AW: want you error expertise

[Tiemo Hollmann TB]

Hi Bernard,
thank you for your useful advices, yes win has crash-(event-)logs. I will
give them first a try (just forgot them with my last cases) and keep my own
logging as plan B
Tiemo

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: use-livecode-bounces at lists.runrev.com [mailto:use-livecode-
> bounces at lists.runrev.com] Im Auftrag von Bernard Devlin
> Gesendet: Donnerstag, 16. Februar 2012 18:22
> An: How to use LiveCode
> Betreff: Re: want you error expertise
> 
> 1. Does LC on Windows not produce a crash log the way it does on OS X?
>  I would look at that if it exists.  On OS X I've found these logs to
> be quite useful in tracking down crashes (mostly, in recent years, in
> my experience these crashes have related to externals).
> 
> 2. If the log does not exist or is of no help, why not select one
> customer and send them the simplest possible LC app - one that just
> opens, and prints something to a field.That at least will tell you if
> is fundamentally the engine.  And if not, (and there is no crash log),
> then ...
> 
> 3. I suspect you have to produce a debug build of your app.  It will
> need to load externals one by one, and log what it is doing.  Equally
> your debug build would need to load e.g. images one by one, and log
> it, in case it is a single image that does it.
> 
> An intermediate step between 2 & 3 might be to have your simple app
> read the Windows event log (you might have to use VBScript fo this).
> It might be a bit much to ask the user to do that.  You could ask your
> user to create a new login, and to install something like Skype (which
> I believe has screen-sharing), then you could look at the even log
> yourself.  In fact, on that matter, why not get your user to create a
> new login, and run your app under that new account.  It is worth
> eliminating that variable too.
> 
> Steps 1 & 2 should require little work, and should give you an idea
> whether or not tracking down the cause of the crash is going to be
> possible.  If the log exists and you cannot work out what is causing
> the crash from it, you could send the first 20 lines to the list (or
> to Runrev).
> 
> You could try using Ken Ray's Stackrunner as your test app (although
> the engine it includes is 4.0).
> http://www.sonsothunder.com/devres/revolution/downloads/StackRunner.htm
> 
> I absolutely hate it when things just crash.  But very often, one can
> take logical steps to isolate the point at which the crash occurs.
> Somewhere along the line, the cause is going to be programmer error.
> And by hoping that it is one's own error, one at least has the chance
> to fix it.  Even if it is an error in an external, there are ways to
> work around many things.
> 
> Richard's suggestion of logging is very important.  In fact, I think
> one ought to build-in logging as a matter of course (including a
> feature to make logging more or less verbose).  Under normal
> circumstances, an app should check if logging is enabled, and if not
> just procede.  It will have minimal impact on the performance.  I know
> that this is a bit late for you now.  I think it is Kernighan and
> Pikes "Practice of Programming" that said logging should be an
> integral part of all applications.
> 
> Hopefully you will be able to isolate the problem by going no further
> than a debug app that loads other resources one by one and logs them.
> 
> Bernard
> 
> On Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 7:54 AM, Tiemo Hollmann TB <toolbook at kestner.de>
> wrote:
> > How are your experiences and how do you approach these kind of errors /
> what
> > do you tell your customers?
> 
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