Forum OpenACS Q&A: Charles Web Debugging Tool

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1: Charles Web Debugging Tool
Posted by C. R. Oldham on 07/18/03 04:53 PM
From Freshmeat today, this might interest some of us:

Charles is a Web debugging tool, HTTP monitor, and reverse HTTP proxy for Web developers that includes plain text debugging of HTTPS/SSL. It is built in Java Swing, and runs on all Java platforms. It is an HTTP proxy server that displays requests and responses, complete with HTTP headers. This enables the developer to examine the exact content of HTTP exchanges, including cookies, caching, and redirects. It can also throttle your connection in order to simulate modem conditions.

Changes: This version features SSL proxy support that allows users to debug SSL communications in plain text, and HTTP/1.1 support.

Here's the link:

http://freshmeat.net/releases/129697/

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2: Re: Charles Web Debugging Tool (response to 1)
Posted by Jerry Asher on 07/20/03 10:20 AM
Interesting tool.  I think it's got an annoying UI -- it's  way too clicktastic for my taste and plum wore my finger out.

But it is nice and general, i.e. it works as a proxy and so can help you detect all sorts of problems to all sorts of site.  And what's kind of nice about it is that you can run it either at your own workstation OR on the remote server.  I'm a bit put off by the UI and the $50 shareware fee.

If you're just looking for something similarish on AOLserver, my mods for AOLserver 3.3 add hex dumps of all requests to the log -- that has been terribly invaluable for me in debugging new protocols at times.

I wish I knew of a similar mod_dump_hex or mod_log_all or something like that module for Apache....

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3: Re: Charles Web Debugging Tool (response to 1)
Posted by Jerry Asher on 07/20/03 11:36 AM
I don't want to be too harsh.  It is very handy and as I just showed myself, can eliminate a lot of sticking ns_log statements in to figure out what's going on.

Still a few too many clicks, and even though I have 9 days left on the trial period, it's nag screens are already a pain.

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4: Re: Charles Web Debugging Tool (response to 1)
Posted by Mark Aufflick on 07/21/03 04:42 PM
As a somewhat veteren user of hard-core tools like tcpdump, armed with a computer science degree majoring in networking and operating systems, this tool does nothing I can't do by hand...

However, I just happened to have a problem that needed sniffing, so I tried out the tool - and did in literally 10 minutes (including downloading the thing) what would have taken at least 45 + cursing the usual way.

$50 is a bit steep for a self employed bum like me getting payed in Australian peso's, but I'll be coughing up - it rocks!

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5: Re: Charles Web Debugging Tool (response to 1)
Posted by Eduardo Pérez on 08/18/03 12:28 PM
I was looking for HTTP debugging tools and found this thread.
I just wanted you to know that there's also livehttpheaders:
http://livehttpheaders.mozdev.org/
It's a great tool and easy to use because it's integrated with Mozilla.
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6: Re: Charles Web Debugging Tool (response to 5)
Posted by Alfred Werner on 08/20/03 04:06 AM
If you use lynx you can use the = and ] keys to get most info you need :)