Getting remote debugging set up with PhantomJS

Question

I'm trying to set up remote debugging with PhantomJS, without much luck. I am following the instructions at https://github.com/ariya/phantomjs/wiki/Troubleshooting. I have a little program named debug.js:

var system  = require('system' ), fs = require('fs'), webpage = require('webpage');

(function(phantom){
    var page=webpage.create();

    function debugPage(){
        console.log("Refresh a second debugger-port page and open a second webkit inspector for the target page.");
        console.log("Letting this page continue will then trigger a break in the target page.");
        debugger; // pause here in first web browser tab for steps 5 & 6
        page.open(system.args[1]);
        page.evaluateAsync(function() {
            debugger; // step 7 will wait here in the second web browser tab
        });
    }
    debugPage();
}(phantom));

Now I run this from the command line:

$ phantomjs --remote-debugger-port=9001 --remote-debugger-autorun=yes debug.js my.xhtml

The console.log messages are now displayed in the shell window. I open a browser page to localhost:9001. It is at this point that the documentation says "get first web inspector for phantom context" However, I see only a single entry for about:blank. When I click on that, I get an inspector for the irrelevant about:blank page, with the URL http://localhost:9001/webkit/inspector/inspector.html?page=1. The documentation talks about executing __run(), but I can't seem to get to the page where I would do that; about:html seems to contina a __run() which is a no-op.

FWIW, I am using PhantomJS 1.9.1 under W8.

What am I missing?

Answer 1

The documentation says :

To run your script, simply enter the __run() command in the Web Inspector Console.

__run() is not a no-op but just a wrapper to your script. You need to select Console tab first and then enter __run() in the command window. If you are familiar with Chrome, it's fairly the same as for developpers tool.