Software analysis system having an apparatus for selectively collecting analysis data from a target system executing software instrumented with tag statements and method for use thereof

摘要

A software analysis system having a filter for selectively collecting tags generated by a target system during execution of a software program under analysis in accordance to a programmable filtering criteria. The system includes a decoder for decoding the tag type of the tags captured from the data bus of the target system, and a comparator for comparing the tag types to the programmable filtering criteria to determine whether the tag should be collected. The programmable filtering criteria may be programmed by collecting filter tags from the target system, or directly programmed by a software developer using a filtering user interface. The programmable filtering criteria is implemented by a filter table that stores a flag associated with each tag type. The flag is indicative of whether tag data of a respective tag type should be collected. Tag data of the tag types meeting the programmable filtering criteria have timestamp information appended to the tag data and are collected in a tag buffer.