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When the symbolic debug information is not present in the class files the Netbeans debugger does not display (or allow a watch on) the values of local variables as the names may not be available. However it is my understanding that JDI (of JPDA) does allow looking at the values. This could be handled by the debugger UI by generating names like parameter1, parameter2 and localVariable1, localVariable2. Even better to come up with names that indicate the type of the variable such as intParameter1, stringParameter2 and so on.
This is planned into NB 6.0.
FYI: See also http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=4490824
Fixed in trunk, together with issue #99254: /shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/projects/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/projects/EditorContextImpl.java,v <-- EditorContextImpl.java new revision: 1.15; previous revision: 1.14 done RCS file: /shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/projects/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/projects/MethodArgumentsScanner.java,v done Checking in projects/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/projects/MethodArgumentsScanner.java; /shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/projects/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/projects/MethodArgumentsScanner.java,v <-- MethodArgumentsScanner.java initial revision: 1.1 done Checking in src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/EditorContextBridge.java; /shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/EditorContextBridge.java,v <-- EditorContextBridge.java new revision: 1.11; previous revision: 1.10 done Checking in src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/JPDADebuggerImpl.java; /shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/JPDADebuggerImpl.java,v <-- JPDADebuggerImpl.java new revision: 1.119; previous revision: 1.118 done Checking in src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/expr/Evaluator.java; /shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/expr/Evaluator.java,v <-- Evaluator.java new revision: 1.34; previous revision: 1.33 done RCS file: /shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/models/ArgumentVariable.java,v done Checking in src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/models/ArgumentVariable.java; /shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/models/ArgumentVariable.java,v <-- ArgumentVariable.java initial revision: 1.1 done Checking in src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/models/CallStackFrameImpl.java; /shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/models/CallStackFrameImpl.java,v <-- CallStackFrameImpl.java new revision: 1.23; previous revision: 1.22 done Checking in src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/models/LocalsTreeModel.java; /shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/models/LocalsTreeModel.java,v <-- LocalsTreeModel.java new revision: 1.41; previous revision: 1.40 done Checking in src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/util/Operator.java; /shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/util/Operator.java,v <-- Operator.java new revision: 1.47; previous revision: 1.46 done Checking in test/unit/src/org/netbeans/api/debugger/jpda/ExpressionStepTest.java; /shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/api/debugger/jpda/ExpressionStepTest.java,v <-- ExpressionStepTest.java new revision: 1.3; previous revision: 1.2 done RCS file: /shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/ui/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/resources/ExprArguments.gif,v done Checking in ui/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/resources/ExprArguments.gif; /shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/ui/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/resources/ExprArguments.gif,v <-- ExprArguments.gif initial revision: 1.1 done Checking in ui/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/ui/models/Bundle.properties; /shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/ui/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/ui/models/Bundle.properties,v <-- Bundle.properties new revision: 1.40; previous revision: 1.39 done Checking in ui/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/ui/models/VariablesNodeModel.java; /shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/ui/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/ui/models/VariablesNodeModel.java,v <-- VariablesNodeModel.java new revision: 1.16; previous revision: 1.15 done Checking in ui/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/ui/models/VariablesTableModel.java; /shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/ui/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/ui/models/VariablesTableModel.java,v <-- VariablesTableModel.java new revision: 1.19; previous revision: 1.18
Verified ... and Closing all issues resolved into NetBeans 6.7 and earlier.