Debugging...

you might want to do something like

#define LOG(text,num) (#ifdef DEBUG WriteLog(text, num) #endif)

i think that will work to only log when you compile in debug mode

as for debug file setup, i use variable arguments
so i can do something like this:

WriteLog("Error: something failed, returned %d", ReturnVal);
if you want this and aren''t sure how to do it, let me know

This game is made in VB, so I can''t use precompiler commands and macro functions.

And for the function you''re using, looks interesting. What you''re trying to show is a method that has the functionality of the printf function in C, am I right? If so, no, I don''t know how to implement this and yes, I would like to know .

btw, do you only log error messages? As you can see in my example, it logs some general information, too. I also log the game events that happen (like: went game_over, starting new game, new high score is reached, ...). I think this is all unnecessary information.

after i went and wrote that message i looked back and realised you probably were using VB - Sub Main()

well instead of using preprocessor defines, you could always just make a global variable debug, and then check if its on before printing debug info
what i do, is print debug info in debug, and only print errors in release

as for variable arguments, im not sure if its even possible in VB

I also use a debug file, but I don't write alot of info in it, usually stuff I need to know
There's no "good" technique-"bad technique It's just a debug file
I usually use it when I need tomake sure an if statement is performed or something similar.
There are another 100000 ways to do it (ASSERTs, Message boxes etc.) but I'm just used to a debug file
I think writing information from the actual game is useless, maybe it's good for trying out a new feature, but not for debugging/profiling because it can take down the FPS.
I also use variable arguments, here's the code:

char opbuffer[256]; va_list arg_list; int Write_Debug(char *text,...) { va_start(arg_list,text); vsprintf(opbuffer,text,arg_list); va_end(arg_list); if (output) { output << opbuffer << endl; output << flush; } return(1); }

Very handy when your debugging.

EDIT: Oops, forgot you were using VB, I don't know how to use variable arguments in VB

- Goblineye Entertainment
The road to success is always under construction

Edited by - Tornado on October 25, 2000 7:25:38 AM

I know this is off-topic, but I must say, I''m pleasantly surprised. That log-file sample looks nice, and I wasn''t expecting you to have used VB! People are using the tools that they are comfortable with to produce great things. Power to you, I know nothing about VB


People might not remember what you said, or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
~ (V)^|) |<é!t|-| ~

Hello, again,

quote:

---

Quantum

what i do, is print debug info in debug, and only print errors in release

---

To bad, but you can''t do that in VB. You can only compile to the release version. There isn''t anything like a debug version.

quote:

---

Tornado

EDIT: Oops, forgot you were using VB, I don''t know how to use variable arguments in VB

---

I know it''s possible to use variable arguments in VB, but I don''t know how. I could look it up in the MSDN, but I''m at work now and we are working with Linux here.
But don''t mind, I know C, too (a little). Thanks for the source. However, there are some things that I don''t understand.
What is a va_list data type and what do the functions va_start, va_end and vsprintf do. And what is the ''output'' variable used for?
The return statement is clear, though .

quote:

---

MadKeithV

That log-file sample looks nice, and I wasn''t expecting you to have used VB!

---

And what made you think I wasn''t?

I guess my experience as a professional programmer has made me pretty blind to a language other than C++ - I wasn''t expecting anyone to make a full-blown, well-thought-out piece of software in a language like Visual Basic..


People might not remember what you said, or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
~ (V)^|) |<é!t|-| ~

va_list is c++ struct used to save somekind of data.
va_start initializes va_list.
va_start(arg_list,text);
here arg list is va_list and text pointer to start.
Then he writes with vsprintf text in va_list to buffer.
If buffer includes data he writes it to file.

Power of va_list is that you can use macro va_arg after list is initialized with va_arg to retrieve current data,same time macro va_arg moves pointer to next argument.

After all is done you set the pointer to null using va_end.

Output is C++ file stream and operator << is overloaded so that it writes text to file.

Well, MadKeithV, thanks for the compliments. I believe such techniques (like debugging) should be used everywhere, no matter what language you''re using.
I started this thread because I wondered if debugging is an important thing in games. Like in UT: they also log everything. How else can they generate their NgLocalStats. (With NgLocalStats you can see how many frags you have made, how many kills with a specific weapon, how many suicides, .... You can let UT generate a HTML overview of all your games you''ve played).
And if you use debugging, how to do it. Do you write to a simple text file, or do you use a more ingenious XML like framework.
Anyway, I think my technique is satisfactory for now. It''s a simple Tetris clone, so...


Oh yeah, Jaxks, the output stream is something like cout and cin then. How can I tell ''output'' to which file to write to?

Well, since I''ve never had the (mis)fortune of working on a fullscreen-only application, and I''m a Visual C++ 6.0 only user, I get away without logging so far. I make copious use of TRACE and ASSERT ( which are debugger utilities, TRACE outputs a formatted string into the debug window, while ASSERT stops execution and breaks to the offending line of code if a condition is not met ).

Logging with XML would be nice, but I imagine you''d have to do a lot of tool-writing to read the info you''ve just written out! HTML is a good compromise, I''ve used that on occasion.


People might not remember what you said, or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
~ (V)^|) |<é!t|-| ~

Oops, Sorry soehrimnir, Forgot to mention ''output'' is of type ''ofstream'' (A C++ File Stream, As Jaxks said)



- Goblineye Entertainment
The road to success is always under construction

I wrote a cool function for debugging DirectX once. Go ahead and take a look:
http://members.nbci.com/dennis428/default.htm

Dennis