Answer Server 23.4

# Debug Your Conversation Lua Scripts

The Answer Server installation includes IDE files to allow you to debug your Conversation system Lua scripts with the ZeroBrane Studio Lua IDE on Windows. For more information about conversation Lua scripts, see Lua Processing Scripts.

To use Lua debugging, you must install ZeroBrane Studio (see https://studio.zerobrane.com).

After you install ZeroBrane Studio, you must:

- Copy the files from the `lua_ide_files` directory in your Answer Server installation to the ZeroBrane Studio installation directory, merging with the files that are already there,

- Copy the following files from the `lua` directory in your Answer Server installation to a debugging project directory (which can be anywhere):

  - `autn_conversation.dll` A DLL for debugging conversation Lua scripts.
  - `taskutils_factory.lua` A helper module for constructing taskUtils objects.
  - `autn_conversation.cfg` A copy of the `answerserver.cfg` to use during debugging.

You can then create a debug script to allow you to debug individual Lua functions. The Lua debug script file must have the following code at the start, where `LuaScript.lua` is your conversation Lua script file:

    require("autn_lua_conversation").as_global() -- load lua functions into global namespace
    local factory = require("taskutils_factory") -- load factory module
    require("LuaScript.lua") -- load the file that contains Lua scripts to debug

The rest of the debug script can call individual functions in your `LuaScript.lua`, set breakpoints and check the output.

For functions that require a `taskUtils` object, you can use the `factory.create_taskutils` helper function provided in the `taskutils_factory.lua` helper module. This helper module also lets you specify various input and output parameters, such as tables containing session and task variables, and tables for storing the result of API calls such as `setNextTask`. For more information, see the documentation in `taskutils_factory.lua`.

NOTE: When you debug `ask` operations in your Lua scripts, the script sets up all the systems in your configuration file, but any required IDOL components and Fact Bank databases must be available.

To debug Eduction validators, you must supply a License Server license key file that contains a license for Answer Server. Set the `EductionLicenseFile` parameter to the path to your license key in the conversation system configuration section of your debugging configuration file. For example:

    [MyConversation]
    EductionLicenseFile=C:\IDOL\licensekey.dat

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Version 23.4 | Last updated September 2023

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Product: IDOL Answer Server 23.4

Topic Title: Debug Your Conversation Lua Scripts