From GridLAB-D Wiki
gdb_window - Control the use of the source debugger window for runtime classes
Synopsis
host% gridlabd -D gdb_window=0|1 host% gridlabd --define gdb_window=0|1 #set gdb_window=0|1
Description
When gdb_window is non-zero, runtime classes are built with debugging enabled and GridLAB-D is started inside the host platform's debugging environment using a debugging window. This is specifically to allow users to debug runtime classes using a debugging window.
The gdb option interacts in complex ways with debug, gdb, compile_once, and use_msvc. For details, see further documentation on working with MS Visual Studio 2005 in GridLAB-D.