SAMPLE: Windows Application Produces Stack Trace

 Last reviewed: February 15, 1996
Article ID: Q92537
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows versions 3.1 and 3.0

SUMMARY

STKTRACE is a sample Windows-based application that contains the complete code to obtain a stack trace of the "current task." The stack trace includes symbolic information extracted from the symbol files, similar to that produced by the Windows debug kernel at the time of a FatalExit. In this sample, the stack trace is logged into a buffer and output to a message box.

The STKTRACE sample uses the tool helper library and can be used in the Windows versions 3.0 and 3.1 environments because TOOLHELP.DLL is a redistributable.

Download STKTRACE.EXE, a self-extracting file, from the Microsoft Software Library (MSL) on the following services:

  • Microsoft Download Service (MSDL) 

          Dial (206) 936-6735 to connect to MSDL
      Download STKTRACE.EXE (size: 28930 bytes)
  • Internet (anonymous FTP) 

          ftp ftp.microsoft.com
      Change to the \SOFTLIB\MSLFILES directory
      Get STKTRACE.EXE (size: 28930 bytes)

MORE INFORMATION

Usually, the Windows debug kernel produces a stack trace on the debug terminal when the SPACE BAR or ENTER key is pressed at the time of a FatalExit. For more information on stack traces produced by the debug kernel, query on the following words in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   stack trace space bar
However, when you are writing a debugger or a large complex application, it might be necessary to produce stack traces in your application. Then, the STKTRACE sample code can be helpful.

This sample consists of two main modules, GETTRACE.C and GETSYMBOL.C, and a driver module, STKTRACE.C, which merely calls the API from the GETTRACE.C module. The GETTRACE.C module contains code to walk the stack of the current task by using the tool helper library and the GETSYMBOL.C module contains code to obtain symbol names from corresponding symbol (.SYM) files by using the symbol file format. These two modules can be plugged into any application or a DLL (dynamic-link library).

Note that the THSAMPLE application in the \SDK31\SAMPLES\TOOLHELP directory also illustrates how to produce stack traces for a given task that is not the current task. In contrast, the STKTRACE sample walks the stack of the current task by obtaining the register values from the stack and using the StackTraceCSIPFirst() and StackTraceNext() APIs from the tool helper library. Also, the STKTRACE sample provides symbolic information in the stack trace.

The GETSYM.C module provides symbolic information by using the symbol file format documented in the Microsoft Windows SDK version 3.1 "Programmer's Reference, Volume 4: Resources" manual. Given a segment:offset address, this module finds the "nearest" public symbol in the corresponding symbol (.SYM) file.

Additional reference words: 3.00 3.10 softlib STKTRACE.EXE
KBCategory: kbprg kbfile
KBSubcategory: KrToolHlp

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Last reviewed: February 15, 1996
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