You can create filters to hide messages from an Error View, based on message type and source. For example, you can create a filter to hide all informational messages, or to hide all messages except those that originate in a specific file. Filters are especially useful when a program generates hundreds of messages, making it difficult to spot the messages that concern you most. Or when you cannot correct an error, for example, when the error is in a third-party library for which you do not have the source code. When you create a filter, Purify still checks all of the code in the program, it just doesn't display every message it finds.
You can easily create filters to control the messages Purify displays. To create a filter, you specify a filter name and other properties such as:
§ The message types or categories you want to filter. For example, COM API/Interface Failure (COM) messages or all DLL messages.
§ The source of the messages you want to filter. For example, the function in the call stack for the error location, the source file, or the module where they originate.
§ Whether you are creating an inverted filter to hide all messages that do not match the filter.
You create error-data filters using the QuickFilter command, the Create Filter command or the Filter Manager: Error Data dialog box.
QuickFilter is the fastest way to create and apply a filter. It is especially useful when you need to hide specific messages as you are working in the Error View. For example, to investigate an error using just-in-time debugging, you can use QuickFilter to hide all errors preceding the target error.
The Filter Manager helps you edit and maintain filters. When you run a program, Purify automatically creates a filter group for the executable program and library groups for each module the program uses. You can use these groups to organize and maintain any QuickFilters, filters, or filter groups you create. Using the Filter Manager, you can add programs and modules before you run a program and create filters and filter groups. You can also move or copy filters between groups and edit and disable filters.
Filters attached to a module other than an executable (for example, .dll, .ocx) apply to any program that uses the module. By default, these library groups are not displayed in the Filter Manager. To display library groups, select View > Libraries. Purify also provides default global filters to filter messages for known problems in third-party and system modules. To display global filters, select View > Global Filters.
By default, Purify hides messages that match the message types and sources specified in a filter. Using the Filter Manager, you can invert a filter so that Purify hides messages that do not match the filter. This is especially useful when you want to see only messages that originate in a specific DLL, for example.
Purify saves error-data filters in a Purify filter file (.pft). For details about filter file names and their locations, click .
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