1 Debugging tools and hints {#occt__debug}
2 =========================
6 @section occt_debug_intro Introduction
8 This manual describes facilities included in OCCT to support debugging, and provides some hints for more efficient debug.
10 @section occt_debug_macro Compiler macro to enable extended debug messages
12 Many OCCT algorithms can produce extended debug messages, usually printed to cout.
13 These include messages on internal errors and special cases encountered, timing etc.
14 In OCCT versions prior to 6.8.0 most of these messages were activated by compiler macro *DEB*, enabled by default in debug builds.
15 Since version 6.8.0 this is disabled by default but can be enabled by defining compiler macro *OCCT_DEBUG*.
17 To enable this macro on Windows when building with Visual Studio projects, edit file custom.bat and add the line:
19 set CSF_DEFINES=OCCT_DEBUG
21 Some algorithms use specific macros for yet more verbose messages, usually started with OCCT_DEBUG_.
22 These messages can be enabled in the same way, by defining corresponding macro.
24 Note that some header files are modified when *OCCT_DEBUG* is enabled, hence binaries built with it enabled are not compatible with client code built without this option; this is not intended for production use.
26 @section occt_debug_exceptions Calling JIT debugger on exception
28 On Windows platform when using Visual Studio compiler there is a possibility to start the debugger automatically if an exception is caught in a program running OCCT. For this, set environment variable *CSF_DEBUG* to any value. Note that this feature works only if you enable OCCT exception handler in your application by calling *OSD::SetSignal()*.
30 @section occt_debug_bop Self-diagnostics in Boolean operations algorithm
32 In real-world applications modeling operations are often performed in a long sequence, while the user sees only the final result of the whole sequence. If the final result is wrong, the first debug step is to identify the offending operation to be debugged further. Boolean operation algorithm in OCCT provides a self-diagnostic feature which can help to do that step.
34 This feature can be activated by defining environment variable *CSF_DEBUG_BOP*, which should specify an existing writeable directory.
36 The diagnostic code checks validity of the input arguments and the result of each Boolean operation. When an invalid situation is detected, the report consisting of argument shapes and a DRAW script to reproduce the problematic operation is saved to the directory pointed by *CSF_DEBUG_BOP*.
38 Note that this feature does not applicable for UWP build.
40 @section occt_debug_call Functions for calling from debugger
42 Modern interactive debuggers provide the possibility to execute application code at a program break point. This feature can be used to analyse the temporary objects available only in the context of the debugged code. OCCT provides several global functions that can be used in this way.
44 Note that all these functions accept pointer to variable as <i>void*</i> to allow calling the function even when debugger does not recognize type equivalence or can not perform necessary type cast automatically. It is responsibility of the developer to provide the correct pointer. In general these functions are not guaranteed to work, thus use them with caution and at your own risk.
46 @subsection occt_debug_call_draw Interacting with DRAW
48 Open CASCADE Test Harness or @ref occt_user_guides__test_harness "DRAW" provides an extensive set of tools for inspection and analysis of OCCT shapes and geometric objects and is mostly used as environment for prototyping and debugging OCCT-based algorithms.
50 In some cases the objects to be inspected are available in DRAW as results of DRAW commands. In other cases, however, it is necessary to inspect intermediate objects created by the debugged algorithm. To support this, DRAW provides a set of commands allowing the developer to store intermediate objects directly from the debugger stopped at some point during the program execution (usually at a breakpoint).
53 const char* Draw_Eval (const char *theCommandStr)
56 Evaluates a DRAW command or script.
57 A command is passed as a string parameter.
60 const char* DBRep_Set (const char* theNameStr, void* theShapePtr)
63 Sets the specified shape as a value of DRAW interpreter variable with the given name.
64 - *theNameStr* -- the DRAW interpreter variable name to set.
65 - *theShapePtr* -- a pointer to *TopoDS_Shape* variable.
68 const char* DBRep_SetComp (const char* theNameStr, void* theListPtr)
71 Makes a compound from the specified list of shapes and sets it as a value of DRAW interpreter variable with the given name.
72 - *theNameStr* -- the DRAW interpreter variable name to set.
73 - *theListPtr* -- a pointer to *TopTools_ListOfShape* variable.
76 const char* DrawTrSurf_Set (const char* theNameStr, void* theHandlePtr)
77 const char* DrawTrSurf_SetPnt (const char* theNameStr, void* thePntPtr)
78 const char* DrawTrSurf_SetPnt2d (const char* theNameStr, void* thePnt2dPtr)
81 Sets the specified geometric object as a value of DRAW interpreter variable with the given name.
82 - *theNameStr* -- the DRAW interpreter variable name to set.
