Creating A Dump File
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This page describes the process for creating a dump of your memory system while WireCAD is running or immediately after a crash or hang.
Contents
Definitions
- CRASH - the application quits working without warning and Windows reports that the application has quit unexpectedly. It is very unusual for WireCAD to crash. Please note that a crash is NOT a logical error in the code that causes the standard WireCAD exception handler to pop up (the unhappy face form). Crashes are catastrophic. They are unrecoverable and may corrupt data.
- HANG - there are two types of application hang:
- Race or high CPU usage. This type of hang causes your machine to go nuts. You can't do anything else because the CPU is too busy running away.
- Non responsive low CPU usage. This type of hang let's the rest of the machine work but the offending application appears to be doing nothing.
What is a dump file?
A dump file contains all of the memory on your machine relating to the program that is under scrutiny.
A full dump file can be quite large as it contains the values of all memory locations used by the application.
A mini dump file is often enough information for us to determine the offending code or hardware.
What is a dump file used for?
Dump files allow support and development staff to see into the state of your machine at the time of the dump. Often times we can deduce the problem remotely.
How and when to Generate a Dump File?
If you are trying to troubleshoot an application HANG, you can create a dump file simply by clicking [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Delete] and selecting the Task Manager optoin. Find the WireCAD#.exe process. Right-click it and select Create Dump File. The dump file will be created in your tmp folder. The tool will show you where. This type approach will work for HANGS but not CRASHES.
The remainder of this article will be devoted to describing the process of creating dump files automatically when the application crashes.
