VSCODE: No debug adapter, can not send 'variables'"

Question

I'm getting started with pupeteer and node and using vscode in win 10. I'm trying to log into a site and scrape a table. So far I have:

(async () => {

const browser = await puppeteer.launch({
  headless: false,
});
var page = await browser.newPage();
await page.goto('thesite.com/login/');

await page.click(USERNAME_SELECTOR);

await page.keyboard.type(CREDS.username);

await page.click(PASSWORD_SELECTOR);
await page.keyboard.type(CREDS.password);

await page.click(BUTTON_SELECTOR);
await page.waitForNavigation();

const TABLE_ROW_SELECTOR = '.gv-container.gv-container-133 > table > tbody';
await page.waitForSelector(TABLE_ROW_SELECTOR);

await page.waitForSelector(TABLE_ROW_SELECTOR);


await page.screenshot({ path: 'example.png' });  
const data = await page.evaluate(SELECTOR => document.querySelectorAll(SELECTOR), TABLE_ROW_SELECTOR);




await browser.close();
})();

This is mostly working. however in my console I see a list of objects but as far as I can tell no values. Heres the fiest object:

0:Object {}
__proto__:Object {constructor: , __defineGetter__: , __defineSetter__: , …}
__defineGetter__:function __defineGetter__() { … }
__defineSetter__:function __defineSetter__() { … }
__lookupGetter__:function __lookupGetter__() { … }
__lookupSetter__:function __lookupSetter__() { … }
constructor:function Object() { … }
hasOwnProperty:function hasOwnProperty() { … }
No debug adapter, can not send 'variables'
isPrototypeOf:function isPrototypeOf() { … }
No debug adapter, can not send 'variables'

What does " No debug adapter, can not send 'variables'" mean?

edit:

I updated to the latest vscode and checked that all extensions were updated. Now when I run LAUNCH PROGRAM

E:\nodejs\node.exe --inspect-brk=27108 index.js 
Debugger listening on ws://127.0.0.1:27108/e5928c71-370c-  4111-9ec3-77bb2cd85075
For help, see: https://nodejs.org/en/docs/inspector
(node:12844) ExperimentalWarning: The fs.promises API is experimental
warning.js:18
Array(25) [ElementHandle, ElementHandle, ElementHandle, ElementHandle,    ElementHandle, ElementHandle, ElementHandle, ElementHandle, …]
index.js:64
length:25
__proto__:Array(0) [, …]
concat:function concat() { … }
[[Scopes]]:Scopes[0]
arguments:TypeError: 'caller', 'callee', and 'arguments' properties may not be accessed on strict mode functions or the arguments objects for calls to them

Any idea what this means?

a debug adapter is the tool that interfaces the debugger API and the VSC API. Are you able to debug other (simple) node programs? — rioV8, May 15 '20 at 11:06
I've never worked with node before. I have some client side js experience, but mostly used python on server side previously. — user1592380, May 15 '20 at 23:28
OK did that, the debugger behaved exactly as in the tutorial.. — user1592380, May 17 '20 at 00:08
then the setup of your webscraper project differs from the example node project — rioV8, May 17 '20 at 00:29

Nick · Answer 1 · 2020-12-13T17:15:52.223

74

I had this issue when trying to use the integratedConsole rather than integratedTerminal or externalTerminal as part of my Node configuration within launch.json:

Setting it back to:

"console": "integratedTerminal"

Fixed it. Only took an hour to figure out. See docs for more information.

edited Dec 13 '20 at 17:15

answered Nov 20 '20 at 17:52

Nick

4,901
40
61

Hey, "console": "integratedTerminal" This is first level config in launch.json or else? – http8086 Dec 11 '20 at 20:38
1

@http8086 paste it after the `program`. – Mr. Panda Nov 24 '21 at 13:07
IntegratedTerminal don't log nice big objects with arrays, etc. So if you want see log values just add breakpoint after log or on end of program. Like Tiamo mention in his answer. – Vít Zadina Oct 26 '22 at 08:00

score 49 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 02 '21 at 12:52

49

You can also try:

"outputCapture": "std"

in your launch.json

Here is reference on Github

answered Jan 02 '21 at 12:52

Shimi Shimson

990
9
10

6

worked really well to preserve all output in the debug console (as opposed to polluting the terminal like the "console": "integratedTerminal" option would) – JKJ Jan 25 '21 at 17:12
1

Glad it helped in the way you expected. :) – Shimi Shimson Jan 25 '21 at 21:20

score 26 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 27 '20 at 18:34

The reason this happens is that the debugger stops after the code execution ends. Then there is no more debug adapter available to send the variables. What I did is add an extra line on the bottom of the code execution, and set a breakpoint on that. It isn't pretty, but it works.

do7 · Answer 4 · 2022-06-23T08:46:26.473

I had the same problem, but that was me who caused this error ...

I have a conditional breakpoint defined in some scope of code, I have tried to use it in another conditional breakpoint but in a different scope.

The variable used on this condition was not found in the new scope. that's why the debugger can not start and gives us this error.

When I figured out, I used the defined variables on the scope to get the condition work properly.

Not a very big deal, but I hope this can help someone

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 16 '22 at 20:45

I had a similar problem when the JavaScript script was erroring-out because of a missing async keyword on an await-using function during an initial evaluation step before normal execution and the vscode debugger was not catching the error in a meaningful error reporting context before the execution context exited.

VSCODE: No debug adapter, can not send 'variables'"

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