The Debug Artefact

The XpressDox Debug Artefact is a powerful troubleshooting tool designed to help template authors troubleshoot their template issues and understand exactly how their templates are executed at runtime.

What is the Debug Artefact?

When a template is run, XpressDox automatically generates a Debug Artefact in the XDArtifacts folder, located in the root folder of the template.

This Debug Artefact is a generated template that:

• Combines all included templates into a single file
• Copies all logic and code from each include
• Can be run independently, outside of the original template environment by copying and pasting it first to a new location

This produces a single, self-contained template that reflects the full execution context used by XpressDox.

Why this is useful

In complex template structures – particularly those with multiple includes – it can be difficult to determine:

• The order in which code is executed
• Why fields or clauses appear out of sequence
• Where logic is being triggered across included templates

The Debug Artefact makes the execution order explicit by showing the exact sequence in which XpressDox encounters and processes code. This is especially helpful when diagnosing issues related to unexpected field ordering or logic behaviour.

When to use the Debug Artefact

The Debug Artefact is particularly useful when:

• Working with templates that contain many Include/IncludeCodeTemplate commands
• Investigating unexpected field sequencing