

@foreyez,

Your question inspired me to make an npm module that lets you debug (via command line) a running node.js application without setting breakpoints or needing to make variables global:

https://github.com/go-oleg/debug-live

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

The reason why it doesn't work as you expected is that all your variables and functions are local to your module (application) and you can't access them from a global context.

You can save them in the global scope if you want to access them from anywhere (including from the console when not stopped on a breakpoint):

var express = require('express');
var app = express();

function test() {
    console.log('yo');
}

app.listen(3000);

global.test = test;