Method and system for tracing and displaying execution of nested functions

An information handling system for identifying errors, in a source code stored on the system, of program components having nested functions which may use return codes and which are executed in a multithread environment, said system comprising:

• an editor for adding, in the source code of the program components, the following macros:
• an ENTRY macro at a beginning of each function, an EXIT macro at a normal execution end of each function, a TRACE macro wherever specific information needs to be dumped and a QUIT macro in a place where an unexpected condition occurs;
• a code source compiler for compiling the source code into executable code on the system;
• means for executing the executable code, including trace macro code, wherein each time one of the ENTRY or EXIT macros is executed, a trace record is logged in a trace file including a name of the corresponding function, each time a TRACE macro is executed, a trace record is logged in the trace file including the dumped specific information, and, each time a QUIT macro is executed, a trace record is logged in the trace file comprising the name of the corresponding function, and execution jumps to the EXIT macro of said corresponding function;
• means for reading a selected trace record in the trace file;
• if the selected trace record has been created by execution of an ENTRY macro, means for displaying, on a screen of a display device, the function name as a representation of a node, the node becoming a current node, of a tree illustrating a structure of the program components comprising nested functions;
• if the selected trace record has been created by execution of a QUIT macro, means for marking on the screen the current node as a failing function, a parent tree node becoming the current node;
• if the trace macro has been created by execution of an EXIT macro, means for marking the current node on the screen as a successfully executed function, the parent tree node becoming the current node;
• and
• if the trace macro has not been created by execution of an EXIT macro, means for storing in a memory of the system, the corresponding dumped specific information of the TRACE macro as a leaf of the current node.

A computer program product stored in a computer operable media for identifying errors, in source codes stored on a computer system, of program components having nested functions which may use return codes and which are executed in a multithread environment, said program product comprising:

• means for using an editor for adding, in the source code of the program components, the following macros:
• an ENTRY macro at a beginning of each function, an EXIT macro at a normal execution end of each function, a TRACE macro wherever a specific information needs to be dumped and a QUIT macro in a place where an unexpected condition occurs;
• means for compiling the source code into executable code on the computer system;
• means for executing the executable code, including trace macro code, wherein each time one of the ENTRY or EXIT macros is executed, a trace record is logged in a trace file including a name of the corresponding function, each time a TRACE macro is executed, a trace record is logged in the trace file including the dumped specific information, and, each time a QUIT macro is executed, a trace record is logged in the trace file comprising the name of the corresponding function, and execution jumps to the EXIT macro of said corresponding function;
• means for reading a selected trace record in the trace file;
• if the selected trace record has been created by execution of an ENTRY macro, means for displaying, on a screen of a display device, the function name as a representation of a node, the node becoming a current node of a tree illustrating a structure of the program components comprising nested functions;
• if the selected trace record has been created by execution of a QUIT macro, means for marking on the screen the current node as a failing function, a parent tree node becoming the current node;
• if the trace macro has been created by execution of an EXIT macro, means for marking the current node on the screen as a successfully executed function, the parent tree node becoming the current node;
• and
• if the trace macro has not been created by execution of an EXIT macro, means for storing in a memory of the computer system, the corresponding dumped specific information of the TRACE macro as a leaf of the current node.