Patent ID: 7120901
Filing Date: 2006-10-10
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method for identifying errors, in a source code stored on a computer, of program components having nested functions which may use return codes and which are executed in a multithread environment, said method comprising the steps of: using an editor operating on the computer, adding, in the source code of the program components, the following macros: an ENTRY macro at a beginning of each function, an EXIT macro at a normal execution end of each function, a TRACE macro wherever specific information needs to be dumped and a QUIT macro in a place where an unexpected condition occurs; compiling the source code into executable code using a code source compiler on the computer; executing said executable code, including trace macro code, wherein each time one of the ENTRY or EXIT macros is executed, logging a trace record in a trace file including a name of the corresponding function, each time a TRACE macro is executed, logging a trace record in the trace file including the dumped specific information, and, each time a QUIT macro is executed, logging a trace record in the trace file comprising the name of the corresponding function, and jumping to an execution of the EXIT macro of said corresponding function; reading a selected trace record in the trace file; if the selected trace record has been created by execution of an ENTRY macro, displaying on a screen of the computer the function name as a representation of a node, the node becoming a current node, of a tree illustrating a structure of the program components comprising nested functions; if the selected trace record has been created by execution of a QUIT macro, marking on the screen the current node as a failing function, a parent tree node becoming the current node; if the trace macro has been created by execution of an EXIT macro, marking the current node on the screen as a successfully executed function, the parent tree node becoming the current node; if the trace macro has not been created by execution of an EXIT macro, storing in a memory of the computer the corresponding dumped specific information of the TRACE macro as a leaf of the current node; and repetitively executing the previous steps up to an end of the trace file.