Diagnosing a crasher (was Re: Quality, reputation, and improving both)

[Richard Gaskin]

dunbarx wrote:> Richard.
 >  I will keep a eye out to see if something I do or some particular
 > section of code which causes a crash.
 > I have no issue with sending you my stack; it is only for internal
 > use. But there are many handlers in many controls on many cards, all
 > in a mainStack and a handful of substacks. I do feel, though, that the
 > problem occurs when handlers in the mainStack are being worked on.
 > So I am fascinated; how would you even start? It isn't one handler
 > that causes the problem. You would not even know how to use the thing,
 > and therefore could not really put it through its paces.
 > I feel this would be a waste of your time, and though the offer is
 > priceless, I have always felt that, in particular, your time is far
 > more priceless.

That's kind of you to say.  And I am working on some things for the 
community, so perhaps best to keep my focus on those, at least for now.

If you discover a recipe, or even anything close to a pattern, maybe the 
first thing I'd do is add some logging.  Logs are great for crashers, as 
the last line that successfully executed will usually provide some good 
clues.

Here's a simple logger I made a while back, not fancy but it gets the 
job done:
http://fourthworld.net/lc/4wLogger.livecode.zip

If you happen to run it when you have a crash, maybe email me the last 
hundred lines or so (but not the whole thing, please; as you'll see, it 
makes a _very_ verbose log).

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Systems
  Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web
  ____________________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com                http://www.FourthWorld.com

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