The stack trace is a printed representation of the Smalltalk process stack at the point where an error occurred. The stack trace is the most basic type of debug support available. When your application is running on CICS/ESA, the stack trace output appears in the CICS transient data queue named CESE. When your application is running on IMS/ESA or OS/390, the stack trace output appears in a SYSOUT data set. When your application is running from CICS on the workstation, including AS/400, the stack trace output appears in a file named abtcics.log. When your application is running on the workstation, the stack trace output appears in a file you specify:
esvio -imyimage -lstack.trc
Below is a sample of a stack trace:
UIProcess reportError: (ExHalt) A halt has occurred. (ExHalt) A halt has occurred. EsBatchStartUp class(EsImageStartUp class)>>#outputWalkback:on:process: receiver = EsBatchStartUp arg1 = '(ExHalt) A halt has occurred.' arg2 = a TranscriptTTY arg3 = UIProcess:(01-17-96 11:20:07 AM){running,3} temp1 = 20 temp2 = EsBatchStartUp temp3 = EsImageStartUp class>>#outputWalkback:on:process:
In most cases, you will see the stack trace only when a stack dump cannot be created. An error during the loading of applications might fail to create a stack dump, thus providing you with only a stack trace to diagnose the error.
To produce a stack trace rather than a stack dump, go to the Startup Code page and select AbtHeadlessRuntimeStartUp as the startup class rather than AbtStackDumpStartUp. If the packaged application encounters a Smalltalk error, a stack trace will be produced to the Transcript.