Method and apparatus for on demand debugging, tracing, and logging of applications

• US 7,581,211 B2
• Filed: 07/14/2004
• Issued: 08/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ding, Li, Chen, Xuan Zhang, Babineau, Sean Eric, Berestetsky, Vadim
• Primary Examiner(s): Dam; Tuan Q
• Assistant Examiner(s): TECKLU, ISAAC TUKU
• Application Number:
  US10/890,665
• Publication Number:
  US 20060015853A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,868 Days
• Field of Search: 717127-131, 709/223
• US Class Current: 717/131
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3636 by tracing the execution of the program

Abstract

On demand tracking of applications is provided by a mechanism of the present invention. After a user selects one or more units of execution of interest, a marker is assigned to each target object. Upon invocation of an application, an event is sent to an event handler if at least one target object is executed. The event handler gathers a process identifier and initiates a debugging, tracing or logging of the process on a target system.

Claims

1. A method in a data processing system for on demand tracking of applications, the method comprising:

providing a list of target objects associated with the applications;

selecting one or more units of execution of interest from the list of target objects to form a set of selected target objects;

assigning a corresponding marker to each target object in the set of selected target objects prior to execution of the applications, wherein each corresponding marker assigns each target object in the set of selected target objects to a corresponding user identifier of a corresponding user;

responsive to executing the applications to execute at least one target object from the set of selected target objects using the corresponding marker for the at least one target object, identifying the corresponding marker and corresponding user for a target object in the set of selected target objects and triggering an event for an event handler associated with the corresponding user;

responsive to detecting the event from a server triggered by a process for an application, invoking the event handler to gather information from the process, wherein the information comprises a corresponding internet protocol address of a data processing system of the corresponding user and a corresponding process identifier;

sending the information to a development environment; and

responsive to receiving the information on the data processing system of the corresponding user, initiating a debug session automatically using the information in the development environment of the corresponding user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of target objects includes at least one of a library, program, module, object, procedure and entry.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein library includes at least one program, the program includes at least one module and the module includes at least one of an object, an entry and a procedure.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more units of execution of interest includes any target object and a combination of any of the target objects.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of target objects is identified after a build step is complete and an application is deployed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of target objects is displayed in at least one of a tree view and a table view of the development environment.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or mote units of execution of interest is selected by a user of the data processing system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the event handler is a routine that handles a certain type of event.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending step includes:

sending the process identifier to a port shared with the development environment.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the initiating step includes:

initiating a user interface that displays the process executing one or more target objects in the set of selected target objects.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to receiving the information, logging the information automatically to a log file.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the debug session is used by a the corresponding user for tracking the application, and wherein tracking includes at least one of debugging and tracing.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the corresponding marker is one of a service entry point and a breakpoint.

14. A method in a server for processing on demand tracking of applications, the method comprising:

detecting a request from one of a plurality of data processing systems to invoke one or more applications;

responsive to detecting the request, executing a unit of execution of the one or more applications to execute at least one target object from a set of selected target objects using a corresponding marker for at least one target object; and

determining the unit of execution is assigned a corresponding marker, wherein each corresponding marker is assigned to a corresponding user of one of the plurality of data processing systems;

responsive to a determination that the unit of execution is assigned a corresponding marker wherein each corresponding marker is assigned to a corresponding user of one of the plurality of data processing systems, sending an event to an event handler associated with the corresponding user of the one of the plurality of data processing systems, wherein the event handler gathers information comprising a corresponding internet protocol address of a data processing system, of the corresponding user, of one of the plurality of data processing systems and a corresponding process identifier of the unit of execution;

sending the information to a development environment; and

responsive to receiving the information on the data processing system of the corresponding user, initiating a debug session automatically using the information in the development environment of the corresponding user.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining step comprises:

determining whether the user identifier of the corresponding marker matches a user profile of the one of the plurality of data processing systems.

16. A data processing system for on demand tracking of applications, the data processing system comprising:

a system bus;

a memory connected to the system bus, wherein the memory contains computer executable instructions;

a processor connected to the bus, wherein the processor executes the computer executable instructions to direct the data processing system to;

provide a list of target objects associated with the applications;

select one or more units of execution of interest from the list of target objects to form a set of selected target objects;

assign a corresponding marker to each target object in the set of selected target objects prior to execution of the applications, wherein each corresponding marker assigns each target object in the set of selected target objects to a corresponding user identifier of a corresponding user;

responsive to executing the applications to execute at least one target object from the set of selected target objects using the corresponding marker for the at least one target object, identifying a corresponding marker and corresponding user for a target object in the set of selected target objects and triggering an event for an event handler associated with the corresponding user;

invoke the event handler to gather information from a process, responsive to detecting the event from a server triggered by the process for an application, wherein the information comprises a corresponding internet protocol address of the data processing system, of the corresponding user, and a corresponding process identifier;

send the information to a development environment and

responsive to receiving the information on the data processing system of the corresponding user, initiate a debug session automatically using the information in the development environment of the corresponding user.

17. The data processing system of claim 16, wherein the one or more units of execution of interest is selected by the corresponding user of the data processing system.

18. The data processing system of claim 16, wherein the processor executes the computer instructions to direct the data processing to initiate a debug session further directs the data processing system to:

initiate a user interface that displays the process executing one or more target objects in the set of selected target objects.

19. A computer program product for on demand tracking of applications, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable physical storage medium having instructions, executable by the computer, stored thereon, the instructions comprising;

first instructions for providing a list of target objects associated with the applications;

second instructions for selecting one or more units of execution of interest from the list of target objects to form a set of selected target objects;

third instructions for assigning a corresponding marker to each target object in the set of selected target objects prior to execution of the applications, wherein each corresponding marker assigns each target object in the set of selected target objects to a corresponding user identifier of a corresponding user;

fourth instructions responsive to executing the applications to execute at least one target object from the set of selected target objects using the corresponding marker for the at least one target object for identifying a corresponding marker and corresponding user for a target object in the set of selected target objects and triggering an event for an event handler associated with the corresponding user;

fifth instructions for invoking the event handler to gather information from a process, responsive to detecting the event from a server triggered by the process for an application, wherein the information comprises a corresponding internet protocol address of a data processing system of the corresponding user and a corresponding process identifier;

sixth instructions for sending the information to a development environment; and

seventh instructions, responsive to receiving the information on the data processing system of the corresponding user, for initiating a debug session automatically using the information, in the development environment of the corresponding user.