#ZTC 3.1 Multiscope
2 messages in this thread
Oliver,
I've got a Multiscope with my Zortech C++ 3.1 and would like confirmation on
some topics. Let me tell you first that I got that Version in April, I think,
and I had to wait until the german dealer was able to deliver one. Therefore I
guess it was an quite early version of the ZTC. The Multiscope that came with
that compiler has the following problems:
1. Although there is a Class Window, it does not work at all. Nothing is ever
shown in there. Also you cannot set the window color. Did you try to remove
that feature for the version delivered with the ZTC? And if so, have you only
partially succeeded? Are Zortech users really supposed to sort through the
various 'this' pointers in the local data window?
2. When tracing through a program, inline code is simply skipped. Is there no
way to see that code?
3. When tracing a subroutine 'step over' sometimes will jump out of the routine
back to the calling program. This seems to happen preferably when stepping over
a conditional ('x? y : z') in the code. It does not always happen with
conditionals, but if it happens the effect is reproducable. I suppose this is a
bug. Is something know about this?
Which of those problems would be fixed, if I bought a true Multiscope license?
BTW: Does the full Multiscope support the Watcom C/C++ debug format (we use
that one with the 4GW DOS-Extender and are quite disappointed with their
debugger)?
Juergen Makowka
A+W Software
Hi Juergen,
thanks for your comments
1) The debug information that Zortech puts out is CodeView 3.0 style, which
has no defined debug records for classs information. The next version of
Symantec's C++ will produce CodeView 4.0 information, so all class information
will be available.
2) Unfortunately, inline code (or #included code) cannot be traced through in
this version, also mostly due to restrictions in the debug information. This
will also be remedied in the next release.
3) If you step into a function, then press "return from call", it will not
have built the stack fram correctly yet, and will return one level too high.
This should not be the case once you've stepped deeper into the procedure.
Another reason this might happen is code-optimization. Be sure not to optimize
your code for debugging.
Most of these problems are related to both how the compiler generates debug
information, and how it is interpreted by the debugger. I would wait until the
next version comes out, with which all of these restrictions will be resolved.
As long as WatCom generates CodeView information, MultiScope will debug it.
However, the current versions of MultiScope will only debug 16bit applications.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Sincerely,
Oliver Vogel
Symantec – MultiScope Product Support