Download Firebug and view your XMLHttpRequests

I tell people to always download Firefox and install the Firebug extension. I normally get asked how do I see the XMLHttpRequests with it. Well I am tired of repeating myelf on forums so I thought I would post it here so I can point people to it!

If you have never used Firebug, it is going to change the way you develop JavaScript! The feature I want you to see is the allowing Firebug to show the XMLHttpRequest. By default it is not set, so we need to enable it. Rather easy, under options menu select ShowXMLHttpRequests. I hightlighted it in the screenshot below.

Now after you do this, you will be able to see the requests made. So I thought I would search my name on Google Suggest. Below shows you all of the requests made until my name shows up.

Firebug also allows us to look at the request in more detail. You can do that by clicking on the url in the Firebug window. It opens up the request details. (If you used post, it would show post details.)

If you would click on the line number, it would take you to that line number in the source code. Rather cool in my eyes. There are tons of features in Firebug, spend some time and play with it! Also I hope you did not miss my article on the IE Developer Toolbar! If you did go read it. One thing I wish I could do with Firebug is undock it like the IE Developer Toolbar. Sometimes Firebug takes up way too much space for what you are after, but I could not live without this tool. Tomorrow I will have an article on Drip.

Eric Pascarello
Coauthor of Ajax In Action
Moderator of HTML/JavaScript at www.JavaRanch.com
Author of: JavaScript: Your Visual Blueprint for building Dynamic Web Pages