A small Debug routine

Hi,
following is a small debugging routine embedded in some working sample source code provided by a hardware supplier. I am just going through their sample source code to get a better understanding of how their API works. However, I just can't make sense of how the parameters of DEBUG(x, outp) are being passed to dbg_p (char i, char *fmt, ...). What does "..." in dbg_p (char i, char *fmt, ...) mean? :confused:

Would really appreciate if someone can enlighten me.

Thanks in advance.

Code:

---

/* defines for debugging */
#define DEBUG_OFF          99
#define DEBUG_BASIC        03
#define DEBUG_ADV          02
#define DEBUG_EXP          01

static int can_debug = DEBUG_EXP;

// debug version
#ifdef _DEBUG

    #define DEBUG(x, outp)        ( dbg_p(x, outp ) )

    _inline void dbg_p (char i, char *fmt, ...)
    {
      char tmp[100];
      if (i>=can_debug){

        sprintf (tmp, "xlCANcontrol: %s", fmt);

        OutputDebugString (tmp);
      }
    }
   
// release version.
#else
    #define DEBUG(x, outp)   
#endif

---

Following is a portion of the main routine that calls the debugging routine:

Code:

---

XLstatus CCANFunctions::canGetChannelMask()
{
  XLstatus        xlStatus = XL_ERROR;
  char            tmp[100];

  // default values
  unsigned int  hwType    = 0;
  unsigned int  hwIndex    = 0;
  unsigned int  hwChannel  = 0;
  unsigned int  appChannel = 0;
  unsigned int  busType    = XL_BUS_TYPE_CAN; 
  unsigned int  i;
 
  XLdriverConfig  xlDrvConfig;

  //check for hardware:
  xlStatus = xlGetDriverConfig(&xlDrvConfig);
  if (xlStatus) return xlStatus;
 
  // we check only if there is an application registered or not.
  xlStatus = xlGetApplConfig("xlCANcontrol", CHAN01, &hwType, &hwIndex, &hwChannel, busType);
 
  // Set the params into registry (default values...!)
  if (xlStatus) {
    DEBUG(DEBUG_ADV,"set in VHWConf");

    for (i=0; i < xlDrvConfig.channelCount; i++) {

      sprintf (tmp, "hwType: %d, bustype: %d, hwChannel: %d, cap: 0x%x",
        xlDrvConfig.channel[i].hwType,
        xlDrvConfig.channel[i].connectedBusType,
        xlDrvConfig.channel[i].hwChannel,
        xlDrvConfig.channel[i].channelBusCapabilities);
      DEBUG(DEBUG_ADV,tmp);

      // we search not the first CAN cabs
      if ( (xlDrvConfig.channel[i].channelBusCapabilities & XL_BUS_ACTIVE_CAP_CAN) && (appChannel < 2) ) {

        hwType    = xlDrvConfig.channel[i].hwType;
        hwIndex  = xlDrvConfig.channel[i].hwIndex;
        hwChannel = xlDrvConfig.channel[i].hwChannel;

.
.
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---

> What does "..." in dbg_p (char i, char *fmt, ...) mean?
It means that a variable number of arguments are expected, in exactly the same way that printf() works.

But then the author of the debug code has completely messed up that aspect with
sprintf (tmp, "xlCANcontrol: %s", fmt);

What they should have done is used vsprintf(), then all the arguments would be printed.