83 - *theHandlePtr* -- a pointer to the geometric variable (Handle to *Geom_Geometry* or *Geom2d_Curve* or descendant) to be set.
84 - *thePntPtr* -- a pointer to the variable of type *gp_Pnt* to be set.
85 - *thePnt2dPtr* -- a pointer to the variable of type *gp_Pnt2d* to be set.
87 All these functions are defined in *TKDraw* toolkit and return a string indicating the result of execution.
89 @subsection occt_debug_call_brep Saving and dumping shapes and geometric objects
91 The following functions are provided by *TKBRep* toolkit and can be used from debugger prompt:
94 const char* BRepTools_Write (const char* theFileNameStr, void* theShapePtr)
97 Saves the specified shape to a file with the given name.
98 - *theFileNameStr* -- the name of the file where the shape is saved.
99 - *theShapePtr* -- a pointer to *TopoDS_Shape* variable.
102 const char* BRepTools_Dump (void* theShapePtr)
103 const char* BRepTools_DumpLoc (void* theShapePtr)
106 Dumps shape or its location to cout.
107 - *theShapePtr* -- a pointer to *TopoDS_Shape* variable.
109 The following function is provided by *TKMesh* toolkit:
112 const char* BRepMesh_Dump (void* theMeshHandlePtr, const char* theFileNameStr)
115 Stores mesh produced in parametric space to BREP file.
116 - *theMeshHandlePtr* -- a pointer to *Handle(BRepMesh_DataStructureOfDelaun)* variable.
117 - *theFileNameStr* -- the name of the file where the mesh is stored.
119 The following functions are provided by *TKTopTest* toolkit:
122 const char* MeshTest_DrawLinks(const char* theNameStr, void* theFaceAttr)
123 const char* MeshTest_DrawTriangles(const char* theNameStr, void* theFaceAttr)
126 Sets the edges or triangles from mesh data structure of type *Handle(BRepMesh_FaceAttribute)* as DRAW interpreter variables, assigning a unique name in the form "<theNameStr>_<index>" to each object.
127 - *theNameStr* -- the prefix to use in names of objects.
128 - *theFaceAttr* -- a pointer to *Handle(BRepMesh_FaceAttribute)* variable.
130 The following additional function is provided by *TKGeomBase* toolkit:
133 const char* GeomTools_Dump (void* theHandlePtr)
136 Dump geometric object to cout.
137 - *theHandlePtr* -- a pointer to the geometric variable (<i>Handle</i> to *Geom_Geometry* or *Geom2d_Curve* or descendant) to be set.
140 @section occt_debug_dump_json Dump OCCT objects into Json
142 Many OCCT classes may dump the current state into the stream. This stream contains the information about the class field into the field value/s.
143 It is possible to prepare recursive dump using corresponded macro for class fields. The depth of this recursion is defined by parameter of the dump.
144 The object defines What parameters should be presented in the Dump. The usual way is to dump all object fields.
146 @subsection occt_debug_dump_json_object Implementation in object
148 Steps to prepare dump of the object into json:
150 1. Create method <b>DumpJson</b>. The method should accept the output stream and the depth for the fields dump.
151 Depth, equal to zero means that only fields of this class should be dumped. Default value -1 means that whole tree of dump will be built recursively calling dump of all fields.
153 2. Put into the first row of the method <b>OCCT_DUMP_CLASS_BEGIN</b> or <b>OCCT_DUMP_TRANSIENT_CLASS_BEGIN</b> (for Standard_Transient objects).
154 This macro appends class name into output stream.
156 3. Add several macro to store field values.
158 The following macro are defined to cover the object parameters into json format:
160 | Name | Result in json |
161 | :-------------------------- | :--------|
162 | OCCT_DUMP_FIELD_VALUE_NUMERICAL | "field": value |
163 | OCCT_DUMP_FIELD_VALUE_STRING | "field": "value" |
164 | OCCT_DUMP_FIELD_VALUE_POINTER | "field": "pointer address" |
165 | OCCT_DUMP_FIELD_VALUES_DUMPED | "field": { result of field->DumpJson(...) } |
166 | OCCT_DUMP_FIELD_VALUES_NUMERICAL | "field": [value_1, ..., value_n]
167 | OCCT_DUMP_FIELD_VALUES_STRING | "field": ["value_1", ..., "value_n"]
168 | OCCT_DUMP_BASE_CLASS | "kind": { result of kind::DumpJson(...) } |
170 @subsection occt_debug_dump_json_draw Using in DRAW
172 In DRAW, key '-dumpJson' is used to dump an object.
173 It is implemented in 'vaspect' and 'boundingbox' commands.
175 Json output for Bnd_OBB (using command 'bounding v -obb -dumpJson'):
198 @section occt_debug_vstudio Using Visual Studio debugger
200 @subsection occt_debug_vstudio_command Command window
202 Visual Studio debugger provides the Command Window (can be activated from menu <b>View / Other Windows / Command Window</b>), which can be used to evaluate variables and expressions interactively in a debug session (see https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/c785s0kz.aspx). Note that the Immediate Window can also be used but it has some limitations, e.g. does not support aliases.
