How to debug Workflow ?

Workflow Debugging

I need to trace the actions of a workflow, but placing breakpoints (soft and hard) don't seem to work !  Any ideas as to how I can see what it is doing?

First of all, you cannot set breakpoints in a workflow, so I assume you mean that you have set a break-point in a method used in one of the task's used in your workflow?

If so, and if this task-method is a background method (i.e. a non-dialog task), debugging is not possible, since a background method, as the name states, is executed in another context in background.

To see how the workflow passes values from/to the different container's, you can use transaction SWUD (to see if the values needed for your method, are binded correctly).

Other useful tools for workflow error search, are: SWEL (first turn on even trace with SWELS) or simply look at the workitems created to see what kind of errors they may have encountered: SWI2_FREQ f.x.

If background task, I recommend you use SWUS for the specific task in question to create a WorkItem. Find the workitem with SWI2_FREQ, then display it. From there, display Container, to see the outcome.

You can debug the method, from SWO1 for the Object Type owning the method. From SWO1 simply click the test button. Then click "create instance". Execute the method for the object instance and you will be able to debug the method.