The following tables list the features offered in Script Debugger 8, the free Script Debugger 8 Lite, and by the previous versions of Script Debugger.

Editing

Feature 8.0 8.0 Lite 7.0 6.0
Text Themes • •
Tabbed document windows • • • •
   macOS native tabbed window • •
Multiple windows on the same script • • • •
Restore open scripts on launch • • • •
Script templates • • • •
Code folding • • •
Split-pane editing • • • •
Regular Expression find and replace • • • •
Auto-Indentation • • • •
Auto-pairing of delimiters ({[« »]}) • • • •
Auto-close AppleScript blocks • • • •
Auto-generate tell blocks (by dragging applications from dictionary or using Paste Tell command) • • • •
   Generate tell blocks using application IDs • • • •
   Add library use statement when pasting library commands • •
Auto-generate object specifiers (by dragging from explorers or using the Paste Tell command) • • •
Auto-generate variable references (by dragging from Variables tab) • • • •
Auto-generate file references (by dragging from the Finder) • • • •
Option-click to lookup ASObjC references in Dash • • •
AppleScript block and delimiter balancing • • • •
AppleScript block highlighting (when mouse hovers in gutter) • • • •
Line number display • • • •
Line wrapping • • • •
Invisible and control character display • • • •
Escape whitespace characters when compiling • •
Navigation Bar • • • •
Line Commands • •
   Move Up • •
   Move Down • •
   Insert Line Before • •
   Insert Line After • •
   Cut Lines • •
   Copy Lines • •
   Delete Lines • •
   Duplicate Lines • •
Table of contents menu • • • •
Text substitution (with clipping placeholder support) • • • •
Tell block builder • • • •
Open Quickly (discontiguous Spotlight script searches) • • •
Open Dictionary • • • •
   Applications • • • •
   ‘use’d script libraries • •
Manifest • • •
Status bar • • •
Versions support • • •
External editing of scripts (using BBEdit or another ODBEditorSuite compatible editor) • • •
Code completion of AppleScriptObjC terminology • • •
AppleScriptObjC refactoring • • •
Shift/Indent lines • • • •
Entab and Detab • • • •
Implicit parent script • • •
Implicit tell target • • •
Dropped file handling • • • •
   Create tell block for dropped application • • • •
   Paste file reference • • • •
      Name • • • •
      Alias • • • •
      Posix path • • • •
      «class furl» path • •
      HFS path • • • •
      Finder file reference • • • •
   Invoke on open handler • • • •
Clippings menu and clippings inspector • • • •
   Show user clippings at top of clippings menu •
   Hide system clippings •
   Clipping placeholder support • • • •
Clippings placeholders • • • •
   Dates, times, usernames, paired and unpaired names • • • •
   Application picker • • • •
   Library picker • • • •
   Enumeration Pickers • •
   Custom Pickers • •
   ASObjC placeholders • • •
Tell Context inspector • • •
Dictionary inspector • • • •
Recording • • • •
   AppleScript recording • • • •
   Recording explorer actions • •

Files

Feature 8.0 8.0 Lite 7.0 6.0
Open and save all AppleScript file formats • • • •
Browse past document versions • • •
   View/Restore past versions • • •
   Execute past versions without restoring • • •
   Debug past versions without restoring • •
Code Signing • • • •
   Developer ID signing on save • •
   Developer ID signing on export • • • •
   Ad hoc deep signing on save (Big Sur) • •
   Ad hoc deep signing on export (Big Sur) • •
   Hardened runtime signing/notarization integration on export with SD Notary • •
   Always-on code signing on save • •
   Code signing on export Run-Only • • •
Bundle editing • • • •
   Bundle attributes (bundleID, copyright, version, build number) • • • •
   Auto-increment build number on save • • • •
   Auto-increment build number on export •
   Minimum OS version • • •
   Application Transport Security control • • •
   Create background only applets • • •
   Droplet file filtering by Uniform Type Identifiers • • •
   Droplet file filtering by filename extensions • • •
   Bundle contents (script libraries, resources, etc.) • • • •
Auto-Save and recovery • • • •
Recover damaged scripts • • • •
Export Run-Only • • • •
   One-click direct export • •
   Convert bundled scripts to Run-Only • • • •
   Embed used libraries • • •
   Code signing • • • •
Create enhanced applets and droplets • •
Prevent dependant application launches when opening scripts • • • •
User created script templates • • • •

