Hi and thanks for the report!

This is not a bug, but the documentation doesn't say anything about how it works. I will keep the ticket (with changed title) to remind us to fix the docs.

When launching a configuration, it is like starting an Erlang vm from the shell. The function specified for startup is added to the command line as a "-s" argument. This means that it is run and the runtime keeps executing. The startup function is meant to start any needed applications and processes for your system, then you can use the shell to interact with it.

The result from the startup function doesn't go anywhere (and unfortunately output from io:format gets lost), so it's not obvious how to check that it has run. You can start an application or start a registered process (that doesn't die right away :-) and check from the shell that they are indeed up and running.

Is this explanation ok? Do you think it's enough to add this to the docs?

Thank you for your reply. I think it would be appropriate to add something about this to the runtime configuration "Erlang" tab "Start" section or somewhere there.

Is it possible to get the Erlang shell in the console tab? I noticed it got there when debugging but not when running. If so, perhaps you could provide a checkbox for it in the launch configuration?

Also, possibly related to documenting these kind of features:

When I set up a new debug launch configuration, am I supposed to just insert an arbitrary node name or do I have to configure something? I can't seem to get breakpoints to work. If I should be able to get it working just inputting something like testnode@localhost then I have another bug to file... :)

Sorry for the late answer, I was on vacation.

The Erlang shell should be displayed even when running (not just when debugging). Sometimes you need to open the console view yourself and look for it there, I'm not sure why.

The whole console support is not good, it's the most requested improvement, but we don't have enough time to fix it right away (it's a lot of work).

regarding node names, you can put anything there, but without the "@hostname" part (if I remember correctly). If a node with that name is already running, it is used; if not, it is started.

Don't breakpoints work at all, or just in relation with the startup function? The latter may have problems, but the former works.

I updated the docs at https://github.com/erlide/erlide/wiki/Running-and-debugging-Erlang-code and improved the text on the dialog.

Updating tickets (#617, #627, #629, #633, #638, #646, #558, #663, #516, #611, #612, #635, #647, #654, #661, #666, #678)