TotalView: STLView & Type Transformation

The Standard Template Library Viewer (STLView) makes it easy to read and understand your compiler's output.

The C++ STL (Standard Template Library) greatly simplifies code creation, eliminating tedious and redundant work. However, STL code and data as displayed by the average debugger often looks like a lost, ancient language and can be impossible to read. This is because the information you are shown is what the compiler is generating, and most debuggers don't know how to make it useful.

STLView lets you quickly and easily create your own transformations!

With TotalView's STLView feature, we take common STL container classes (vector, list, map, and string, as well as any transformations you’ve created) and display them in an easily readable form. The following figure shows the untransformed data (background) and the output from STLView (foreground).

Here is another example of STLView’s easily readable transformations:

TotalView Type Transformation Facility

TotalView 6.5 introduces the ability, through the GUI, to create your own STL transformations. An alternative is to use our tried and true Type Transformation Facility in our command line interface. Like the GUI, TTF lets you define your own transformations by creating a prototype that TotalView understands. Each time TotalView sees that container type, it transforms the information according to your definition. Explore our Type Transformations documentation (TTF) for more information.

With STLView and the Type Transformation Facility, TotalView makes easy reading out of the strangest looking hieroglyphics your compiler can send your way.

STLView and the TTF require support from the compiler.