Launching from Wing

When Django is launched from Wing, it must be configured to avoid auto-reload and other options that break the debugger.

Newer versions of Django include a --noreload option that you can pass to the manage.py or django-admin.py scripts to turn off the auto restart feature of Django.

The typical way to do all this is to set the manage.py file as the primary debug file in Wing and give it the following Run Arguments via the Debug properties tab in the File Properties dialog:

runserver --noreload

Other options can be added here as necessary for your application.

Some versions of Django may also require adding --settings=devsettings to the arguments for runserver, in order for debugging to work. If Wing is not be able to stop on any breakpoints, try adding this.

In older versions of Django, the --noreload option does not exist. The only way to solve the problem there is to make a modification to the code to prevent launching of a sub-process, or to use the alternative method described below.

Managing Exceptions

Some versions of Django raise NameError and UnboundLocalError exceptions as part of their normal operation. By default, Wing reports all exceptions of these types, since they often indicate a program error even if caught. You can ignore the particular instances of these in Django with the Ignore this Exception Location checkbox in the Exceptions tool, or by removing these from the Debugger / Exceptions / Always Report preference.

Debugging with Auto-reload

Another method of debugging Django is to use wingdbstub.py to initiate debugging when Django is started from outside of Wing IDE. This will allow Django to restart automatically after code changes and to automatically reconnect the debugger to Wing IDE as needed.

This is done by placing a copy of wingdbstub.py, which is located in your Wing IDE installation directory, in the top of the Django directory, where manage.py is located. Next, place the following code into files you wish to debug:

import wingdbstub

Then make sure that the Enable Passive Listen preference is enabled in Wing and start Django. The Django process should connect to Wing IDE and stop at any breakpoints set after the import wingdbstub.

When code is changed, just save it and Django will restart. The debugger will reconnect to Wing IDE once you request a page load in your browser that leads to one of your import wingdbstub statements.