On demand tracing of application code execution

• US 8,832,504 B2
• Filed: 04/24/2013
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Shazly, Hassan A.
• Primary Examiner(s): TRUONG, LOAN
• Application Number:
  US13/869,892
• Publication Number:
  US 20130232381A1
• Time in Patent Office: 503 Days
• Field of Search: 714/45, 360/5, 717/128
• US Class Current: 714/45
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/348 Circuit details, i.e. tracer hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3636 by tracing the execution of the program
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/865 Monitoring of software

Abstract

On demand tracing of application code execution includes: during the execution of the application code, writing trace statements to a circular trace buffer (at a selected and potentially variable detail level); determining whether a pre-defined trigger event has occurred; in response to determining that the trigger event has occurred, outputting one or more trace statements in the circular trace buffer according to pre-defined trace parameters; determining whether a trigger end event has occurred; and in response to determining that the trigger end event has occurred, terminating the outputting of the trace statements. The trigger event and the trigger end event may be defined by names of application code variables, values for the variables, and operators to be used. The trigger end event may further be defined by a time duration for which trace statements are to be outputted, or a number of trace statements to be outputted.

Claims

1. A method for tracing execution of application code, comprising:

executing the application code comprising a plurality of trace statements encoded within;

in response to executing a current trace statement within the application code, writing the current trace statement to a circular trace buffer and determining whether a pre-defined trigger event has occurred by the computing device; and

in response to determining that the trigger event has occurred,

outputting the current trace statement from the circular trace buffer by the computing device;

outputting from the circular trace buffer a number of trace statements before the trigger event according to a pre-defined before-trigger-event parameter; and

outputting from the circular trace buffer a number of trace statements after the trigger event until a trigger end event has occurred according to a pre-defined after-trigger-event parameter by the computing device,

wherein the trigger end event comprises a trace end event, wherein the trace end event is defined by parameters comprising a name of a variable in the application code to be used as the trace end event, a value for the variable, and an operator defining a relationship between the variable and the value for the variable,

wherein the outputting from the circular trace buffer the number of trace statements after the trigger event until the trigger end event has occurred by the computing device according to the pre-defined after-trigger-event parameter comprises;

determining whether the variable in the application code satisfies the operator and the value by the computing device; and

in response to determining that the variable in the computer program satisfies the operator and the value by the computing device, terminating the outputting of the trace statements from the circular buffer by the computing device.

2. A method for tracing execution of application code, comprising:

executing the application code comprising a plurality of trace statements encoded within;

in response to executing a current trace statement within the application code, writing the current trace statement to a circular trace buffer and determining whether a pre-defined trigger event has occurred by the computing device; and

in response to determining that the trigger event has occurred,

outputting the current trace statement from the circular trace buffer by the computing device;

outputting from the circular trace buffer a number of trace statements before the trigger event according to a pre-defined before-trigger-event parameter; and

outputting from the circular trace buffer a number of trace statements after the trigger event until a trigger end event has occurred according to a pre-defined after-trigger-event parameter by the computing device,

further comprising a traceTime parameter defining a time duration for which the outputting of the trace statements from the circular buffer is to continue,

wherein the outputting from the circular trace buffer the number of trace statements after the trigger event until the trigger end event has occurred by the computing device according to the pre-defined after-trigger-event parameter comprises;

determining whether the time duration defined by the traceTime parameter has elapsed by the computing device; and

in response to determining that the time duration defined by the traceTime parameter has elapsed, terminating the outputting of the trace statements from the circular buffer by the computing device.

3. A method for tracing execution of application code, comprising:

executing the application code comprising a plurality of trace statements encoded within;

in response to executing a current trace statement within the application code, writing the current trace statement to a circular trace buffer and determining whether a pre-defined trigger event has occurred by the computing device; and

in response to determining that the trigger event has occurred,

outputting the current trace statement from the circular trace buffer by the computing device;

outputting from the circular trace buffer a number of trace statements before the trigger event according to a pre-defined before-trigger-event parameter; and

outputting from the circular trace buffer a number of trace statements after the trigger event until a trigger end event has occurred according to a pre-defined after-trigger-event parameter by the computing device,

further comprising a traceAfter parameter defining the number of trace statements from after the trigger event to be outputted from the circular buffer,

wherein the outputting from the circular trace buffer the number of trace statements after the trigger event until the trigger end event has occurred by the computing device according to the pre-defined after-trigger event parameter comprises;

determining whether a number of outputted trace statements from after the trigger event outputted from the circular buffer equals the traceAfter parameter by the computing device; and

in response to determining that the number of outputted trace statements after the trigger event equals the traceAfter parameter, terminating the outputting of the trace statements from the circular buffer by the computing device.