Exception tracking

• US 7,984,220 B2
• Filed: 09/02/2004
• Issued: 07/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Saltness, Richard Allen, Gerard, Scott N., Santosuosso, John Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Rinehart; Mark
• Assistant Examiner(s): DALEY, CHRISTOPHER ANTHONY
• Application Number:
  US10/932,733
• Publication Number:
  US 20060095812A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,511 Days
• Field of Search: 710/302, 717/126, 717/127, 714/38
• US Class Current: 710/302
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0715 in a system implementing multitasking multitasking per se G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0781 Error filtering or prioritizing based on a policy defined by the user or on a policy defined by a hardware/software module, e.g. according to a severity level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3636 by tracing the execution of the program

Abstract

A method, apparatus, system, and signal-bearing medium that, in an embodiment, log trace data in response to an exception if the exception meets a filter criteria and create quality data from the trace data if a class in a call stack associated with the exception is owned by a user defined in a user table. In an embodiment, the quality data includes an identification of the user, a count of a number of times the exception was encountered by the user, and an identification of the exception. In various embodiments, the filter criteria may be an exception type, classes that initiate the exception, or packages that contain the classes that initiate the exception.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

logging trace data in response to an exception, wherein the trace data comprises a call stack of an application that generated the exception at a time that the exception occurred, wherein the application comprises a plurality of linked methods, and wherein the call stack comprises a plurality of entries for the linked methods and information that describes a plurality of classes of the linked methods at the time that the exception occurred, wherein the linked methods are linked as a result of the linked methods calling each other within a same process;

finding a first class that generated the exception in the call stack; and

creating quality data from the trace data if the first class in the call stack is owned by a user defined in a user table, wherein the creating further comprises creating a count of a number of times the exception was encountered by the application while the first class that generated the exception was owned by the user, wherein the quality data comprises an identification of the user, the count, and an identification of the exception.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the logging further comprises:

logging the trace data if the exception meets a filter criteria.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the filter criteria comprises an exception type.

4. An apparatus comprising:

means for logging trace data in response to an exception if the exception meets a filter criteria, wherein the trace data comprises a call stack of an application that generated the exception at a time that the exception occurred, wherein the application comprises a plurality of linked methods, and wherein the call stack comprises a plurality of entries for the linked methods and information that describes a plurality of classes of the linked methods at the time that the exception occurred, wherein the linked methods are linked as a result of the linked methods calling each other within a same process;

means for finding a first class that generated the exception in the call stack; and

means for creating quality data from the trace data if the first class in the call stack is owned by a user defined in a user table, wherein the means for creating further comprises means for creating a count of a number of times the exception was encountered by the application while the first class that generated the exception was owned by the user, wherein the quality data comprises an identification of the user, the count, and an identification of the exception.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the filter criteria comprises an exception type.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the filter criteria comprises classes that initiate the exception.

7. A signal-bearing medium encoded with instructions, wherein the instructions when executed comprise:

logging trace data in response to an exception if the exception meets a filter criteria, wherein the trace data comprises a call stack of an application that generated the exception at a time that the exception occurred, wherein the application comprises a plurality of linked methods, and wherein the call stack comprises a plurality of entries for the linked methods and information that describes a plurality of classes of the linked methods at the time that the exception occurred, wherein the linked methods are linked as a result of the linked methods calling each other within a same process;

finding a first class that generated the exception in the call stack; and

creating quality data from the trace data if the first class in the call stack is owned by a user defined in a user table, wherein the creating further comprises creating a count of a number of times the exception was encountered by the application while the first class that generated the exception was owned by the user, wherein the quality data comprises an identification of the user, the count, and an identification of the exception.

8. The signal-bearing medium of claim 7, wherein the filter criteria comprises an exception type.

9. The signal-bearing medium of claim 8, wherein the filter criteria comprises classes that initiate the exception.

10. The signal-bearing medium of claim 9, wherein the filter criteria comprises packages that contain the classes that initiate the exception.

11. A computer system comprising:

a processor; and

memory encoded with instructions, wherein the instructions when executed on the processor comprise;

logging trace data in response to an exception if the exception meets a filter criteria, wherein the trace data comprises a call stack of an application that generated the exception at a time that the exception occurred, wherein the application comprises a plurality of linked methods, and wherein the call stack comprises a plurality of entries for the linked methods and information that describes a plurality of classes of the linked methods at the time that the exception occurred, wherein the linked methods are linked as a result of the linked methods calling each other within a same process,

finding a first class that generated the exception in the call stack, and

creating quality data from the trace data if the first class in the call stack is owned by a user defined in a user table, wherein the creating further comprises creating a count of a number of times the exception was encountered by the application while the first class that generated the exception was owned by the user, wherein the quality data comprises an identification of the user, the count, and an identification of the exception.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the filter criteria comprises an exception type.

13. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the filter criteria comprises classes that initiate the exception.

14. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the filter criteria comprises packages that contain the classes that initiated the exception.