[h-e-w] next-error method for java stack traces

[Paul Kinnucan]

Robert Mecklenburg writes:
 > When I get a java stack trace in a compilation buffer I would like to
 > be able to use next-error to move through the stack trace looking at
 > each line and loading the source files.  To the best of my knowledge
 > this doesn't work in 21.2.1 OOTB (I'm using the "standard" NT
 > pre-compiled binary).
 > 
 > Before I go implementing this does anyone know of existing code to do
 > it? 
 > 
 > - I've found a file, jde-stack.el by Kevin Burton (and Phillip Lord)
 >   but it is more of a point and click implementation.  You mouse click
 >   on the line you want and it takes you there.  It has no hooks to
 >   compilation-mode or next-error.  This also performs a pop-to-buffer
 >   so it fails on a dedicated *compilation* window (like you get with
 >   special-display-buffer-names).

Actually, this has been reimplemented in JDE 2.2.9beta as run-time
exception tracing (jde-run-etrace in jde-run.el). The reimplemented
version is greatly simplified and does not rely on pop-to-buffer.

I'm curious as to why you get exceptions when compiling code. If that
is the case, it seems to me the exceptions would be in the javac
compiler code not in your code. Or are you talking about using the
Emacs compile command to run a makefile that executes an application
that then generates exceptions? If so, why can't you use the JDE
run command to run your application and use the JDE trace commands
to trace the exception stack that an exception generates in
the run buffer?

- Paul

 > 
 > - There is also qflib at http://www.qfs.de/en/elisp/index.html which
 >   contains a stack trace parser, but it also is not implemented as a
 >   hook to compilation-mode.  Rather, like jde-stack, you place your
 >   cursor on a stack trace line and invoke it to find the function.  It
 >   also performs a pop-to-buffer.
 > 
 > - I tried setting compilation-error-regexp-alist like this:
 > 
 >      (setq compilation-error-regexp-alist
 >       (append compilation-error-regexp-alist
 >        (list '("\\bat \\(com\\.cimsoft.*\\)(\\([^:]+\\):\\([0-9]+\\))" 2 
 > 3))))
 > 
 >   But compilation-mode cannot find the file (although once you tell it
 >   where the file it is, it takes you to the proper line).  I have been
 >   unable to discover how to let compilation-mode discover the file
 >   location itself.
 > 
 > - A really good implementation of next-error would also be able to
 >   garb source files out of source jars (such as the jdk1.3.1/src.jar
 >   file).  But right now that's definitely icing on the cake.  So as a
 >   fall back it would be nice for the function to skip stack trace
 >   lines for which source code is not available.
 > 
 > Obviously, I have many possibilities.  I'd rather not come up with yet
 > another custom hack, rather I'd like to do the Right Thing (tm) wrt
 > compilation-mode.
 > 
 > Thoughts?
 > -- 
 > Robert
 > 
 >