madExcept FAQ 

www.madshi.net

1. Can you please add information "xxx" to the bug report header?

Basically yes. However, I only want to add what is useful for the majority of madExcept users. If you have a very special wish, which is just useful for you, but not for a whole lot of other people, I'd rather not do that. Each thing I add to madExcept costs footprint for all madExcept users. So I have to be careful about what to add.

If you think you found a piece of information, which is not yet contained in the bug report and which could be useful for a lot of madExcept users, then please contact me. I'm always very willing to improve my product(s).

Please also have a look at how madExcept plugins work. They might just do the trick for you.

2. Could you please list the function parameters in the callstack?

I'd love to. And if Delphi would be using "stdcall" as the default calling convention, it might even be possible. But as things are, Delphi is not pushing the function parameters on the stack (where it would be easy for madExcept to grab them). Instead Delphi passes most parameters via CPU registers, which makes it difficult if not impossible for madExcept to get a hold of them. My disassembler might be able to get a few parameters, but only a small part and it would not be very reliable. So I don't have much hope for this feature wish. I'm sorry...

3. Can you please add feature "xxx" to madExcept?

The way madExcept is linked into your executable makes it very difficult to implement new features without automatically increasing the footprint for all madExcept users. Every feature which can be turned on/off in the madExcept settings dialog will be linked into your executable, no matter whether you're using it or not. That means, most features when added to madExcept will make madExcept's footprint bigger for each and every madExcept user, even if he doesn't use the new feature.

So I have to find a good compromise between adding nice features and keeping madExcept's footprint as small as possible. If you think you have a wish which a whole lot of madExcept users would profit from, feel free to contact me. But please understand that I have to make some tough decisions here. So only *really* important things will find its way into the madExcept code base.

However, madExcept offers you some very flexible and powerful exception handlers. There's not much that you can't do by simply writing a little custom exception handler.

4. My forms are not redrawn while the exception box is shown. Could you please fix that?

No. This is not a bug, it's a feature...  :-)  Probably you don't like this sentence, do you? Anyway, madExcept suspends all running threads as long as the exception box is shown. This is meant to stop follow up exceptions from flooding you. If you don't like this feature - just turn it off in the madExcept settings dialog by unchecking "pause all running delphi/bcb threads".

5. Why does mailing via MAPI and/or "mailto" not work on some PCs?

There are two possible reaons why mailing doesn't work on some PCs. Either you just found a bug in madExcept. Or the mail client is not correctly set up on those PCs, where it doesn't work. Please have a look into madExcept's "tools" folder. There you'll find a little program named "testMailingAPIs", with which you can send some test "mailto" and MAPI mails to check whether the APIs are set up correctly on a specific PC.

If this all is too unreliable for your product, no problem. Just let madExcept upload the bug report to your web server, or let madExcept mail the bug report to you via SMTP - both should be reliable, as long as the user's firewall isn't too strict.

6. Why does madExcept not work when I use command line compiling?

madExcept needs to patch your binary file. When compiling from inside the IDE, madExcept's integrated IDE wizard does that patching automatically. When using command line compiling, you need to manually invoke the patching process by starting the tool "madExceptPatch.exe" after having compiled your project. The tool is located in madExcept's "Tools" folder. Please add the parameter "-gd" to the command line when calling the compiler to make sure that a detailed map file is created.