Buggalo Exception Collector

Author: twinther [tommy@winther.nu] Type: Add-on library/module Version: 1.0.0 Repo: XBMC.org (v11) XBMC.org (v12) Summary: Automatic exception collector

This module can collect various information about an exception and the users system such as XBMC and Python versions, etc. and submit it to a url.

See the Buggalo Exception Collector forum thread for help and issue report.

Contents 1 Introduction 2 How to use 3 What is collected 4 Latest code and info

1 Introduction

The buggalo script can collect various information about an exception in a Python script as well as information about the users system, such as XBMC and Python versions.

The collected information is then posted to the internet at a predefined URL where the addon author can investigate the exception.

The script is somewhat similar to posting the xbmc.log to pastebin, but is more specialised and doesn't contain superfluous information. It is also better integrated into the user experience, the user only has to decide if they want to submit the bug report or not.

The user will see a dialog as seen in this screenshot: http://tommy.winther.nu/files/2011/12/script_error.png

2 How to use

To use this script you must do two things besides importing it.

1.

Set buggalo.SUBMIT_URL to a full URL where the collected data is submitted.

2.

Surround the code you want to be covered by this script in a try..except block, such as:

   try
       # addon logic
   except Exception:
       buggalo.onExceptionRaised()

For plugin type addons, it is a good idea to include pretty much everything inside the try..except block.

See this link for an example: https://github.com/xbmc-danish-addons/plugin.video.news.tv2.dk/blob/master/addon.py#L124

3.

Finally you must setup the website where the error report is submitted.

A good starting point is my buggalo-web module on github: https://github.com/twinther/buggalo-web

If you want to roll your own custom setup then take a look at the submit.php file which store the error report in the database.

https://github.com/twinther/buggalo-web/blob/master/submit.php

3 What is collected

Five groups of information is collected beyond basic information such as date and time.

• System information

OS name and version, kernel version, etc.

• Addon information

Addon id, name, version, path, etc.

• XBMC Information

Build version and date, the current skin and language

• Execution information

Python version and sys.argv

• Exception information

Type of exception, message and full stack trace

For further details take a look at the code in buggalo.py

4 Latest code and info

The latest code is always available at github: https://github.com/twinther/script.module.buggalo The module is named after a creature in my favorite animated show: http://theinfosphere.org/Where_the_Buggalo_Roam