Cascade User Manual

Control File

Instead of inserting annotations in the source code, Cascade keeps them in a control file in order to leaves the source code clean. The control file is in the simple XML format, which serves as the guidance of verification. In this section, we will introduce the elements included control files by showing how to verify some sample codes in Cascade.

Basic Structure

Every control file starts with sourceFile sections that specify the files to be analyzed. Each source file has two attributes: name contains the path to the file, and fileId attaches a unique id to it. After sourceFile, one or more run sections are specified, which describe the runs to be checked. Each run starts with a single startPosition and endPosition to give the start point and the end point respectively, and in between, one or more wayPoints may be inserted optionally to indicate the positions should be passed through.

Let's discuss it more with a simple example abs.c. This program returns the absolute value of parameter x.

   int abs(int x) {
       int result;
       if(x>=0)
           result = x;
       else
           result = -x;
       return result;
   }

abs1.ctrl is the control file for it, in which the sourceFile indicates the path to abs.c and assigns an id 1 for it. Now, we need to determine the execution path to check. For the startPosition and endPosition, we simply use the start and end line number of abs.c. Since there's an if-else branchs, we use a wayPoint to select one to check. Normally, a wayPoint is often the first line of the chosen code. Note that the fileId is all assigned to 1 in the startPosition, endPosition and wayPoint, which means these positions are all in abs.c (whose id is 1)