'\" '\" Copyright (c) 1990-1994 The Regents of the University of California. '\" Copyright (c) 1994-1996 Sun Microsystems, Inc. '\" '\" See the file "license.terms" for information on usage and redistribution '\" of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES. '\" '\" RCS: @(#) $Id: bgerror.n,v 1.1.1.1 2007/07/10 15:04:23 duncan Exp $ '\" '\" The definitions below are for supplemental macros used in Tcl/Tk '\" manual entries. '\" '\" .AP type name in/out ?indent? '\" Start paragraph describing an argument to a library procedure. '\" type is type of argument (int, etc.), in/out is either "in", "out", '\" or "in/out" to describe whether procedure reads or modifies arg, '\" and indent is equivalent to second arg of .IP (shouldn't ever be '\" needed; use .AS below instead) '\" '\" .AS ?type? ?name? '\" Give maximum sizes of arguments for setting tab stops. Type and '\" name are examples of largest possible arguments that will be passed '\" to .AP later. If args are omitted, default tab stops are used. '\" '\" .BS '\" Start box enclosure. From here until next .BE, everything will be '\" enclosed in one large box. '\" '\" .BE '\" End of box enclosure. '\" '\" .CS '\" Begin code excerpt. '\" '\" .CE '\" End code excerpt. '\" '\" .VS ?version? ?br? '\" Begin vertical sidebar, for use in marking newly-changed parts '\" of man pages. The first argument is ignored and used for recording '\" the version when the .VS was added, so that the sidebars can be '\" found and removed when they reach a certain age. If another argument '\" is present, then a line break is forced before starting the sidebar. '\" '\" .VE '\" End of vertical sidebar. '\" '\" .DS '\" Begin an indented unfilled display. '\" '\" .DE '\" End of indented unfilled display. '\" '\" .SO '\" Start of list of standard options for a Tk widget. The '\" options follow on successive lines, in four columns separated '\" by tabs. '\" '\" .SE '\" End of list of standard options for a Tk widget. '\" '\" .OP cmdName dbName dbClass '\" Start of description of a specific option. cmdName gives the '\" option's name as specified in the class command, dbName gives '\" the option's name in the option database, and dbClass gives '\" the option's class in the option database. '\" '\" .UL arg1 arg2 '\" Print arg1 underlined, then print arg2 normally. '\" '\" RCS: @(#) $Id: man.macros,v 1.1.1.1 2007/07/10 15:04:23 duncan Exp $ '\" '\" # Set up traps and other miscellaneous stuff for Tcl/Tk man pages. .if t .wh -1.3i ^B .nr ^l \n(.l .ad b '\" # Start an argument description .de AP .ie !"\\$4"" .TP \\$4 .el \{\ . ie !"\\$2"" .TP \\n()Cu . el .TP 15 .\} .ta \\n()Au \\n()Bu .ie !"\\$3"" \{\ \&\\$1 \\fI\\$2\\fP (\\$3) .\".b .\} .el \{\ .br .ie !"\\$2"" \{\ \&\\$1 \\fI\\$2\\fP .\} .el \{\ \&\\fI\\$1\\fP .\} .\} .. '\" # define tabbing values for .AP .de AS .nr )A 10n .if !"\\$1"" .nr )A \\w'\\$1'u+3n .nr )B \\n()Au+15n .\" .if !"\\$2"" .nr )B \\w'\\$2'u+\\n()Au+3n .nr )C \\n()Bu+\\w'(in/out)'u+2n .. .AS Tcl_Interp Tcl_CreateInterp in/out '\" # BS - start boxed text '\" # ^y = starting y location '\" # ^b = 1 .de BS .br .mk ^y .nr ^b 1u .if n .nf .if n .ti 0 .if n \l'\\n(.lu\(ul' .if n .fi .. '\" # BE - end boxed text (draw box now) .de BE .nf .ti 0 .mk ^t .ie n \l'\\n(^lu\(ul' .el \{\ .\" Draw four-sided box normally, but don't draw top of .\" box if the box started on an earlier page. .ie !\\n(^b-1 \{\ \h'-1.5n'\L'|\\n(^yu-1v'\l'\\n(^lu+3n\(ul'\L'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^yu'\l'|0u-1.5n\(ul' .\} .el \}\ \h'-1.5n'\L'|\\n(^yu-1v'\h'\\n(^lu+3n'\L'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^yu'\l'|0u-1.5n\(ul' .\} .\} .fi .br .nr ^b 0 .. '\" # VS - start vertical sidebar '\" # ^Y = starting y location '\" # ^v = 1 (for troff; for nroff this doesn't matter) .de VS .if !"\\$2"" .br .mk ^Y .ie n 'mc \s12\(br\s0 .el .nr ^v 1u .. '\" # VE - end of vertical sidebar .de VE .ie n 'mc .el \{\ .ev 2 .nf .ti 0 .mk ^t \h'|\\n(^lu+3n'\L'|\\n(^Yu-1v\(bv'\v'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^Yu'\h'-|\\n(^lu+3n' .sp -1 .fi .ev .\} .nr ^v 0 .. '\" # Special macro to handle page bottom: finish off current '\" # box/sidebar if in box/sidebar mode, then invoked standard '\" # page bottom macro. .de ^B .ev 2 'ti 0 'nf .mk ^t .if \\n(^b \{\ .\" Draw three-sided box if this is the box's first page, .\" draw two sides but no top otherwise. .ie !\\n(^b-1 \h'-1.5n'\L'|\\n(^yu-1v'\l'\\n(^lu+3n\(ul'\L'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^yu'\h'|0u'\c .el \h'-1.5n'\L'|\\n(^yu-1v'\h'\\n(^lu+3n'\L'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^yu'\h'|0u'\c .