204 When the execution is interrupted by a breakpoint, you can use this window to call the above described functions in context of the currently debugged function. Note that in most cases you will need to specify explicitly context of the function by indicating the name of the DLL where it is defined.
206 For example, assume that you are debugging a function, where local variable *TopoDS_Edge* *anEdge1* is of interest.
207 The following set of commands in the Command window will save this edge to file *edge1.brep*, then put it to DRAW variable *e1* and show it maximized in the axonometric DRAW view:
210 >? ({,,TKBRep.dll}BRepTools_Write)("d:/edge1.brep",(void*)&anEdge1)
211 0x04a2f234 "d:/edge1.brep"
212 >? ({,,TKDraw.dll}DBRep_Set)("e1",(void*)&anEdge1)
214 >? ({,,TKDraw.dll}Draw_Eval)("donly e1; axo; fit")
218 For convenience it is possible to define aliases to commands in this window, for instance (here ">" is prompt provided by the command window; in the Immediate window this symbol should be entered manually):
221 >alias deval ? ({,,TKDraw}Draw_Eval)
222 >alias dsetshape ? ({,,TKDraw}DBRep_Set)
223 >alias dsetcomp ? ({,,TKDraw}DBRep_SetComp)
224 >alias dsetgeom ? ({,,TKDraw}DrawTrSurf_Set)
225 >alias dsetpnt ? ({,,TKDraw}DrawTrSurf_SetPnt)
226 >alias dsetpnt2d ? ({,,TKDraw}DrawTrSurf_SetPnt2d)
227 >alias saveshape ? ({,,TKBRep}BRepTools_Write)
228 >alias dumpshape ? ({,,TKBRep}BRepTools_Dump)
229 >alias dumploc ? ({,,TKBRep}BRepTools_DumpLoc)
230 >alias dumpmesh ? ({,,TKMesh}BRepMesh_Dump)
231 >alias dumpgeom ? ({,,TKGeomBase}GeomTools_Dump)
234 Note that aliases are stored in the Visual Studio user's preferences and it is sufficient to define them once on a workstation. With these aliases, the above example can be reproduced easier (note the space symbol after alias name!):
237 >saveshape ("d:/edge1.brep",(void*)&anEdge1)
238 0x04a2f234 "d:/edge1.brep"
239 >dsetshape ("e1",(void*)&anEdge1)
241 >deval ("donly e1; axo; fit")
245 Note that there is no guarantee that the call will succeed and will not affect the program execution, thus use this feature at your own risk. In particular, the commands interacting with window system (such as *axo*, *vinit*, etc.) are known to cause application crash when the program is built in 64-bit mode. To avoid this, it is recommended to prepare all necessary view windows in advance, and arrange these windows to avoid overlapping with the Visual Studio window, to ensure that they are visible during debug.
247 @subsection occt_debug_vstudio_watch Customized display of variables content
249 Visual Studio provides a way to customize display of variables of different types in debugger windows (Watch, Autos, Locals, etc.).
251 In Visual Studio 2005-2010 the rules for this display are defined in file *autoexp.dat* located in subfolder *Common7\\Packages\\Debugger* of the Visual Studio installation folder (hint: the path to that folder is given in the corresponding environment variable, e.g. *VS100COMNTOOLS* for vc10). This file contains two sections: *AutoExpand* and *Visualizer*. The following rules can be added to these sections to provide more convenient display of some OCCT data types.
