Task 2: Setting breakpoints

You run the decision service, search for the source of an error, and add a breakpoint.

1. Run the decision service as shown in Task 1: Using automatic exception handling.
   The results contain the following error code:

   ruleflow.loanvalidation$003evalidation

   You understand the code as follows:

   • Ruleflow name: loanvalidation
   • Rule task: validation

   You want to find the validation task in the loanvalidation ruleflow.

2. Click Search > Search in the toolbar.
3. Open the Rule Search tab.
4. Enter loanvalidation in the search field.
   Tip: You can copy the name of the ruleflow in the error message, and paste it in the search field.
5. Select Ruleflow, and then click Search.
   The loanvalidation ruleflow is displayed in the Search view:

   
6. Double-click the ruleflow in the Search view to open it.
7. Click the validation task to select it.
8. Right-click the task and click Toggle Breakpoint at the bottom of the pop-up menu to tag the task with a breakpoint.
   The task now shows a dot to indicate the addition of the breakpoint:

   

Because the checkZipcode action rule shows an exception, you look for the rule and add trace information to it.

1. Look at the automatic exception handling message.
   You see that the null pointer exception occurs in the checkZipcode rule condition:

   FINE: AEH_LOG: java.lang.NullPointerException: In 'checkZipcode' rule condition

2. Double-click the validation task in the loanvalidation ruleflow.
3. In the Properties tab, click Rule Selection and expand the validation package.
4. Expand borrower, and double-click the checkZipcode action rule to open it in the rule editor.
   You see that the condition in the rule uses the length of the zip code. You want to know the value of the zip code, so you add trace information to print the value.
5. Go back to the loanvalidation ruleflow in the ruleflow editor.
6. Double-click the validation task.
7. In the Properties view, select Initial action. Keep Use BAL for action selected.
8. Add the following code to display the borrower zip code:

   print "The zip code of the borrower is " + the zip code of the address of 'the borrower' ;

   The code looks as follows:

   
9. Save your work.

You run a debug configuration to check the values of the borrower zip code. You are looking for null values to determine where the null pointer exception occurs.

1. Click Run > Debug Configurations in the toolbar.
2. Open the run loan validation configuration and click Debug.
3. If the Save and Launch dialog opens, click OK to save your changes before running the debugger.
4. Click Yes in the Confirm Perspective Switch dialog box to open the debug perspective.
   The debugger stops at the beginning of the validation rule task, at the breakpoint that you set in step 1 of this task.
5. Expand borrower in the Variables tab.
   Notice the null values for latestBankruptcy, spouse, and zipCode:

   
6. Click the Resume button .
   The results in the Console view begin with the following message:

   The first line is the trace that you added to the initial action of the validation task. You see that the automatic exception handling catches the null pointer exception because of the null zip code in the checkZipcode rule. The condition part has an unknown status, so the rule is ignored. You tell the business user that the borrower in the configuration has a null zip code, and you are told that it is not a problem.

   The automatic exception handling correctly addresses the problem. You can remove the trace for the logging information that comes from the automatic exception handling. You keep the trace on the initial action of the validation task to get the zip code value.

   Note: The Console shows the AEH_LOG message twice. Because the checkZipcode rule contains a then action and an else action, its condition part is evaluated twice, producing two AEH_LOG messages.
7. Switch to the Rule perspective.
8. Click Run > Run Configurations, and open the run loan validation configuration.
9. Delete the VM arguments from the Parameters and Arguments tab.
10. Click Apply, and then Run.
    The automatic exception handling trace information is no longer shown. However, the loan is still not approved, so there are more errors to fix: