JPH09190363A - Breakpoint display method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: In interactive execution of a program, it is possible to dynamically set a minimum required break point in consideration of resource constraints. SOLUTION: Whether or not a process for return and re-execution is assigned to each break point is distinguished by a color of a button on an interactive screen, and when a return and re-execution process is no longer assigned to a new break point, a button is displayed. It is possible for the user to assign the re-execution process to a new breakpoint by judging the color from the user and removing unnecessary breakpoints. [Effect] It is possible to dynamically set the optimum breakpoint according to the resource constraints, the nature of the program, and the situation of interaction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for interactively executing a computer program, and more particularly to an interruption point that enables effective selection of a program interruption point (hereinafter, simply referred to as an interruption point) under the constraint of memory resources. Regarding display method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent popularization of workstations and the like, interactive execution of programs has become an essential technique for improving man-machine performance. In order to perform interactive execution, it is necessary to prepare a break point (break point) of the program. Since the break point is the point where the execution status is confirmed, and at the same time it is the base point of the return re-execution. It is necessary to save the state of the program in preparation. HP
In a conventional dialog execution environment such as Softbench of a company, the state is saved in an external storage device.

[0003]

When the program is large, it takes time to save the state in the external storage device at the interruption point and to return to the interruption point, and the man-machine characteristic may be impaired. As one of the solutions, instead of outputting the state to an external storage device, copy the state of the program to the memory and prepare a new process (recovery process) to make it stand by, and run the recovery process at the time of re-execution. A method can be considered. This method saves and restores the state very quickly, but requires a lot of memory resources.
If there are many break points, the recovery process cannot be taken due to lack of memory, and interactive execution may be stalled. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a breakpoint display method for avoiding such a situation and economically and effectively selecting a breakpoint according to the execution status of the program while considering the program size and memory size. To provide.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object,
In the present invention, the color of the interruption point on the execution control screen is displayed differently depending on whether the recovery process is provided or not.

By doing so, the user can grasp at a glance the recovery process prepared at each time point and the accompanying break point. In addition, when a new interruption point and the associated recovery process are needed but the memory resources become insufficient, it becomes unnecessary to delete the interruption point and the associated recovery process that are no longer needed. You can take the process. Thus,
It is possible to select an economical and effective break point according to the execution status of the program.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a dialogue execution system for implementing the present invention. FO that is the target of interactive execution in FIG.
The RTRAN application 3 calls the dialogue communication subroutine (COMM) 2 at a place that is a candidate for a break point. The value of the argument N in COMM (N) means a number for identifying a break point (break point number). FORTRAN
Every time COMM is called by the application 3, the control is transferred to the dialogue communication subroutine 2. COMM communicates with the dialog control program 1 using the interprocess communication path 4. The dialogue control program 1 is a program for controlling the dialogue execution of an application in accordance with an instruction sent from the user through the screen. The dialogue screen has a group of interruption point buttons (11, 12) in the leftmost column as shown in FIG. , 13, 1
4), a progress indicator (15) on the right side thereof, a central source field (16) for displaying an application in a FORTRAN source image, a return instruction button recov (17) at the upper portion, and a progress instruction button adv (1).
8) and an end instruction button “quit (19)”. The break point buttons are CALL COM in the source field.
It is placed on the same line as the M sentence.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the structure of the break point control table used by the dialogue control program 1. This table shows, for each break point candidate, a break point number field 20, a designation flag field 21 for instructing whether or not the break point is present, a recovery process number field 22 for storing a recovery process number for the break point, and a break point button. It is composed of a button color field 23 for designating a color. Break point number field 2
The number specified in the argument of COMM by the application is entered in 0. In the designated flag field 21, "on" means that the breakpoint is designated, and "off" means that there is no designation. In the button color field 23, "0" means the same color as the background (ground color), "1" means yellow, and "2" means green.

The flowchart of FIG. 3 shows the operation (processing procedure) of the dialogue communication subroutine 2 (COMM). COM
M operates differently when it is called from the application 3 and when it is started from the recovery process of the dialogue control program 1 upon restoration. Details will be described later.

The flowchart of FIG. 4 shows the operation of the dialogue control program 1. After displaying the dialog screen, the dialog control program 1 enters a loop waiting for an event to occur. Events include pressing the break point button, starting from COMM,
There are pressing of the progress instruction button, pressing of the return instruction button, and pressing of the end instruction button, and different operations are performed in each case. Details will be described later.

An example of a dialogue process using the screen, the program, and the tables described above is shown below (note the color display method of the break point button).

