[Lldb-commits] [lldb] r138421 - in /lldb/trunk: examples/synthetic/StdVectorSynthProvider.py www/varformats.html

Enrico Granata granata.enrico at gmail.com
Tue Aug 23 18:32:46 PDT 2011


Author: enrico
Date: Tue Aug 23 20:32:46 2011
New Revision: 138421

URL: http://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project?rev=138421&view=rev
Log:
More documentation changes (WIP)

Modified:
    lldb/trunk/examples/synthetic/StdVectorSynthProvider.py
    lldb/trunk/www/varformats.html

Modified: lldb/trunk/examples/synthetic/StdVectorSynthProvider.py
URL: http://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project/lldb/trunk/examples/synthetic/StdVectorSynthProvider.py?rev=138421&r1=138420&r2=138421&view=diff
==============================================================================
--- lldb/trunk/examples/synthetic/StdVectorSynthProvider.py (original)
+++ lldb/trunk/examples/synthetic/StdVectorSynthProvider.py Tue Aug 23 20:32:46 2011
@@ -2,19 +2,20 @@
 
 	def __init__(self, valobj, dict):
 		self.valobj = valobj;
-		self.update()
+		self.update() # initialize this provider
 
 	def num_children(self):
-		start_val = self.start.GetValueAsUnsigned(0)
-		finish_val = self.finish.GetValueAsUnsigned(0)
-		end_val  = self.end.GetValueAsUnsigned(0)
+		start_val = self.start.GetValueAsUnsigned(0) # read _M_start
+		finish_val = self.finish.GetValueAsUnsigned(0) # read _M_finish
+		end_val  = self.end.GetValueAsUnsigned(0) # read _M_end_of_storage
+		
 		# Before a vector has been constructed, it will contain bad values
 		# so we really need to be careful about the length we return since
 		# unitialized data can cause us to return a huge number. We need
 		# to also check for any of the start, finish or end of storage values
 		# being zero (NULL). If any are, then this vector has not been 
 		# initialized yet and we should return zero
-        
+
 		# Make sure nothing is NULL
 		if start_val == 0 or finish_val == 0 or end_val == 0:
 			return 0
@@ -25,23 +26,46 @@
 		if finish_val > end_val:
 			return 0
 
+		# pointer arithmetic: (_M_finish - _M_start) would return the number of
+		# items of type T contained in the vector. because Python has no way to know
+		# that we want to subtract two pointers instead of two integers, we have to divide
+		# by sizeof(T) to be equivalent to the C++ pointer expression
 		num_children = (finish_val-start_val)/self.data_size
 		return num_children
 
+	# we assume we are getting children named [0] thru [N-1]
+	# if for some reason our child name is not in this format,
+	# do not bother to show it, and return an invalid value
 	def get_child_index(self,name):
-		return int(name.lstrip('[').rstrip(']'))
+		try:
+			return int(name.lstrip('[').rstrip(']'))
+		except:
+			return -1;
 
 	def get_child_at_index(self,index):
+		# LLDB itself should never query for children < 0, but this might come
+		# from someone asking for a nonexisting child and getting -1 as index
+		if index < 0:
+			return None
 		if index >= self.num_children():
 			return None;
-		offset = index * self.data_size
-		return self.start.CreateChildAtOffset('['+str(index)+']',offset,self.data_type)
-
+		# *(_M_start + index), or equivalently _M_start[index] is C++ code to
+		# read the index-th item of the vector. in Python we must make an offset
+		# that is index * sizeof(T), and then grab the value at that offset from
+		# _M_start
+		offset = index * self.data_size # index * sizeof(T)
+		return self.start.CreateChildAtOffset('['+str(index)+']',offset,self.data_type) # *(_M_start + index)
+
+	# an std::vector contains an object named _M_impl, which in turn contains
+	# three pointers, _M_start, _M_end and _M_end_of_storage. _M_start points to the
+	# beginning of the data area, _M_finish points to where the current vector elements
+	# finish, and _M_end_of_storage is the end of the currently alloc'ed memory portion
+	# (to allow resizing, a vector may allocate more memory than required)
 	def update(self):
 		impl = self.valobj.GetChildMemberWithName('_M_impl')
 		self.start = impl.GetChildMemberWithName('_M_start')
 		self.finish = impl.GetChildMemberWithName('_M_finish')
 		self.end = impl.GetChildMemberWithName('_M_end_of_storage')
-		self.data_type = self.start.GetType().GetPointeeType()
-		self.data_size = self.data_type.GetByteSize()
+		self.data_type = self.start.GetType().GetPointeeType() # _M_start is defined as a T*
+		self.data_size = self.data_type.GetByteSize() # sizeof(T)
 

