Method for efficiently mapping error messages to unique identifiers

• US 20060112127A1
• Filed: 11/23/2004
• Published: 05/25/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Krause, Michael, Lupu, Corneliu, Sierakowski, Stefan F., Karnik, Alok
• Application Number:
  US10/994,307
• Publication Number:
  US 20060112127A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/75 Structural analysis for program understanding

Abstract

A method and computer product for mapping an error message to an identifier to enable error reporting is provided. An error message hash vector is associated with a resource ID and a resource module. When an error message is displayed, substrings of text in the message are hashed and matched to a corresponding hash vector. The substrings are defined as text that is between the start of the message and wildcard string (a string that is dynamically inserted at runtime), between a wildcard string and the end of the message, or between two wildcard strings. Based on the hash of these substrings, error messages can be quickly and efficiently mapped to a corresponding resource ID and module, which can then be reported.

Claims

1. A method for creating an error message hash table for reporting error messages in a computer application to an interested party, comprising:

loading a string resource;

constructing a message hash vector for the string resource; and

storing the hash vector in a hash vector table along with a resource ID for the string resource.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing a resource module name for the string resource with the hash vector in the hash vector table.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein hash vector includes a hash of a string and length of that string.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, if a string of the string resource contains wildcard characters, constructing a message hash vector comprises:

determining a number of substrings in a string of the string resource, wherein a substring is a section of the string that is adjacent to a wildcard character at one end and one of the beginning of the message, the end of the message, and another wildcard character at the other end;

generating a hash for every substring;

determining a length for every substring; and

storing a hash, length, and resource ID for every substring in the hash vector.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a wildcard character is a character dynamically inserted into a message box that uses the string resource.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein a resource module name associated with the string resource is stored with every substring hash, length, and resource ID in the hash vector.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein, if a string of the string resource does not contain wildcard characters, constructing a message hash vector comprises:

generating a hash for the string;

determining a length for the string; and

storing the hash, length, and a resource ID for the string in the hash vector.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein a wildcard character is a character dynamically inserted into a message box that uses the string resource.

9. A method for providing error message reporting for reporting error messages in a computer application to an interested party, comprising:

detecting that an error message is displayed; and

matching a hash of the error message text to a hash vector in a hash vector table, wherein a resource ID associated with the error message is stored with the hash vector in the hash vector table.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising reporting the resource ID to the interested party.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein a resource module name associated with the error message is also stored in the hash vector.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising reporting the resource module name to the interested party.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein matching a hash of the error message to a hash vector comprises:

determining whether a substring of the error message matches a substring hash contained in a hash vector; and

if the substring matches and there are more substring hashes in the hash vector, determining whether a next substring of the error message matches a next substring hash; and

if a substring of the error message does not match a substring hash, determining that the error message does not match the hash vector.

14. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for creating an error message hash table for reporting error messages in a computer application to an interested party, the computer-executable instructions facilitating performing a set of steps comprising:

loading a string resource;

constructing a message hash vector for the string resource; and

storing the hash vector in a hash vector table along with a resource ID for the string resource.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, the steps further comprising storing a resource module name for the string resource with the hash vector in the hash vector table.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein hash vector includes a hash of a string and length of that string.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein, if a string of the string resource contains wildcard characters, the constructing a message hash vector step comprises:

determining a number of substrings in a string of the string resource, wherein a substring is a section of the string that is adjacent to a wildcard character at one end and one of the beginning of the message, the end of the message, and another wildcard character at the other end;

generating a hash for every substring;

determining a length for every substring; and

storing a hash, length, and resource ID for every substring in the hash vector.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein a wildcard character is a character dynamically inserted into a message box that uses the string resource.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein a resource module name associated with the string resource is stored with every substring hash, length, and resource ID in the hash vector.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein, if a string of the string resource does not contain wildcard characters, the constructing a message hash vector step comprises:

generating a hash for the string;

determining a length for the string; and

storing the hash, length, and a resource ID for the string in the hash vector.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein a wildcard character is a character dynamically inserted into a message box that uses the string resource.

22. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for providing error message reporting for reporting error messages in a computer application to an interested party, the computer-executable instructions facilitating performing a set of steps comprising:

detecting that an error message is displayed; and

matching a hash of the error message text to a hash vector in a hash vector table, wherein a resource ID associated with the error message is stored with the hash vector in the hash vector table.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, the steps further comprising reporting the resource ID to the interested party.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein a resource module name associated with the error message is also stored in the hash vector.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 24, the steps further comprising reporting the resource module name to the interested party.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the matching a hash of the error message to a hash vector step comprises:

determining whether a substring of the error message matches a substring hash contained in a hash vector; and

if the substring matches and there are more substring hashes in the hash vector, determining whether a next substring of the error message matches a next substring hash; and

if a substring of the error message does not match a substring hash, determining that the error message does not match the hash vector.