253 ### \[AutoExpand\] section
256 ; Open CASCADE classes
257 Standard_Transient=<,t> count=<count,d>
258 Handle_Standard_Transient=<entity,x> count=<entity->count,d> <,t>
259 TCollection_AsciiString=<mylength,d> <mystring,s>
260 TCollection_HAsciiString=<myString.mylength,d> <myString.mystring,s>
261 TCollection_ExtendedString=<mylength,d> <mystring,su>
262 TCollection_HExtendedString=<myString.mylength,d> <myString.mystring,su>
263 TDF_Label=<myLabelNode,x> tag=<myLabelNode->myTag>
264 TDF_LabelNode=tag=<myTag,d>
265 TDocStd_Document=format=<myStorageFormat.mystring,su> count=<count,d> <,t>
266 TopoDS_Shape=<myTShape.entity,x> <myOrient>
267 gp_XYZ=<x,g>, <y,g>, <z,g>
268 gp_Pnt=<coord.x,g>, <coord.y,g>, <coord.z,g>
269 gp_Vec=<coord.x,g>, <coord.y,g>, <coord.z,g>
270 gp_Dir=<coord.x,g>, <coord.y,g>, <coord.z,g>
272 gp_Pnt2d=<coord.x,g>, <coord.y,g>
273 gp_Dir2d=<coord.x,g>, <coord.y,g>
274 gp_Vec2d=<coord.x,g>, <coord.y,g>
275 gp_Mat2d={<matrix[0][0],g>,<matrix[0][1],g>}, {<matrix[1][0],g>,<matrix[1][1],g>}
276 gp_Ax1=loc={<loc.coord.x,g>, <loc.coord.y,g>, <loc.coord.z,g>} vdir={<vdir.coord.x,g>, <vdir.coord.y,g>, <vdir.coord.z,g>}
279 ### \[Visualizer\] section
282 ; Open CASCADE classes
284 NCollection_Handle<*> {
285 preview ( *((($T0::Ptr*)$e.entity)->myPtr) )
286 children ( (($T0::Ptr*)$e.entity)->myPtr )
289 NCollection_List<*> {
290 preview ( #( "NCollection_List [", $e.myLength, "]" ) )
291 children ( #list( head: $c.myFirst, next: myNext ) : #(*($T1*)(&$e+1)) )
294 NCollection_Array1<*> {
295 preview ( #( "NCollection_Array1 [", $e.myLowerBound, "..", $e.myUpperBound, "]" ) )
296 children ( #array( expr: $c.myData[$i], size: 1+$c.myUpperBound ) )
300 preview ( #( "math_Vector [", $e.LowerIndex, "..", $e.UpperIndex, "]" ) )
301 children ( #array ( expr: ((double*)($c.Array.Addr))[$i], size: 1+$c.UpperIndex ) )
304 TColStd_Array1OfReal {
305 preview ( #( "Array1OfReal [", $e.myLowerBound, "..", $e.myUpperBound, "]" ) )
306 children ( #array ( expr: ((double*)($c.myStart))[$i], size: 1+$c.myUpperBound ) )
309 Handle_TColStd_HArray1OfReal {
310 preview ( #( "HArray1OfReal [",
311 ((TColStd_HArray1OfReal*)$e.entity)->myArray.myLowerBound, "..",
312 ((TColStd_HArray1OfReal*)$e.entity)->myArray.myUpperBound, "] ",
313 [$e.entity,x], " count=", $e.entity->count ) )
314 children ( #array ( expr: ((double*)(((TColStd_HArray1OfReal*)$e.entity)->myArray.myStart))[$i],
315 size: 1+((TColStd_HArray1OfReal*)$e.entity)->myArray.myUpperBound ) )
318 TColStd_Array1OfInteger {
319 preview ( #( "Array1OfInteger [", $e.myLowerBound, "..", $e.myUpperBound, "]" ) )
320 children ( #array ( expr: ((int*)($c.myStart))[$i], size: 1+$c.myUpperBound ) )
323 Handle_TColStd_HArray1OfInteger {
324 preview ( #( "HArray1OfInteger [",
325 ((TColStd_HArray1OfInteger*)$e.entity)->myArray.myLowerBound, "..",
326 ((TColStd_HArray1OfInteger*)$e.entity)->myArray.myUpperBound, "] ",
327 [$e.entity,x], " count=", $e.entity->count ) )
328 children ( #array ( expr: ((int*)(((TColStd_HArray1OfInteger*)$e.entity)->myArray.myStart))[$i],
329 size: 1+((TColStd_HArray1OfInteger*)$e.entity)->myArray.myUpperBound ) )
332 Handle_TCollection_HExtendedString {
333 preview ( #( "HExtendedString ", [$e.entity,x], " count=", $e.entity->count,
334 " ", ((TCollection_HExtendedString*)$e.entity)->myString ) )
335 children ( #([actual members]: [$e,!] ) )
338 Handle_TCollection_HAsciiString {
339 preview ( #( "HAsciiString ", [$e.entity,x], " count=", $e.entity->count,
340 " ", ((TCollection_HAsciiString*)$e.entity)->myString ) )
341 children ( #([actual members]: [$e,!],
342 #array( expr: ((TCollection_HAsciiString*)$e.entity)->myString.mystring[$i],
343 size: ((TCollection_HAsciiString*)$e.entity)->myString.mylength) ) )
347 In Visual Studio 2012 and later, visualizers can be put in a separate file in subdirectory *Visualizers*. See file *occt.natvis* for example.