\} .if \\n(^v \{\ .nr ^x \\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^Yu \kx\h'-\\nxu'\h'|\\n(^lu+3n'\ky\L'-\\n(^xu'\v'\\n(^xu'\h'|0u'\c .\} .bp 'fi .ev .if \\n(^b \{\ .mk ^y .nr ^b 2 .\} .if \\n(^v \{\ .mk ^Y .\} .. '\" # DS - begin display .de DS .RS .nf .sp .. '\" # DE - end display .de DE .fi .RE .sp .. '\" # SO - start of list of standard options .de SO .SH "STANDARD OPTIONS" .LP .nf .ta 5.5c 11c .ft B .. '\" # SE - end of list of standard options .de SE .fi .ft R .LP See the \\fBoptions\\fR manual entry for details on the standard options. .. '\" # OP - start of full description for a single option .de OP .LP .nf .ta 4c Command-Line Name: \\fB\\$1\\fR Database Name: \\fB\\$2\\fR Database Class: \\fB\\$3\\fR .fi .IP .. '\" # CS - begin code excerpt .de CS .RS .nf .ta .25i .5i .75i 1i .. '\" # CE - end code excerpt .de CE .fi .RE .. .de UL \\$1\l'|0\(ul'\\$2 .. .TH bgerror n 7.5 Tcl "Tcl Built-In Commands" .BS '\" Note: do not modify the .SH NAME line immediately below! .SH NAME bgerror \- Command invoked to process background errors .SH SYNOPSIS \fBbgerror \fImessage\fR .BE .SH DESCRIPTION .PP The \fBbgerror\fR command doesn't exist as built-in part of Tcl. Instead, individual applications or users can define a \fBbgerror\fR command (e.g. as a Tcl procedure) if they wish to handle background errors. .PP A background error is one that occurs in an event handler or some other command that didn't originate with the application. For example, if an error occurs while executing a command specified with the \fBafter\fR command, then it is a background error. For a non-background error, the error can simply be returned up through nested Tcl command evaluations until it reaches the top-level code in the application; then the application can report the error in whatever way it wishes. When a background error occurs, the unwinding ends in the Tcl library and there is no obvious way for Tcl to report the error. .PP When Tcl detects a background error, it saves information about the error and invokes the \fBbgerror\fR command later as an idle event handler. Before invoking \fBbgerror\fR, Tcl restores the \fBerrorInfo\fR and \fBerrorCode\fR variables to their values at the time the error occurred, then it invokes \fBbgerror\fR with the error message as its only argument. Tcl assumes that the application has implemented the \fBbgerror\fR command, and that the command will report the error in a way that makes sense for the application. Tcl will ignore any result returned by the \fBbgerror\fR command as long as no error is generated. .PP If another Tcl error occurs within the \fBbgerror\fR command (for example, because no \fBbgerror\fR command has been defined) then Tcl reports the error itself by writing a message to stderr. .PP If several background errors accumulate before \fBbgerror\fR is invoked to process them, \fBbgerror\fR will be invoked once for each error, in the order they occurred. However, if \fBbgerror\fR returns with a break exception, then any remaining errors are skipped without calling \fBbgerror\fR. .PP Tcl has no default implementation for \fBbgerror\fR. However, in applications using Tk there is a default \fBbgerror\fR procedure which posts a dialog box containing the error message and offers the user a chance to see a stack trace showing where the error occurred. In addition to allowing the user to view the stack trace, the dialog provides an additional application configurable button which may be used, for example, to save the stack trace to a file. By default, this is the behavior associated with that button. This behavior can be redefined by setting the option database values \fB*ErrorDialog.function.text\fR, to specify the caption for the function button, and \fB*ErrorDialog.function.command\fR, to specify the command to be run. The text of the stack trace is appended to the command when it is evaluated. If either of these options is set to the empty string, then the additional button will not be displayed in the dialog. .PP If you are writing code that will be used by others as part of a package or other kind of library, consider avoiding \fBbgerror\fR. The reason for this is that the application programmer may also want to define a \fBbgerror\fR, or use other code that does and thus will have trouble integrating your code. .SH "EXAMPLE" This \fBbgerror\fR procedure appends errors to a file, with a timestamp. .CS proc bgerror {message} { set timestamp [clock format [clock seconds]] set fl [open mylog.txt {WRONLY CREAT APPEND}] puts $fl "$timestamp: bgerror in $::argv '$message'" close $fl } .CE .SH "SEE ALSO" after(n), tclvars(n) .SH KEYWORDS background error, reporting