[android] Is there a real solution to debug cordova apps

I spent the last two days trying to figure out how to debug an HTML5 app I created using Cordova 3.2 and deployed to an Android 2.3 device. All the articles/posts I've seen provide hacks rather than real solutions :( and most of the time, none of them works for my case; debug the css styles and the Angularjs code inside my app..

So far I tested;

debug.phonegap.com

I injected the script to the index.html file then visited the generated URL in debug.phonegap.com but nothing happens; only a blank page.

Weinre

Most of the articles I found point to obsolete Github repository that countain a Jar file.. but it's not found :(

Edge inspect

It works and shows the webpage I'm browsing on the PC inside the mobile.. But the problem is that it uses some other integrated browser (or emulator) than the one that runs phonegap apps; so the results are not accurate.

Chrome emulator

Same as Edge inspect; it doesn't allow to view real web-kit v530 that is shipped with Android 2.3.

The dream solution

The perfect solution would be an extension to Google Chrome (desktop) that enables you to switch the desktop browser to the same one found in Android 2.3 platforms; no emulation no hacks, just the browser itself with web-kit v 530.

Unfortunately such solution doesn't exist :( or I'm wrong?

Any suggestions?

If you use phonegap build, there is an option to enable debug.

For local builds, you can install weinre with npm : https://npmjs.org/package/weinre

And the link to the weinre docs : http://people.apache.org/~pmuellr/weinre/docs/latest/

And there is something called chrome remote debugging but I don't know much about it, you can have a look at Raymond Camden's article : http://www.raymondcamden.com/index.cfm/2014/1/2/Apache-Cordova-33-and-Remote-Debugging-for-Android

Docs for the chrome remote debugging : https://developers.google.com/chrome-developer-tools/docs/remote-debugging (if I understood correctly you need an android device with chrome as default browser) Maybe the closest to your dream solution?

If you can use an Android 4.4+ device, then you can use Chrome Remote Debugging even on the app's internal WebView. It's a much better debugger than Weinre, but the key is using the recent Android version.

Recent Cordova builds automatically enable this kind of debugging as long as it's a debug build (it's turned off in --release builds).

Have you tried 'GapDebug'? Its free.

It appears to integrate versions of the Safari Webkit Inspector and Chrome Dev Tools to offer an integrated debugging experience on OS X and Windows.

If your app is running Cordova 3.3+ and your device is running Android 4.4+ then you can use Chrome Remote Webview Debugging to debug your Cordova app.

To be able to do that, you must first enable USB debugging on you phone.

Then open the "inspect devices" tab. In Chrome, go to Settings > More tools > Inspect devices.

If you launch your app on your device while it's connected to your computer, The Webview should appear in the devices list. Click on the "Inspect" link of your Webview and a Debug Tool for your Webview should appear.

Here is an article fully explaining how to do it: http://geeklearning.io/apache-cordova-and-remote-debugging-on-android/

Devices with android <=4.0.4 need to add the plugin https://www.npmjs.com/package/cordova-plugin-crosswalk-webview-pgb-adapt

FOR ANDROID:

You only need to enable “USB remote debugger” within your android device and plug with a USB cable. Then open your application in the device. Chrome will detect the remote browser and you can see the console in the same way than you see it when you use Chrome locally.

Use this link: chrome://inspect/#devices in Chrome browser (you'll have to paste it into the nav bar).

If your app crashes in the device you only need to see the console’s log within your browser and see what happens. You also can add functionality, change variables, and override functions in the same way than we do it with our local browser.

Read this article for more information on the steps to take.

This will work ONLY with devices running Android 4.4+.

FOR iOS:

Use Safari for iOS, follow these steps:

1.In your iOS device go to Settings > Safari > Advanced > Web Inspector to enable Web Inspector

2.Open Safari on your iOS device.

3.Connect it to your computer via USB.

4.Open Safari on your computer.

5.In Safari’s menu, go to Develop and, look for your device’s name.

6.Select the tab you want to debug.

On Android 4.4+ w/SDK installed:

adb logcat chromium:D SystemWebViewClient:D \*:S

Here's the solution using Phonegap Build. Add the following to your config.xml to be able to inspect with Chrome Remote Webview Debugging.

First, make sure your widget tag contains xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

<widget 
    xmlns="http://www.w3.org/ns/widgets" 
    xmlns:gap="http://phonegap.com/ns/1.0" 
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    id="me.app.id" 
    version="1.0.0">

Then add the following

<gap:config-file platform="android" parent="/manifest">
     <application android:debuggable="true" />
</gap:config-file>

It works for me on Nexus 5, Phonegap 3.7.0.

<preference name="phonegap-version" value="3.7.0" />

Build the app in Phonegap Build, install the APK, connect the phone to the USB, enable USB debugging on you phone then visit chrome://inspect.

