Rails Debugging Print

Rationale

When debugging a Rails application a useful technique is to insert print statements into the server log. To make the debugging print statement stand out in the log it's useful to display a prompt prior to the debugging output. It can sometimes be necessary to distinguish between multiple debugging print statements. We can make this common operation easier by adding a live template just for this purpose.

Mechanism

Navigate to: Preferences > Editor > Live Templates

Click "Edit variables"

Now, when you are debugging and want to print the value of some variable:

1. copy the variable name
2. put the cursor on the line where you want to know the value of that variable
3. type pp and press Enter (or your expand live template key)