Should be in every web developers toolbox

For a while now, I have been using Microsoft’s Fiddler to help capture http traffic between the browser and the server. This helps in debugging requests made from flash and Ajax applications. I upgraded to the latest version of Fiddler and have found it to randomly not capture certain requests, which until I realised that was the case, was focusing on areas which I thought weren’t working.

Whilst searching for an alternative, I stumbled across ServiceCapture by Kevin Langdon (http://www.kevinlangdon.com/serviceCapture/) and so far I am mightily impressed.

Its ease of use and simple interface makes debugging a much less painful experience.

It can capture the following types of requests:

One feature I feel is missing is the ability to reissue requests. When developing flash applications, it can take several clicks and submissions before you get to the screen which makes the request that you are debugging. If the code still doesn’t work, the only way to re-test is to hit refresh in the browser and work you way through the flash movie again. What would be much easier is if you could right click on a request and select “Re-issue”.

Initially, I struggled to get it working with Firefox. To get it working requires the use of a javascript file. There is a guide here explaining what you need to do. If you do encounter issues or have questions, the forum is a great place to start.

Despite that, and for the price, it has already saved me many hours of debugging.