349 @section occt_debug_perf Performance measurement tools
351 It is recommended to use specialized performance analysis tools to profile OCCT and application code.
352 However, when such tools are not available or cannot be used for some reason, tools provided by OSD package can be used: low-level C functions and macros defined in *OSD_PerfMeter.h* and *OSD_PerfMeter* class.
354 This tool maintains an array of 100 global performance counters that can be started and stopped independently. Adding a performance counter to a function of interest allows to get statistics on the number of calls and the total execution time of the function.
355 * In C++ code, this can be achieved by creating local variable *OSD_PerfMeter* in each block of code to be measured.
356 * In C or Fortran code, use functions *perf_start_meter* and *perf_stop_meter* to start and stop the counter.
358 Note that this instrumentation is intended to be removed when the profiling is completed.
360 Macros provided in *OSD_PerfMeter.h* can be used to keep instrumentation code permanently but enable it only when macro *PERF_ENABLE_METERS* is defined.
361 Each counter has its name shown when the collected statistics are printed.
363 In DRAW, use command *dperf* to print all performance statistics.
365 Note that performance counters are not thread-safe.
367 @section occt_debug_sanitizers Use of compiler sanitizers
369 GCC and Clang compilers provide options for instrumenting the code with the tools intended for detection of run-time errors, called sanitizers.
370 This section provides some hints for using sanitizers for detecting possible errors in OCCT code.
372 @subsection occt_debug_sanitizers_linux Linux
374 Example of configuration steps for Ubuntu:
376 1. In CMake configuration:
378 - Use up-to-date version of the GCC or CLang compiler; make sure that if CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER is set to C++ compiler (e.g. "clang++-6.0") and CMAKE_C_COMPILER is set to C compiler (e.g. "clang-6.0")
379 - Ensure that CMAKE_LINKER is set to the C++ linker bundled with compiler (e.g. clang++-6.0); this is important to avoid linking problems
380 - For building with Address sanitizer, set CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS and CMAKE_C_FLAGS to "-fsanitize=address -fno-omit-frame-pointer -fno-optimize-sibling-calls"
381 - For building with Undefined Behavior sanitizer, set CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS and CMAKE_C_FLAGS to "-fsanitize=undefined -fno-omit-frame-pointer -fno-optimize-sibling-calls"
382 - Set CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE to RelWithDebInfo to get more informative stack traces on errors
384 2. Build as usual (make)
386 Be prepared that it works much slower than normal build and consumes more disk space.
388 3. Before running executable, make sure that "llvm-symbolizer" is in PATH; this is necessary to get human-readable stack traces. The tool must have exactly that name.
390 If it is installed in common folder (/usr/bin or similar) with different name, one option is to create a symlink, for instance:
391 > sudo ln -s /usr/bin/llvm-symbolizer-6.0 /usr/bin/llvm-symbolizer
393 Alternatively, add directory where actual llvm-symbolizer is located (such as /usr/lib/llvm-6.0/bin) to the PATH variable.
395 4. Set environment variable to disable memory leaks detection (they seem to be reported for every global variable at exit, not much useful):
396 > export ASAN_OPTIONS=detect_leaks=0
398 5. Set environment variable CSF_CPULIMIT_FACTOR to reasonably large number to increase the time limits for program execution (used by OCCT tests) to compensate the performance penalty introduced by sanitizers:
399 > export CSF_CPULIMIT_FACTOR=20
401 6. When using UBSan, set environment variable UBSAN_OPTIONS to get stack traces:
402 > export UBSAN_OPTIONS=print_stacktrace=1
404 7. Run DRAW and perform tests as usual, keeping in mind that running with sanitizer is much heavier than normal build:
405 > ./draw.sh relwithdeb <br>
408 Draw[]> testgrid -parallel 0
411 Note that when running tests under sanitizers, behavior may be different.
412 Known problems (as of CLang 6.0) are:
413 - Software signals (access violation etc.) are not handled
414 - Heap memory usage always reports zero
416 @subsection occt_debug_sanitizers_windows Windows
418 Though CLang toolset is available in Visual Studio 2015 and newer, sanitizer do not seem to be available out of the box (last tested with VS 2019 16.2.3).