Tutorial: Debug and trace printings

Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • Macros for trace
  • Macros for debug
• Debug and trace usage in ViSP library
• Debug and trace usage in your own project

Introduction

ViSP allows to introduce trace and debug printings that may help debugging. To this end ViSP provides C or C++ macros that allows to print messages to the standard output std::cout or to std::cerr. The following table summarizes the macro defined in visp3/code/vpDebug.h header.

|----------|-------|-------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| output   | type  | std::cout                           | std::cerr                             |
|----------|-------|-------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| C-like   | trace | vpTRACE, vpTRACE(level)             | vpERROR_TRACE, vpERROR_TRACE(level)   |
|          | trace | vpIN_FCT, vpOUT_FCT                 |                                       |
|          | debug | vpDEBUG_TRACE, vpDEBUG_TRACE(level) | vpDERROR_TRACE, vpDERROR_TRACE(level) |
|----------|-------|-------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| C++-like | trace | vpCTRACE                            | vpCERROR                              |
|          | debug | vpCDEBUG(level)                     |                                       |
|----------|-------|-------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|

Macros for trace

Macro for tracing vpTRACE(), vpTRACE(level), vpERROR_TRACE(), vpERROR_TRACE(level), vpIN_FCT() and vpOUT_FCT() work like printf with carrier return at the end of the string, while vpCTRACE() and vpCERROR() work like the C++ output streams std::cout and std::cerr. All these macro print messages only if VP_TRACE macro is defined. Macro that has level as parameter like vpTRACE(level) or vpERROR_TRACE(level) use an additional define named VP_DEBUG_MODE. They print only messages if VP_DEBUG_MODE >= level.

Macros for debug

Macros for debug vpDEBUG_TRACE(), vpDEBUG_TRACE(level), vpDERROR_TRACE() and vpDERROR_TRACE(level) work like printf while vpCDEBUG(level) works like the C++ output stream std::cout. These macro print messages only if VP_DEBUG macro is defined. Macro that has level as parameter like vpDEBUG_TRACE(level) or vpDERROR_TRACE(level) use an additional define named VP_DEBUG_MODE. They print only messages if VP_DEBUG_MODE >= level.

Moreover vpDEBUG_ENABLE(level) can be used to check if a given debug level is active; vpDEBUG_ENABLE(level) is equal to 1 if VP_DEBUG_MODE >= level, otherwise vpDEBUG_ENABLE(level) is equal to 0.

Debug and trace usage in ViSP library

In ViSP, before an exception is thrown, trace macro are widely used to inform the user that an error occur. This is redundant, since the same trace message in generally associated to the exception that is thrown. Since ViSP 3.1.0, during CMake configuration it is possible to tune debug and trace printings by setting ENABLE_DEBUG_LEVEL cmake variable.

• To turn off debug and trace printings (this is the default), using cmake command just run :

  %cmake -DENABLE_DEBUG_LEVEL=0 <path to ViSP source code>

• To turn on debug and trace printings with a debug level of 3, using cmake command just run :

  %cmake -DENABLE_DEBUG_LEVEL=3 <path to ViSP source code>

• or using ccmake GUI as shown in the next snapshot:

Note

When ENABLE_DEBUG_LEVEL is set to 0 (this is the default behavior in ViSP), we don't define VP_TRACE and VP_DEBUG macro.

Debug and trace usage in your own project

Note that all the material (source code) described in this tutorial is part of ViSP source code (in tutorial/trace folder) and could be found in https://github.com/lagadic/visp/tree/master/tutorial/visual-servoing/trace.

If you develop a project that uses ViSP library as a 3rd party, there are different ways to benefit from debug and trace macro described previously.

• If ViSP was build with debug and trace enabled using cmake ENABLE_DEBUG_LEVEL=<level>, debug and trace are also enabled in your development.
• If debug and trace were disabled in ViSP (ENABLE_DEBUG_LEVEL=0), you can enable debug and trace in your own development either by defining VP_DEBUG and/or VP_TRACE macro in your code using

  #define VP_TRACE
  #define VP_DEBUG
   
  #include <visp3/core/vpDebug.h>

  either by modifying your CMakeLists.txt file by adding an option like:

  option(ENABLE_DEBUG_MODE "Enable debug and trace printings" ON)
   
  if(ENABLE_DEBUG_MODE)
    add_definitions("-DVP_DEBUG -DVP_TRACE")
  endif()

The following example also available in tutorial-trace.cpp shows how to use the previous macro.

