I don't think there is a debug-specific documentation for InDesign. It looks like you want to understand the console windows logs that InDesign spits when running. To start with: 1. Use the DebugWindow (Mac only) tool that comes with SDK. For windows, you can use notepad 2. Obtain the InDesign debug version from prerelease form 3. When you launch InDesign debug version, a new set of menus are added at top level. This should be easily visible 4. You can toggle the TRACES menu child items to check for specific things. A prerequisite to debugging InDesign is a good understanding of the InDesign Object Model and self exploration. SDK should help you here. I have debugged InDesign a lot and just to give you a headstart I shall share what I have mostly used: -- Signals -- Commands Events, Menus, and dumping OM are other things I have used less frequently, though have been quite useful. ... View more

The way you hook up on kAfterSaveDocSignalResponderService to trigger package creation does not sound right. Just give a thought that the package creation itself creates a new copy of the indd document, which itself will trigger a slew of doc signals including another after-save service signal.  You need to find a way to only trigger packaging for your source documents. Check if you can take help of k[Before/After]PackageDocSignalRespService signals ... View more

How to use boss class depends on what you would like to implement. SDK documentation is the only resource to learn plug-in development in InDesign. Few things you should understand: -> InDesign uses its own object model. This object model is constructed at runtime. As you know, C++ has an object model, but InDesign although developed in C++ but has its own object model. InDesign uses an abstraction called boss class. A boss is a class in the InDesign object model. -> Objects in InDesign are boss class objects. This means that a document, page, spread, page item are not C++ objects but boss class objects. document -> kDocBoss spread -> kSpreadBoss etc. These boss classes have hierachical structure. Boss class is a kind of InDesign class and not a C++ class. Plug-ins in InDesign talk to each other via the boss classes. -> You should have a basic understanding of interface-based programming. Read basics of Component Object Model (COM). Programming in InDesign in similar to COM where functionality is accessed via interfaces. -> Your plug-in will create boss classes, or add features to existing boss classes. The fr (resource) file is where you define the boss class. -> You should be familiar with design patterns. InDesign heavily uses design patterns like observer, command, responder, factory, etc. -> You have lots of sample code in the SDK which you can refer to. -> Believe me, InDesign API is very-well documented. API documentation in products like Photoshop, Illustrator really sucks. Example: Suppose I would like to add some custom data to be stored inside each document. I would add a persistent interface-impl to the kDocBoss. Here, you add functionality to existing boss. This would mean that I will create a new interface and impl IDs in the pluginID.h file. Create a file with the corresponding C++ class. Register the interface-impl and bind them. Of course, will add the interface-impl to kDocBoss in the fr file. ... View more