monitoring WinAPI calls (Was: setupapi.dll: partially implement SetupDiGetClassDevsExA)

[Saulius Krasuckas]

* On Fri, 16 Jun 2006, Mike McCormack wrote:
> * Saulius Krasuckas wrote:
> > 
> > Well, next example hasn't forced us to wait long for it.  It's 
> > Direct3DShaderValidatorCreate9!d3d9 :

(I'm sorry for swapping both parts of a function name each with other;)

> Do you really need to look at assembly to figure out that you can just return
> FALSE/0/NULL and make the program or dll that's calling this function happy?

No, I don't.  I was speaking about passing unknown count of parameters to 
a function.

> If that doesn't make it happy, you could always write a test program 
> that calls the function and prints out the return value.  That is not 
> hard either.

If I know what to pass to the fn, I can, of course.

> You want to tell me that it's easier to try decipher a bunch of asm that 
> it is to write a 10 line test program??

No, I am all just about the CPU registers and stack content, not an asm.  

To be honest, Mike, at start I was trying to see, whether my idea of API 
monitoring [4] would be acceptable for wine-developers (esp. starters).
Now I want to correct myself--I was talking about +relay debug only. 

But at some time this discussion got slightly different point, which still 
has some relation to my idea.  

Why is all this?  I am trying start my master thesis and have a thought: 
can't I link my favourite project (Wine) with one which has something to 
do with computer hardware--with BOCHS? (as I study electronics) [5]

Here, we are urged to create mathematical model for every research object.  
I thought well, what can present a norma, an abstract system to measure 
difference between real WinAPI and WineAPI?  Maybe count of lines of a 
unified diff of relay traces would help?  

And if BOCHS starts supporting adiabatic machine simulation once, we get 
nice ability to rewind process execution back in time.  No?

Plus I remembered I did always want to have a nice, non-intrusive WinAPI 
monitoring.

So was the decision made to ask wine-devs about API monitoring and its 
usefullness :)

Thank you for reading this.


[4] http://winehq.org/pipermail/wine-devel/2006-March/045907.html
[5] http://medeine.vtu.lt/programos/programa.jsp?fak=5&prog=7542217&sid=D&rus=U&klb=en