Execution

Feature 8.0 8.0 Lite 7.0 6.0
Run script and see result • • • •
Debugging • • •
   Single step execution • • •
   Tracing • • •
   Breakpoints • • •
   Break on AppleScript exceptions • • •
   Expressions • • •
   Code coverage • • •
   Call stack displaying associated local variables • • •
   Floating mini debugger window • • •
   External debugging (debug scripts running within other applications) • •
Script timer • • •
Display properties and global variables (when script finishes) • • • •
Display properties and global variables (while paused when debugging) • • •
Variable deletion (while paused when debugging) • •
Drag & drop manipulation of variable values • • •
Drag & drop manipulation of list, records and script objects • • •
Event simulation (open, run, idle, quit, Folder Actions, Digital Hub) • • • •
Implicit tell target • • •
Display arbitrary expressions • • •
Expression tooltips • • •
Leaked resources detection (e.g. unclosed file references) • • • •
Event logging • • • •
   Always-on event logging • • • •
   Filter by target application • • • •
   Filter by content • • •
   Event logging window (separate from script window) • • • •
   Event result explorer • • •
   Show source line for event log entry (when debugging) • • •

Dictionary Viewer

Feature 8.0 8.0 Lite 7.0 6.0
Dictionary finder • • • •
   Running • • • •
   Recent • • • •
   Favourite • • • •
   Script Libraries • •
   Known applications • • • •
Dictionary searching • • • •
Cross dictionary searching • • • •
Launch and quit applications • • • •
Object model hierarchy display • • •
Object model inheritance display • • •
Expanded dictionary documentation • • •
Explorer outlining of objects • • • •
   AppleScript lists and records • • • •
   “Best” date display • • • •
   “Best” file display with Reveal In Finder and QuickLook • • • •
   “Best” HTML string display • • • •
   “Best” image display • • • •
   “Best” NSColor display • •
   AppleScript Objective-C scalar display (NSString, NSDate, NSNumber, etc.) • • •
   AppleScript Objective-C collection display (NSArray, NSSet, NSDictionary) • • •
   Exploration of running applications • • •
      View elements and properties • • •
      Edit property values • • •
      Delete object instances • •
      Move object instances (Drag & Drop) • •
      Duplicate object instances (Drag & Drop) • •
   Outliner reloading and scope bar • • •
   Explorer windows (separate from script window) • • •

Building

Feature 8.0 8.0 Lite 7.0 6.0
Produce Native Applets for Apple Silicon • •
Codesigning & Notarizing •
Bundling Preferences • •
Build & Export Settings • •
Direct Export of Run-Only scripts • •

Miscellaneous

Feature 8.0 8.0 Lite 7.0 6.0
Respond to applescript:// URLs • • • •
Act as default editor for .scpt, .scprd and .applescript files • • • •
Raw Apple Event code display (script, dictionary, outliner, explorer AEPrint view) • • •
Native on Apple Silicon • •
Dark Mode support (with text themes) • •
Big Sur Appearance • •
Searchable Preferences • •
Scripting interface • • • •
   Document handling (open, close, save, compile, execute) • • • •
   Document introspection (get variable and handler meta-data) • • •
   Document view settings • • • •
   Dictionary handling (open, close) • • • •
   Dictionary view settings • • • •
   Themes • •
Keyboard shortcut customization • • •
Free maintenance updates • • • •

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