Monitoring execution of an hierarchical visual program such as for debugging a message flow

A visual execution monitoring tool for monitoring execution of an hierarchical visual program, comprising:

• means for identifying a set of locations within an hierarchical visual program corresponding to predefined execution progress points, and for inserting at each of said locations a component for generating program execution progress reports when the predefined execution progress points are reached during execution;
• an execution engine for processing the hierarchical visual program, said execution engine being responsive to said components generating said execution progress reports for sending the progress reports to an execution monitoring controller;
• an execution monitoring controller for maintaining information representing the hierarchical structure of the hierarchical visual program and for mapping received progress report data to the hierarchical program structure;
• means for generating, during execution of said visual program, a visual representation of the hierarchical program structure and a visual representation of the position within the hierarchical program structure corresponding to the stage of program execution indicated by the received progress report data.

A method of monitoring execution progress of an hierarchical visual program, including the steps of:

• storing information representing the hierarchical structure of the hierarchical visual program;
• identifying a set of locations within the hierarchical visual program corresponding to a predefined set of execution progress points, and inserting at each of said locations a component for generating program execution progress reports when the predefined execution progress points are reached during execution;
• initiating execution of the hierarchical visual program in response to user input;
• monitoring execution of the hierarchical visual program, including responding to said components generating said execution progress reports by sending the progress reports to an execution monitoring controller which maps received progress report data to the hierarchical program structure;
• and
• generating, during execution of said visual program, a visual representation of the hierarchical program structure and a visual representation of the position within the hierarchical program structure corresponding to the stage of program execution indicated by the received progress report data.

A computer program product comprising program code recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, the program code implementing a visual execution monitoring tool for monitoring execution of an hierarchical visual program, the tool comprising:

• one or more components for generating program execution progress reports upon reaching predefined stages of program execution, and for sending the reports to an execution monitoring controller;
• an execution monitoring controller for maintaining information representing the hierarchical structure of the hierarchical visual program and for mapping received progress report data to the hierarchical program structure;
• and
• means for generating, during execution of said visual program, a visual representation of the hierarchical program structure and a visual representation of the position within the hierarchical program structure corresponding to the stage of program execution indicated by the received progress report data.

A computer program product comprising program code recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, the program code implementing a visual programming and execution monitoring tool for developing and monitoring execution of hierarchical visual programs, the tool comprising:

• means for identifying a set of locations within an hierarchical visual program corresponding to predefined execution progress points, and for inserting at each of said locations a component for generating program execution progress reports when the predefined execution progress points are reached during execution;
• an execution engine for processing the hierarchical visual program, said execution engine being responsive to said components generating said execution progress reports for sending the progress reports to an execution monitoring controller;
• an execution monitoring controller for maintaining information representing the hierarchical structure of the hierarchical visual program and for mapping received progress report data to the hierarchical program structure;
• means for generating, during execution of said visual program, a visual representation of the hierarchical program structure and a visual representation of the position within the hierarchical program structure corresponding to the stage of program execution indicated by the received progress report data.

A data processing system including a visual execution monitoring tool for use in debugging an hierarchical visual program, the visual execution monitoring tool comprising:

• means for identifying a set of locations within an hierarchical visual program corresponding to predefined execution progress points, and for inserting at each of said locations a component for generating program execution progress reports when the predefined execution progress points are reached during execution;
• an execution engine for processing the hierarchical visual program, said execution engine being responsive to said components generating said execution progress reports for sending the progress reports to an execution monitoring controller;
• an execution monitoring controller for maintaining information representing the hierarchical structure of the hierarchical visual program and for mapping received progress report data to the hierarchical program structure;
• means for generating, during execution of said visual program, a visual representation of the hierarchical program structure and a visual representation of the position within the hierarchical program structure corresponding to the stage of program execution indicated by the received progress report data.