First, a FORT incorporating a dialogue control program 1 and a dialogue communication subroutine 2 (COMM).
Launch the RAN application 3 independently. The FORTRAN application 3 is assumed to include four CALL COMMs as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the dialogue control program 1 creates the dialogue screen 1 as shown in FIG. 1, secures the COMM and the interprocess communication path 4, and stops waiting for an event to occur (41). The FORTRAN source program read from the application file 5 is displayed in the source field 16 of the interactive screen. At that time, CALL C in the source program
The OMM line is detected, and the break point button group (11,
12, 13, 14) are created and displayed. Furthermore, FIG.
As shown in (a), the contents of the breakpoint control table (FIG. 2) are initialized. That is, C in the break point number field 20
The four numbers taken from the OMM argument are registered and all other fields are zero. Therefore all buttons are the same color as the background.

Then, the user, for example, the break point button 1
It is assumed that the break point is set by pressing 1, 13, and 14. When these buttons are pressed, the dialogue control program 1
Exits from the event occurrence waiting state (41) in FIG. 4, and the block 43 from the path when the interruption point button of the block 42 is pressed.
Then, since the current state of the designated flag field 21 is off, all the processes 435, 436 and 437 are performed and the process returns to the event waiting state (41). As a result, the content of the interruption point control table changes as shown in FIG. Further, the break point buttons 11, 13, and 14 are illuminated in yellow to indicate that the break point is reached.

The FORTRAN application 3 processes from the beginning, and when the CALL COMM (1) is executed, the path when called from the application in FIG. 3 is selected,
First, in block 30, the dialog control program 1 is started, and the current process number and CO
The interruption point number (“1”) which is the argument of MM is transmitted to the dialogue control program 1. Subsequently, in block 31, the state of the designation flag field 21 of the interruption point number is received from the dialogue control program 1, and in block 32, it is judged whether or not the interruption point is designated. In this case, since the designation flag is "on", the process proceeds to the processing of block 321, and a copy of the own process is generated as a new process by issuing a fork () system command and the like, and the process is put on standby in preparation for restoration re-execution. In some cases, the copy process cannot be created due to lack of memory resources, but in that case, the copy process number is zero. If successful, a new positive number will be obtained. Then block 32
2, the new copy process number is sent to the dialogue control program 1 as the recovery process number. The application 3 itself waits at the block 323 for pressing the progress instruction button from the dialogue control program 1. On the other hand, the dialog control program 1 waits for the event occurrence ((4
After exiting step 1), press the break point button (42) to select the activation path from the dialogue communication subroutine 2 (COMM). At block 44, the current process number and the break point number "1"
Received from MM. Then, in block 45, the interruption point control table of FIG. 6B is searched for the interruption point number "1" to find a field 20 having the same number, and the value "on" of the field 21 of the row is set as the designation flag. Send to COMM. Further, in block 46, since the designation flag is on, the process proceeds to block 461, the recovery process number is received from COMM, and the recovery process number is received in block 462 in FIG.
It is stored in the field 22 of the interruption point control table. If the recovery process number is “1” and the recovery process is normally obtained, the block 463 indicates 4
Go to 631 and set the button color code in field 23 to "2".
That is, set to green. Further, in block 464, the button is lighted according to the code to wait for event occurrence (4
Return to 1). At this point, the contents of the break point control table are as shown in FIG. 6 (c), and the button 11 in FIG. 1 becomes green indicating that the break point is a recoverable break point having a recovery process.

When the user presses the progress instruction button 18 after finishing the investigation at the interruption point, the dialog control program 1 notifies the progress to the COMM in the block 47 of FIG. 4, and the COMM notifies the block 323 of the FIG. In response to this, block 33 returns to FORTRAN application 3. Application 3 continues processing, CALL COMM
In (2), control is transferred to COMM again. Here, FIG.
The same processing as before is performed up to blocks 30 and 31 of FIG.
As shown in (c), since the designation flag 21 is "off" at the break point number "2" and the break point is not designated, the block 32 does nothing and the block 33 returns to the application. Similarly, the interactive control program 1 also returns to the event occurrence waiting state (41) without executing anything in block 46 after executing blocks 44 and 45 in FIG.

The next CALL COMM (3) is designated as the break point, and the operation there is the CALL COMM (3).
This is the same as the case (1). If the recovery process is taken normally, the state of the interruption point control table is as shown in FIG.
As in (d), the interruption point button 13 also lights up in green as in 11.

The following CALL COMM (4) is also designated as an interruption point and performs the same operation, but it is assumed that the recovery process number cannot be taken due to lack of resources and the recovery process number "0" is obtained. At this time, since the path from block 463 to block 4632 in FIG. 4 is taken, the button color code 23 is set to "1" (yellow) and lighted.
Therefore, the color of the button 14 remains yellow, indicating that the recovery process has not been completed. The state of the break point control table is as shown in FIG.

