Using the Redirector :: The Port Monitor

The Trace Panel

The Trace panel provides a detailed, time-stamped, real-time display of all Serial/IP COM ports operations. When enabled, the display is updated every one second.

This feature is typically used to debug application problems. Because the Trace feature has some impact on memory usage and system performance, it is typically only enabled temporarily.

The data that appears in the Trace panel can be copied to the clipboard or saved to a file for off-line analysis.

Using the Trace display

Open a new Port Monitor window. details
Click the Trace tab. The display area will initially be blank.
Select the check box Enable Trace.
Begin application operation that uses Serial/IP COM ports.
Recreate the problem condition that you are debugging.
To save the trace data to a file for off-line analysis, use the File / Save As menu command. This file uses a binary format that preserves all data and can be opened later in a Trace window using the File / Open menu command.
To capture the trace data in text format to the Windows clipboard, use the Edit / Copy menu command. The text then can be pasted into other Windows applications.

Configuring the Trace panel

Clear removes all data from the display and resets the trace data collection mechanism in the redirector.
Enable Trace starts and stops trace data collection and display.
Hex Display toggles the format of the display between ASCII text (more readable) and hexadecimal format (most detailed).
Auto Scroll causes the display to show the most recent trace data continuously.
Always on Top causes this Port Monitor window to remain on top of the windows of other applications.

Using the Trace Options menu

Select Ports to Capture allows you to reduce the number of ports that are being traced to a subset of all configured virtual COM ports. For large applications, this feature reduces the impact of tracing on memory and system performance.
Select Ports to Display allows you to reduce the number of ports that appear in the display to a subset of the ports being captured. For large applications, this feature provides a way to focus on ports of interest among all those being captured.
Buffer Size changes the amount of RAM being used for tracing.
System Debug Output sends trace data to the system debug channel, with an optional label.

Event messages

The Trace display shows one event per line, in time order. Every event begins with a time tag.

Transmit events

Shown in green and preceded by "»"
Shows data written to the virtual COM port.
Contents: the data transmitted, either in ASCII or hexadecimal format, depending upon the current display mode.

Receive events

Shown in red and preceded by "«"
Shows data read from the virtual COM port.
Contents: the data received, either in ASCII or hexadecimal format, depending upon the current display mode.

Control events

Shown in blue and preceded by "|"
Shows all non-data events.
Contents: setting of session parameters (such as Telnet); opening and closing a port; connecting to the modem server; setting a device control or status line (DTR, DSR, DCD, etc); and the configuration of baud rate and framing parameters.

Notes

The Trace display covers up to 512k bytes of event data, enough to cover a reasonably extensive tracing session. If the limit is reached, the trace clears and starts over.