 
//#define VP_TRACE        // Activate the trace mode
//#define VP_DEBUG        // Activate the debug mode
#define VP_DEBUG_MODE 2 // Activate debug level 1 and 2
 
#include <visp3/core/vpConfig.h>
#include <visp3/core/vpDebug.h>
 
int main()
{
#ifdef ENABLE_VISP_NAMESPACE
  using namespace VISP_NAMESPACE_NAME;
#endif
 
  vpIN_FCT("main()"); // std::cout if VP_TRACE defined
 
  // Check the active debug levels set in VP_DEBUG_MODE
  std::cout << "Debug level 1 active: " << vpDEBUG_ENABLE(1) << std::endl;
  std::cout << "Debug level 2 active: " << vpDEBUG_ENABLE(2) << std::endl;
  std::cout << "Debug level 3 active: " << vpDEBUG_ENABLE(3) << std::endl;
 
  // C-like trace printings if VP_TRACE defined
  vpTRACE("C-like trace");            // std::cout
  vpTRACE(1, "C-like trace level 1"); // std::cout
 
  vpERROR_TRACE("C-like error trace");            // std::cerr
  vpERROR_TRACE(1, "C-like error trace level 1"); // std::cerr if
                                                  // VP_DEBUG_MODE value is >=
                                                  // 1
 
  // C-like debug printings if VP_DEBUG defined
  vpDEBUG_TRACE("C-like debug trace");  // stdout
  vpDERROR_TRACE("C-like error trace"); // stderr
 
  vpDEBUG_TRACE(2,
                "C-like debug trace level 2"); // std::cout if VP_DEBUG_MODE value >= 2
  vpDERROR_TRACE(2,
                 "C-like error trace level 2"); // std::cerr if VP_DEBUG_MODE value >= 2
 
  // C++-like trace printings if VP_TRACE defined
  vpCTRACE << "C++-like trace" << std::endl;       // std::cout
  vpCERROR << "C++-like error trace" << std::endl; // std::cerr
 
  // C++-like debug printings if VP_DEBUG defined
  vpCDEBUG(2) << "C++-like debug trace level 2" << std::endl; // std::cout if VP_DEBUG_MODE value >= 2
 
  vpOUT_FCT("main()"); // std::cout if VP_TRACE defined
}

Note

In the previous example it is important to notice that the following lines have to be put prior to any other ViSP includes:

#define VP_DEBUG_MODE 2 // Activate debug level 1 and 2
#include <visp3/core/vpDebug.h>

For example, if you modify the previous example just by including <visp3/core/vpImage.h> on the top of the file, you will get the following warnings:

Building CXX object tutorial/trace/CMakeFiles/tutorial-trace.dir/tutorial-trace.cpp.o
.../ViSP-code/tutorial/trace/tutorial-trace.cpp:5:1: warning: "VP_DEBUG_MODE" redefined
In file included from .../ViSP-build-debug/include/visp3/core/vpImage.h:52,
                 from .../ViSP-code/tutorial/trace/tutorial-trace.cpp:2:
.../ViSP-build-debug/include/visp3/core/vpDebug.h:67:1: warning: this is the location of the previous definition

When ViSP library was built without debug and trace the previous example produces the output:

%./tutorial-trace
Debug level 1 active: 0
Debug level 2 active: 0
Debug level 3 active: 0

When ViSP is rather build with debug and trace the previous example produces the output:

%./tutorial-trace
(L0) begin /tmp/tutorial-trace.cpp: main(#9) : main()
Debug level 1 active: 1
Debug level 2 active: 1
Debug level 3 active: 0
(L0) /tmp/tutorial-trace.cpp: main(#17) : C-like trace
(L1) /tmp/tutorial-trace.cpp: main(#18) : C-like trace level 1
(L0) !! /tmp/tutorial-trace.cpp: main(#20) : C-like error trace
(L1) !! /tmp/tutorial-trace.cpp: main(#21) : C-like error trace level 1
(L0) /tmp/tutorial-trace.cpp: main(#24) : C-like debug trace
(L0) !! /tmp/tutorial-trace.cpp: main(#25) : C-like error trace
(L2) /tmp/tutorial-trace.cpp: main(#27) : C-like debug trace level 2
(L2) !! /tmp/tutorial-trace.cpp: main(#28) : C-like error trace level 2
(L0) /tmp/tutorial-trace.cpp: main(#31) : C++-like trace
(L0) !! /tmp/tutorial-trace.cpp: main(#32) : C++-like error trace
(L2) /tmp/tutorial-trace.cpp: main(#35) : C++-like debug trace level 2
(L0) end /tmp/tutorial-trace.cpp: main(#37) : main()

In the previous printings:

• the number after "L" indicates the debug or trace level; example (L2) is for level 2.
• the number after "#" indicates the line of the code that produce the printing; example main(#37) means in function main() at line 37.
• the "!!" indicate that the printing is on std::cerr. Others are on std::cout.