Calling functions

I have created 4 sprites (enemy) with the same class ($eShip) and in a group that I have numbered 4. I would like to have them check for their x and y distance from another sprite (player/$pShip). I have two GuiTextCtrl fields on my main Gui screen attached to 2 variables $locX, $locY (for debugging). In my game.cs script I have:

$enemies = $eShip.getGraphGroup;
...
...

function t2dSceneGraph::onUpdateScene(%this)
{
for (%i = 0; %i < $enemies.getCount; %i++)
{
playerClose($enemies.getObject(%i));
}
$locY = "past enemy";

}

And in my enemy.cs I have:

function playerClose(%this)
{
$locX = "in enemy";
}
I originally had code in this function and finally tracked the issue down to playerClose never getting executed because my $locX never shows "in enemy" but $locY shows "past enemy".

2 Questions:
Why doesn't playerClose execute?
Is there a better way (breakpoint, stepping) to debug code that using onscreen text fields? The console, but how do I get to it?

Thanks,

JB