Modified: lldb/trunk/www/varformats.html
URL: http://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project/lldb/trunk/www/varformats.html?rev=138421&r1=138420&r2=138421&view=diff
==============================================================================
--- lldb/trunk/www/varformats.html (original)
+++ lldb/trunk/www/varformats.html Tue Aug 23 20:32:46 2011
@@ -1006,7 +1006,9 @@
 			Currently this method is optional, because the internal state of synthetic children providers will not be preserved. However, this is meant to change in future versions
 			of LLDB.<br/>
 		</code>
-		<p>For examples of how synthetic children are created, you are encouraged to look at <a href="http://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/lldb/trunk/examples/synthetic/">examples/synthetic</a> in the LLDB trunk.</p>
+		<p>For examples of how synthetic children are created, you are encouraged to look at <a href="http://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/lldb/trunk/examples/synthetic/">examples/synthetic</a> in the LLDB trunk.
+			You may especially want to begin looking at <a href="http://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/lldb/trunk/examples/synthetic/StdVectorSynthProvider.py">StdVector</a> to get
+			a feel for this feature.</p>
 		
 		<p>Once a synthetic children provider is written, one must load it into LLDB before it can be used.
 			Currently, one can use the LLDB <code>script</code> command to type Python code interactively,
@@ -1084,14 +1086,41 @@
           </div>
         </div>
 
-          
+        <div class="post">
+          <h1 class="postheader">Categories</h1>
+          <div class="postcontent">          
+	          <p>Categories are a way to group related formatters. For instance, LLDB itself groups
+		      the formatters for the C++ STL objects in a category named <code>gnu-libstdc++</code>.
+				Basically, categories act like containers in which to store formatters for a same library
+			  or OS release.</p>
+			  <p>By default, three categories are created in LLDB: <code>system</code>, <code>gnu-libstdc++</code> and <code>default</code>.
+				Every formatter that is not created inside a category, is by default a part of the <code>default</code> category.
+				If you want to use a custom category for your formatters, all the <code>type ... add</code> (except for <code>type format add</code>),
+				provide a <code>--category</code> (<code>-w</code>) option, that names the category to add the formatter to.
+				To delete the formatter, you then have to specify the correct category.</p>
+				<p>Categories can be in one of two states: enabled and disabled. A category is initially disabled,
+					and can be enabled using the <code>type category enable</code> command. To disable an enabled category,
+					the command to use is <code>type category disable</code>. The order in which categories are enabled or disabled
+					is significant, in that LLDB uses that order when looking for formatters. Therefore, when you enable a category, it becomes
+					the first one to be searched. The default categories are enabled in the order: <code>default</code> as first, then
+					<code>gnu-libstdc++</code>, and finally <code>system</code>. As said, <code>gnu-libstdc++</code> contains formatters for C++ STL
+					data types. <code>system</code> contains formatters for <code>char*</code> and <code>char[]</code>, which are expected to be
+					consistent throughout libraries and systems, and replace </p>
+				<p>Categories are a way to group related formatters. For instance, LLDB itself groups
+			      the formatters for the C++ STL objects in a category named <code>gnu-libstdc++</code></p>
+          </div>
+        </div>
+
           <div class="post">
             <h1 class="postheader">Finding formatters 101</h1>
             <div class="postcontent">
               <p>While the rules for finding an appropriate format for a
                 type are relatively simple (just go through typedef
                 hierarchies), searching formatters for a type goes through
-				a rather intricate set of rules. Namely, what happens is:</p>
+				a rather intricate set of rules. Namely, what happens is that LLDB
+				starts looking in each enabled category, according to the order in which
+				they were enabled (latest enabled first). In each category, LLDB does
+				the following:</p>
               <ul>
                 <li>If there is a formatter for the type of the variable,
                   use it</li>
@@ -1125,6 +1154,11 @@
                   looking for regular expressions instead of exact
                   matches</li>
               </ul>
+              <p>If any of those attempts returned a valid formatter to be used,
+				  that one is used, and the search is terminated (without going to look
+				in other categories). If nothing was found in the current category, the next
+				enabled category is scanned according to the same algorithm. If there are no
+				more enabled categories, the search has failed.</p>
             </div>
           </div>
           <div class="post">





More information about the lldb-commits mailing list