Trapping System RIPs and Other Notification Messages (103223)

SUMMARY

Ripwatch uses the TOOLHELP dynamic-link library (DLL) to trap system RIPs and other notification messages, and displays them in a window.

When developing Microsoft Windows-based applications, you should always use the debugging version of Windows. This special build of the system is distributed with the Windows Software Development Kit (SDK). It tests for invalid parameters to Windows function calls and reports other problems such as failing to free graphics device interface (GDI) objects when an application exits. If you don't know about the debugging version, you are not getting the most from your SDK; worse still, you may be preparing to ship a potentially faulty product.

The default action for reporting detected errors is to send a message to a debug terminal connected to COM1. This requires that you have a terminal attached to the port to see these messages. This can be a waste of desktop space, a source of annoying beeps, and may tie up an otherwise useful communications port. The TOOLHELP.DLL included with the Windows SDK allows you to hook these messages before they reach the communications port. The Ripwatch sample application displays the messages in a window. The display includes a textual description of the RIP error code. Ripwatch also allows you to copy the text to the Clipboard, save it in a file, or print it.

There is a known problem when running Ripwatch with Microsoft CodeView(R) for Windows. If you try to start CodeView while Ripwatch is running, CodeView reports an out-of-memory condition. If you try to start Ripwatch after CodeView has been started, CodeView will usually GP fault.

Ripwatch was built and tested under Microsoft Windows version 3.1 and the Microsoft C/C++ version 7.0 compiler.