At this point, the user knows that the recovery point cannot be increased because the recovery process cannot be taken any more. In order to be able to return to the CALL COMM (4), it is necessary to select and remove unnecessary break points and recovery processes. The user may make such a determination by using the program logic information of the source field 16 and the associated breakpoint button groups (11, 12, 13, 1).
It can be done accurately by seeing the color of 4).

It is assumed that the user has decided to remove the break point with the button 11. Therefore, the user presses the button 11 again. At this time, the dialogue control program 1 proceeds from block 42 to block 43, and the designated flag is set to "on".
Therefore, the flow advances to block 431 to set the designation flag to “off”, and then at block 432, the recovery process No. 1 in the field 22 in FIG. 6E is deleted. As a result, resources such as the memory used by No. 1 are released, and a new process can be used. Further, in blocks 433 and 434, the button color is changed to the ground color. This means that the number specified by the button 11 has been released from the interruption point. The contents of the break point control table are as shown in FIG.

Subsequently, the user temporarily returns to the previous break point so that the break point of the number designated by the button 14 can be restored.

For this purpose, the return instruction button 17 may be pressed. At this time, the dialog control program 1 proceeds from the block 42 of FIG. 4 to the path of the block 48 of FIG. 5, and executes the recovery process from the current interruption point number “4” upward in the interruption point control table of FIG. 6 (f). A break point (that is, a row in which the field 22 is a positive value and the field 21 is “on”) is obtained and searched. As a result, the break point with the number "3" is obtained. Subsequently, the current COMM process is deleted in block 491, the recovery process No. 2 written in the field 22 is set as a new current process in block 492, and COMM is activated in block 493 to return to block 41.
On the COMM side, control is passed to the block 34 in FIG. 3, and a copy of the own process is newly generated again (it is number 3).
Wait as a process for recovery. Since one process is deleted in the immediately preceding block 491, this process can always be created. Then block 3
In step 5, the interactive control program 1 is activated and the recovery process number is transmitted. This is similar to the process of block 322. Thereafter, in block 36, the progress instruction from the dialogue control program 1 is waited for. This is also similar to block 323. At this time, the dialogue control program 1 is in blocks 42 to 4
In step 61, the recovery process number "3" is received and stored in the field 22 (block 462).
Further, in block 4631, the button color code 2 (green) is set, and in block 464, after lighting, the process returns to block 41. This completes the return to the break point 13. In this state, the contents of the break point control table are as shown in FIG.

When the user presses the progress instruction button 18, the COMM exits the waiting state of the block 36 in FIG. 3, and the CALL of the application 3 is started from the block 37.
Return immediately after COMM (3). CALL COMM
At (4), control again passes to the interactive communication subroutine 2, but this time, a new recovery process "4" can be taken by deleting the interruption point 11. The contents of the interruption point control table are as shown in FIG. 6 (h), and the button 14 lights up in green.

In this way, by displaying the acquisition state of the recovery process in the button color, the user can dynamically set / cancel the effective break point according to the progress of the interactive execution.

In this embodiment, the background color, yellow, and green are used as the button colors, but the present invention is not limited to these as long as the colors are distinguished. Also, while FORTRAN applications have been described, the present invention is not limited by the type of programming language.

[0025]

According to the present invention, it becomes possible to set / cancel the execution interruption point according to the resource constraint of the computer and the nature of the program while guaranteeing the high speed restoration / re-execution, and the minimum necessary You can prepare a break point and proceed with interactive execution.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an interactive execution system.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an interruption point control table.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of a dialogue communication subroutine (COMM).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of a dialogue control program.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation following FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing changes in the contents of a breakpoint control table in accordance with interactive execution.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Dialogue control program, 2 ... Dialogue communication subroutine (COMM), 3 ... FORTRAN application,
4 ... Interprocess communication path, {11, 12, 13, 14}:
Breakpoint button, 15: progress indicator field,
16: Source field, 17: Return instruction button, 1
8: progress instruction button, 19: end instruction button, 20: interruption point number field, 21: designation flag field, 2
2: recovery process number field, 23: button color code field, {30, 31, 32, 33, 3
4, 35, 36, 37, 321, 322, 323}: operation part of dialogue contact subroutine, {40, 41, 42,
43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,4
31,432,433,434,435,436,43
7,461,462,463,464,491,49
2,493,494,4631,4632}: Operation part of the dialogue control program.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method for interactively executing a program, wherein whether or not it is possible to return to a registered break point is distinguished by a color of a button on a dialog screen indicating the break point. Point display method.