A simulation program, like any other
complex software, can be difficult to
debug and verify correct. To aid in
this, CSIM can produce a log of trace
messages during the execution of a simulation.
A one-line trace message is produced
each time an interesting change in the
state of the simulation occurs.
An enormous number of trace messages
can be generated by even a short simulation
run. For this reason you should try
to be selective when enabling different
tracing options.
The generation of trace messages for
all state changes is enabled using the
trace_on
function. The tracing is disabled using
the trace_off
function.
Prototype:
void trace_on
(void)
Example:
trace_on ();
Prototype:
void trace_off
(void)
Example:
trace_off ();
Trace messages can be turned on and
off as desired during a simulation.
Logic can even be added to a simulation
to turn on trace messages when a specific
condition is detected.
Trace messages can also be enabled by
specifying the switch "-T"
in the command line that executes the
simulation. This feature allows trace
messages to be enabled without modifying
or recompiling the program. See the
documentation for your operating system
or programming environment for details
on specifying command line switches.
Trace messages that pertain to one specific
process or one type of process can be
produced using the trace_process
function. A specific process is identified
by a character string consisting of
the name that was specified in the call
to function create, followed by a period
and the sequence number of the process.
If the period and sequence number are
omitted, trace messages for all processes
created with that name will be generated.
Prototype:
void trace_process
(char* name)
Example:
trace_process
("customer.100");
Example:
trace_process ("customer");
Note that in the first example above
there is no guarantee that the 100th
process that is created will be an instance
of customer. If it is not, no trace
messages will be produced. The tracing
of a specific process can be disabled
by calling function trace_off.
Successive calls to trace_process
will change which process is being traced.
There is currently no way to specify
a list of processes to trace.
Trace messages that pertain to one specific
object (i.e.,
a facility, storage, event, or mailbox)
can be produced using the trace_object
function. The object is identified by
the character string that was specified
when the object was initialized.
Prototype:
void trace_object
(char* name)
Example:
trace_object
("memory");
Note that the type of the object is
not specified. If there is more than
one object with the specified name,
trace messages for all such objects
will be produced. The tracing of a specific
object can be disabled by calling function
trace_off.
Successive calls to trace_object
will change which object is being traced.
There is currently no way to specify
a list of objects to trace.
Each trace message contains the current
simulation time, the name and sequence
number of the process that caused the
state change, and a description of the
state change. Sample trace messages
are shown below.
Any CSIM program can add its own trace
messages to the sequence by calling
the trace_msg
function.
Prototype:
void trace_msg
(char* string)
Example:
trace_msg ("entering
procedure for");
Trace messages containing any mixture
of text and numeric values can be constructed
using the C
sprintf function. CSIM will prefix
the provided string with the current
simulation time and the name and sequence
number of the process that produced
the message.
Ideally, every occurrence that changes
the state of a CSIM object will generate
a trace message. In particular, any
occurrence that causes time to pass
should be traced.
Occurrences that do not produce trace
messages include 1) the generation of
random numbers, 2) the updating of performance
statistics, and 3) the production of
reports. Obviously, non-CSIM operations
such as updates of local variables can
not produce trace messages.
By default, trace messages are written
to file stdout. Trace messages can be
redirected to a different file using
the function set_trace_file.
Prototype:
void set_trace_file
(FILE * file_pointer)
Example:
*fp = fopen ("trace",
"w"); set_trace_file (fp);
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