Setting and removing breakpoints

A breakpoint lets you stop a SWF file running in Flash Player at a specific line of ActionScript. You can use breakpoints to test possible trouble spots in your code. For example, if you've written a set of if..else if statements and can't determine which one is executing, you can add a breakpoint before the statements and step through them one by one in the Debugger.

You can set breakpoints in the Actions panel or in the Debugger. (To set breakpoints in external scripts, you must use the Debugger.) Breakpoints set in the Actions panel are saved with the Flash document (FLA file). Breakpoints set in the Debugger are not saved in the FLA file and are valid only for the current debugging session.

To set or remove a breakpoint in the Actions panel, do one of the following:

Click in the left margin. A red dot indicates a breakpoint.
Click the Debug options button above the Script pane.
Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) to display the context menu, and select Breakpoint, Remove Breakpoint, or Remove All Breakpoints.
Press Control+Shift+B (Windows) or Command+Shift+B (Macintosh).

Note: In previous versions of Flash, clicking in the left margin of the Script pane selected the line of code; now it adds or removes a breakpoint. To select a line of code, use Control-click (Windows) or Command-click (Macintosh).

To set and remove breakpoints in the Debugger, do one of the following:

Click in the left margin. A red dot indicates a breakpoint.
Click the Toggle Breakpoint or Remove All Breakpoints button above the code view.
Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) to display the context menu, and select Breakpoint, Remove Breakpoint, or Remove All Breakpoints.
Press Control+Shift+B (Windows) or Command+Shift+B (Macintosh).

Once Flash Player is stopped at a breakpoint, you can step into, step over, or step out of that line of code. (See Stepping through lines of code.) If you set a breakpoint in a comment or on an empty line in the Actions panel, the breakpoint is ignored.