XTrace.cs - C# trace with printf formatting

• Download demo project - 92 Kb

Introduction

Ever since working on Unix systems, I have been accustomed to using trace and other forms of logging to facilitate debugging. Of course, nothing can replace breakpoints and stepping through code, but the problem with breakpoints is that you cannot check them in, and expect them to still be there the next time you work on that code. Even if you could somehow "lock" breakpoints, there is no way to annotate them. After a while, you will forget why you had that breakpoint set on that line, and why that line of code was important. Trace statements, on the other hand, will persist, and will serve to remind you of what is important at key points in the code, and will help other programmers if they need to maintain it.

MFC's TRACE statement is very popular, and when I started .Net programming I looked to see if there was anything comparable. While .Net has basic trace features, there were two things I really missed:

1. Printf-style formatting, which allows for compact single-line statements, using well-known CRT format specifications.
2. The ability to double-click on line in Output Window, and have caret move to that source code file and line in the editor.

This article presents my solution to these missing features.

Demo App

To illustrate XTrace.cs features, I put together this simple Forms demo:

When you run this app under debugger, you will see trace output in Output Window:

The above screenshot shows how you can double-click in Output Window. By default, source file name is outputted as filename.ext, but when running under debugger, XTrace.cs outputs full path, thus enabling ability to double-click.

A Closer Look

Unless I am trying to find bug, I usually do not run under debugger. However, I still would like to see trace output, and to do this I use excellent free DebugView written by Mark Russinovich. This utility captures OutputDebugString() output and displays it using optional include/exclude and color highlight filters. The following screenshot shows DebugView in action with demo app:

I added green and red highlight colors to DebugView by using highlight filters I mentioned. It is very easy, for example, to turn on different color highlights by including trigger strings such as "=====" or "~~~~~" in Trace line. You see the effect of two trigger strings I have set: "in " produces green, and "ERROR" produces red. Using colors in this way is enormous help when you are scanning hundreds of lines of trace output.

To make trace output more useful when running under debugger, XTrace.cs outputs both Win32 thread ID (which the debugger displays) and .Net logical thread ID.

To see how printf formatting works, consider line #1 in the above DebugView screenshot. This line is produced by this code:

DateTime t = DateTime.Now;
string s = AssemblyTitle;
XTRACE.XTrace.Trace("Started %s at %d:%02d:%02d", s, t.Hour, t.Minute, t.Second);

The %s is replaced by assembly title, retrieved using reflection, and time values are displayed using %d (or %02d, when leading zero is desired).

XTrace.cs Format Specifiers

The following table lists most common printf type characters, which (after the %) is the only required format character; it appears after any optional format fields. The type character determines whether associated argument is interpreted as character, string, or number.

Printf Format Specifiers Quick Reference
Character	Type	Output
c	int	Single character.
d	int	Signed decimal integer.
i	int	Signed decimal integer.
o	int	Unsigned octal integer.
u	int	Unsigned decimal integer.
x	int	Unsigned hexadecimal integer, using "abcdef."
X	int	Unsigned hexadecimal integer, using "ABCDEF."
e	double	Signed value having the form [ – ]d.dddd e [sign]ddd where d is a single decimal digit, dddd is one or more decimal digits, ddd is exactly three decimal digits, and sign is + or –.
E	double	Identical to the e format except that E rather than e introduces the exponent.
f	double	Signed value having the form [ – ]dddd.dddd, where dddd is one or more decimal digits. The number of digits before the decimal point depends on the magnitude of the number, and the number of digits after the decimal point depends on the requested precision.
g	double	Signed value printed in f or e format, whichever is more compact for the given value and precision. The e format is used only when the exponent of the value is less than –4 or greater than or equal to the precision argument. Trailing zeros are truncated, and the decimal point appears only if one or more digits follow it.
G	double	Identical to the g format, except that E, rather than e, introduces the exponent (where appropriate).
s	string	Specifies a character string. Characters are printed up to the first null character or until the precision value is reached.

XTrace.cs API

The following methods are available:

Methods
	void Trace(string format, params object[] parameters)	Outputs file name, line number, thread ids, followed by formatted args.
	void TraceEnter()	Outputs file name, line number, thread ids, followed by "in" and method name.
	void TraceEnter(string format, params object[] parameters)	Outputs file name, line number, thread ids, followed by "in" and method name, plus formatted args.
	void TracePoint(string desc, Point point)	Outputs file name, line number, thread ids, followed by desc and point.
	void TraceRect(string desc, Rectangle rect)	Outputs file name, line number, thread ids, followed by desc and rect.
	void TraceSize(string desc, Size size)	Outputs file name, line number, thread ids, followed by desc and size.

How To Use

To integrate XTrace.cs into your project, add the files XTrace.cs and HDTools.cs. See the demo app for examples.

Acknowledgments

My thanks to Richard Prinz for his excellent article A printf implementation in C#. If you find XTrace.cs useful, please take a minute to visit Richard's article and vote him a 5.

Revision History

Version 1.2

• Initial public release

Usage

This software is released under the Code Project Open License (CPOL). You are free to use this software in any way you like, except that you may not sell this source code. This software is provided "as is" with no expressed or implied warranty. I accept no liability for any damage or loss of business that this software may cause.