Tutorial 2: Creating your own Debug Channels

You can easily create your own debug channels.  In the example below we create a debug channel dc::ghost that will use the string "GHOST" as label.

Create a file "sys.h" that is part of your application and put in it:

#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H		// This is just an example of what you could do
#include "config.h"		//   when using autoconf for your project.
#endif
#ifdef CWDEBUG			// This is needed so that others can compile
				//   your application without having libcwd installed.
#ifndef _GNU_SOURCE		// Already defined by g++ 3.0 and higher.
#define _GNU_SOURCE		// Needed for libpthread extensions.
#endif
#include <libcwd/sys.h>
#endif

Create a file "debug.h" that is part of your application and put in it:

#ifndef DEBUG_H
#define DEBUG_H

#ifndef CWDEBUG

#define AllocTag1(p)
#define AllocTag2(p, desc)
#define AllocTag_dynamic_description(p, x)
#define AllocTag(p, x)
#define Debug(x)
#define Dout(a, b)
#define DoutFatal(a, b) LibcwDoutFatal(::std, , a, b)
#define ForAllDebugChannels(STATEMENT)
#define ForAllDebugObjects(STATEMENT)
#define LibcwDebug(dc_namespace, x)
#define LibcwDout(a, b, c, d)
#define LibcwDoutFatal(a, b, c, d) do { ::std::cerr << d << ::std::endl; ::std::exit(254); } while(1)
#define NEW(x) new x

#else // CWDEBUG

#ifndef DEBUGCHANNELS
// This must be defined before <libcwd/debug.h> is included and must be the
// name of the namespace containing your `dc' namespace (see below).
// You can use any namespace(s) you like, except existing namespaces
// (like ::, ::std and ::libcwd).
#define DEBUGCHANNELS ::myproject::debug::channels
#endif
#include <libcwd/debug.h>

namespace myproject {
  namespace debug {
    namespace channels {
      namespace dc {
	using namespace ::libcwd::channels::dc;

	// Add the declaration of new debug channels here
	// and their definition in a custom debug.cc file.
	extern ::libcwd::channel_ct custom;

      } // namespace dc
    } // namespace DEBUGCHANNELS
  }
}

#endif // CWDEBUG
#endif // DEBUG_H

Finally write the program:

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#include "sys.h"
#include "debug.h"

// Actual definition of `ghost'
namespace debug_channels {	// Actually, you will need a series of
				// "namespace xyz {" here, to match whatever
				// DEBUGCHANNELS is.
  namespace dc {
    libcwd::channel_ct ghost("GHOST");
  }
}

int main(void)
{
  Debug( dc::ghost.on() );			// Remember: don't forget to turn
  Debug( libcw_do.on() );			//   the debug Channel and Object on!

  for (int i = 0; i < 4; ++i)
    Dout(dc::ghost, "i = " << i);		// We can write more than just
						// "Hello World" to the ostream :)
  return 0;
}

This program outputs:

GHOST   : i = 0
GHOST   : i = 1
GHOST   : i = 2
GHOST   : i = 3

Note that when writing a library you are highly advised to follow the namespace guideline as set forth in the Reference Manual.