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Memory Validator Help

The Memory Tab Display Settings control the memory, handles and messages displayed on the Memory tab.

 

The default options are shown below:

 

memory-display-settings

 

 

note Note that these settings control what is displayed, not what is collected. The data collection settings may have more information about some of the settings below.

 

 

Display categories

 

The combo box at the top of the dialog controls the broad categories of what is displayed, the other sections of the settings dialog provide more find grained control within the broad categories.

 

Choosing a display category can be a really useful way to quickly simplify the display to just a few items. For example just showing the errors, so that you don't have to wade through 1000s of leaked data reports to find the more serious errors.

 

•Everything instructionStep all data is displayed

•Leaks and errors instructionStep items that are leaked (or potentially leaked) and errors are displayed

•Leaks instructionStep items that are leaked (or potentially leaked) are displayed

•Errors instructionStep items that are errors are displayed

•Unleaked instructionStep items that are not leaked and not errors are displayed

 

 

note Note that even though you've chosen a broad category (for example Everything) the other criteria on this dialog also have to be satisfied in order for the item to be displayed.

 

 

Types of memory to display

 

Setting

Displays memory that is not deallocated and was allocated by...

•CRT memory

CRT memory

•Heap

the HeapAlloc() group of functions

•Delphi

Delphi's allocation functions

•Local Alloc

the LocalAlloc() group of functions

•Global Alloc

the GlobalAlloc() group of functions

•Virtual Alloc

the VirtualAlloc() group of functions (see below)

•CoTaskMemAlloc

the CoTaskMemAlloc() group of functions

•SysAllocString

the SysAllocString() group of functions

•NetApi

the NetApi group of functions

•Open GL

the OpenGL group of functions

•Misc

various other memory functions that allocate and manage memory

•Salford FORTRAN 95

Salford Software's FORTRAN 95 allocation functions

•IMalloc

the IMalloc() interface

 

 
Using VirtualAlloc?

 

Note that your call to VirtualAlloc/VirtualAllocEx should include the flag MEM_RESERVE or MEM_COMMIT.

 
If including MEM_COMMIT without MEM_RESERVE the first page of the proposed address range should be non-reserved or your proposed address should be NULL allowing the operating system to choose the address for you.

 

 

Other data to display

 

Setting

Displays...

•Handles

handles that have not been deallocated

•COM Reference Counts

COM Objects and reference counts (Query Interface, AddRef, Release) that Memory Validator is aware of

•Trace Messages

TRACE() and OutputDebugString() messages received by Memory Validator

•Custom Hooks

memory allocated by custom memory allocation functions

•User Objects

memory allocated by the user defined allocation functions which has not been deallocated

•User Object Reference Counts

reference counts received from the user defined reference count function

 

 

Error messages

 

Setting

Displays...

•Uninitialized Data
(CObject)

memory marked as uninitialized and derived from CObject

•Uninitialized Data
(non CObject)

memory marked as uninitialized and not derived from CObject

•Memory Errors
(overruns/underruns)

memory marked as damaged due to an overrun or underrun
 
You may also need to set the All Memory (leaks, errors, unleaked) check box to see changes as memory error traces are not considered memory leaks.

•Handle Errors

attempts to use handles incorrectly (passing them to the wrong functions)

 

 

Auto

 

Setting

Displays...

•Automatically Display
UnInit Data

uninitialized data information received by Memory Validator

•Automatically Display Memory Errors

memory damage data information received by Memory Validator

 

 

Other settings

 

Setting

Displays...

•Display style

how much information is displayed on the screen

•Callstack grouping

display all callstacks or just unique callstacks

•Refresh the display when this dialog box is closed

updates when this settings dialog is closed

 

The display style can be one of the following values:

 

•Full instructionStep information about every allocation and error is displayed (unless filtered)

•Simplified - your source code at root instructionStep Only traces that have a callstack with your source code at the top of the callstack are displayed

•Simplified - your source code not at root instructionStep Only traces that have a callstack with your source code in the callstack (except for the top position) are displayed

•Simplified - your source code anywhere instructionStep Only traces that have a callstack with your source code anywhere in the callstack are displayed

•Simplified - compiler vendor source code at root instructionStep Only traces that have a callstack with your compiler vendor source code at the top of the callstack are displayed

•Simplified - compiler vendor source code not at root instructionStep Only traces that have a callstack with your compiler vendor source code in the callstack (except for the top position) are displayed

•Simplified - compiler vendor source code anywhere instructionStep Only traces that have a callstack with your compiler vendor source code anywhere in the callstack are displayed

•Simplified - no source code instructionStep Only traces that have a callstack with no source code are displayed

 

The callstack grouping can be one of the following values:

 

•Full instructionStep every callstack is shown

•Simplified - Only show unique callstacks instructionStep Traces that share the same callstack are displayed once. A summary is shown indicating the number of allocations, how many bytes in those allocations and the size of the largest allocation.

 

 

Reset

 

•Reset instructionStep resets all the display related settings for this tab