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Trace Analysis Patterns (Part 41)

UI Message pattern is very useful for troubleshooting system-wide issues because we can map visual behaviour to various activity regions and consider such messages as significant events.

#    Module  PID  TID  Time         Message
[...]
2782 ModuleA 2124 5648 10:58:03.356 CreateWindow: Title "..." Class "..."
[...]
3512 ModuleA 2124 5648 10:58:08.154 Menu command: Save Data
[...]
3583 ModuleA 2124 5648 10:58:08.155 CreateWindow: Title "Save As" Class "Dialog"
[... Data update and replication related messages ...]
4483 ModuleA 2124 5648 10:58:12.342 DestroyWindow: Title "Save As" Class "Dialog"
[...]

By filtering the emitting module we can create an adjoint thread:

#    Module  PID  TID  Time         Message
[...]
2782 ModuleA 2124 5648 10:58:03.356 CreateWindow: Title "..." Class "..."
3512 ModuleA 2124 5648 10:58:08.154 Menu command: Save Data
3583 ModuleA 2124 5648 10:58:08.155 CreateWindow: Title "Save As" Class "Dialog"
4483 ModuleA 2124 5648 10:58:12.342 DestroyWindow: Title "Save As" Class "Dialog"
[...]

- Dmitry Vostokov @ DumpAnalysis.org + TraceAnalysis.org -

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 28th, 2011 at 5:51 pm and is filed under CDF Analysis Tips and Tricks, Debugging, Software Trace Analysis, Software Trace Reading, Trace Analysis Patterns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Trace Analysis Patterns (Part 41)”

  1. Juergen Says:
    July 29th, 2011 at 8:04 am

    Hi Dmitry,
    which tool / command is this output from?
    thx, Juergen

  2. Dmitry Vostokov Says:
    July 30th, 2011 at 9:37 pm

    This is fictional output from CDFAnalyzer but the idea comes from real CDF traces where certain Citrix modules emit GUI-related messages

  3. Juergen Says:
    August 3rd, 2011 at 7:16 am

    Thanks, - I googled CDF and found that it means either “Citrix Diagnostic Facility” or “Common Diagnostic Facility” therefore I assume that this Traces are Citrix specific.
    Is there a similar thing/tool for doing/getting such traces from normal normal/locally running applications?

  4. Dmitry Vostokov Says:
    August 3rd, 2011 at 2:13 pm

    Not really Citrix specific - CDF is a version of Microsoft ETW (Event Tracing for Windows) that is now part of every Windows version. My point was that an application can include such trace messages. However if you just need to see window messages that are received by Windows app you can use MessageHistory: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX111068

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