Source: https://www.genuitec.com/products/gapdebug/learning-center/configuration/

I've loved weinre! How to use it:

First, put on your index.html (ensure app.settings.debugUrl is set before this):

  <!-- Weinre debugging -->
  <script type="text/javascript">
    if (app.settings.debugUrl) {
      document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function(event) { 
        var s = document.createElement("script")
        s.setAttribute("src", app.settings.debugUrl+"/target/target-script-min.js#anonymous")
        document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0].appendChild(s)
      }); 
    }   
  </script>

Then:

• install: sudo npm install -g weinre
• run: weinre --boundHost -all-
• open on browser: http://localhost:8080/client/#anonymous
• watch targets appear as you open the app

Based on http://www.broken-links.com/2013/06/28/remote-debugging-with-weinre/

You can debug Cordova Android Applications which are installed on your phone remotely from your computer via the USB cable (you can also remotely click on the web application as if you were viewing the web application from your compueter) with "Chrome Remote Debugging". You can also debug web application viewed in the Stock Android browser or Chrome on Android this way.

1. Enable developer mode on your Android device (go to settings -> about phone -> tap 7x on the build number).

2. Connect your computer with your phone via USB cable.

3. Lunch Chrome on your computer and navigate to chrome://inspect and click the "Inspect" button next to the remote device which you want to debug (under the "Devices" tab). OR right click inside Chrome on your computer -> Inspect -> Costumize and control DevTools (3 vertical dots - top right corner of the developer tools) -> More tools -> Remote Devices -> under Devices on the left side, click on your device to which you are connected via USB -> click on the Inspect button for the application you want.

4. Then click on "Console" and you can debug JavaScript the same way, as you would on a normal web application with Chrome developer tools.

Another option is Visual Studio, which has prerelease support for debugging Cordova apps:

Unified debugging experience. Cross-platform development often requires a different tool for debugging each device, emulator, or simulator. Different tools mean different workflows and lost productivity every time you switch devices. With Visual Studio, you can use the same world-class debugging tools for all deployment targets, including Windows, the Android emulator, attached Android devices, iOS devices and emulators, and the Apache Ripple emulator.

Now that Microsoft has released Visual Studio Community edition for free, you can give this a try at no cost. You will need to download both Visual Studio, and Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova.

Just want to add that you can debug android apps using Genymotion. It's WAY faster then the stock android emulator.

You can also debug with chrome your html5 apps

I create a .bat to open chrome in debug mode

cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application
chrome.exe "file:///C:\Users\***.html" --allow-file-access-from-files --disable-web-security

The best for me is to attach the Chrome debugger.

To do it, run your app in a emulator or device (using $cordova emulate)

then, open Google Chrome and go to chrome://inspect/

You'll see a list with running apps. Your app should be there. Click on "inspect".

A new window will open with developer tools. There you can click on "console" to check for errors

Use Android Device Monitor

Android Device Monitor comes packages with android sdk which you would have installed previously. In the device monitor you can see you entire device log, exceptions, messages everything. This is usefully to debug application crashes or any other such problems. To run this, go to tools/ folder inside your android sdk “/var/android-sdk-linux/tools”. Then run the following

chmod +x monitor
./monitor

If you are on windows, directly open the monitor.exe file. There is a tab below “LogCat” where you will see all device related message. You will see all messages here including android device exceptions which are not visible chrome inspect device. Be sure to create filters using the “+” sign in logcat tab, so that you see messages only for your application.

Source: http://excellencenodejsblog.com/phonegap-debugging-your-android-application/

As far as I know, the only productive tool for real debugging in Cordova apps for Android platforms from 2.2 to 4.3 is jshybugger. Weinre is an inspector, not a debugger. JsHybugger instruments your code allowing you to debug inside the android WebView.

You can use Intel XDK IDE to develop and debug on emulator or on real device

I also found Visual Studio 2015 RC tools for cordova very good, with it's ripple emulator

If you're using Cordova 3.3 or higher and your device is running Android 4.4 or higher you can use 'Remote Debugging on Android with Chrome'. Full instructions are here:

https://developer.chrome.com/devtools/docs/remote-debugging

In summary:

• Plug the device into your desktop computer using a USB cable
• Enable USB debugging on your device (on my device this is under Settings > More > Developer options > USB debugging)

Or, if you're using Cordova 3.3+ and don't have a physical device with 4.4, you can use an emulator that uses Android 4.4+ to run the application through the emulator, on your desktop computer.

• Run your Cordova application on the device or emulator
• In Chrome on your desktop computer, enter chrome://inspect/#devices in the address bar
• Your device/emulator will be displayed along with any other recognised devices that are connected to your computer, and under your device there will be details of the Cordova 'WebView' (basically your Cordova app), which is running on the device/emulator (the way Cordova works is that it basically creates a 'browser' window on your device/emulator, within which there is a 'WebView' which is your running HTML/JavaScript app)
• Click the 'inspect' link under the 'WebView' section where you see your device/emulator listed. This brings up the Chrome developer tools that now allow you to debug your application.
• Select the 'sources' tab of the Chrome developer tools to view JavaScript that your Cordova app on the device/emulator is currently running. You can add breakpoints in the JavaScript that allow you to debug your code.
• Also, you can use the 'console' tab to view any errors (which will be shown in red), or at the bottom of the console you'll see a '>' prompt. Here you can type in any variables or objects (e.g. DOM objects) that you want to inspect the current value of, and the value will be displayed.