This issue was as well reported in NetCAT program.

This is key feature for debugging.
Rising priority to be sure it will be adressed in 4.1

1) user can watch content of arrays using watches view - so, there is
workarround
2) this is not a bug, but RFE. this functionality has not been
implemented in nb4.0 too - no big complains. We can not reuse nb3.6
solution.
3) This is definitelly not key feature of debugger. Key features of
debugger are Line Breakpoints, Watches, Expression evaluation, etc.

=> P1 RFE

How to solve it:
================
1) Implement special view (dialog) for long arrays
2) Show first 100 items only, and rest of items in special subnodes like:

[0]
[1]
...
[99]
[100..199]
[200..299]
...

See the count of votes for this bug. This IMO does not mean no complains.

I cannot agree this is RFE. The described workaround is silly and I
cannot imagine users watching 100 nodes (can you imagine to create
~100 watches by hand?). This limits the functionality of debugger to
Jarda's description - it's a toy!
Implement your solution number 2, it's elegant and users will
appreciate it. Or make some use of [...] button in tree table view and
open the dialog with all nodes in array. The problem of this solution
is, it will be (probably) modal => will not allow you to invoke
debugger actions, and will cover part of IDE.

creating a new dialog, or changing node structure is feature. we have
feature freeze now.

Do not try this. You have to fix this for 4.1.

RFE, rescheduling for future

This is a must to fix it for next release.

*** Issue 49782 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***

The support for long arrays is added. Now it's possible to inspect all elements
of an array. The portions of the array are nested:

/cvs/debuggerjpda/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/models/LocalsTreeModel.java,v
 <--  LocalsTreeModel.java
new revision: 1.27; previous revision: 1.26

/cvs/debuggerjpda/ui/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/ui/models/Bundle.properties,v
 <--  Bundle.properties
new revision: 1.23; previous revision: 1.22

/cvs/debuggerjpda/ui/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/ui/models/VariablesActionsProvider.java,v
 <--  VariablesActionsProvider.java
new revision: 1.10; previous revision: 1.9

/cvs/debuggerjpda/ui/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/ui/models/VariablesNodeModel.java,v
 <--  VariablesNodeModel.java
new revision: 1.9; previous revision: 1.8

/cvs/debuggerjpda/ui/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/ui/models/VariablesTableModel.java,v
 <--  VariablesTableModel.java
new revision: 1.9; previous revision: 1.8

The fix is merged into release41_fixes branch - preparing for hotfix update:

/shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/models/LocalsTreeModel.java,v
 <--  LocalsTreeModel.java
new revision: 1.24.12.1; previous revision: 1.24

/shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/ui/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/ui/models/Bundle.properties,v
 <--  Bundle.properties
new revision: 1.22.26.1; previous revision: 1.22

/shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/ui/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/ui/models/VariablesActionsProvider.java,v
 <--  VariablesActionsProvider.java
new revision: 1.9.12.1; previous revision: 1.9

/shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/ui/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/ui/models/VariablesNodeModel.java,v
 <--  VariablesNodeModel.java
new revision: 1.8.12.1; previous revision: 1.8

/shared/data/ccvs/repository/debuggerjpda/ui/src/org/netbeans/modules/debugger/jpda/ui/models/VariablesTableModel.java,v
 <--  VariablesTableModel.java
new revision: 1.8.12.1; previous revision: 1.8

Verified.