Ethereal-dev: Re: [ethereal-dev] Re: Wishlist #32 (and 30) (oh and some possible UI enhancemen

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From: Guy Harris <guy@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 11:06:31 -0800 (PST)
> Are the extra col_add_str() and col_set_addr() calls due to a really
> large trace file, in which you're only interested in a small part of.
> Or is it from Ethereal's behavior of each protocol dissector adding
> column data, with each subsequent protocol in the "stack" overwriting the
> last? That is, we could change the dissectors' behavior so that they
> only write column info if they detect that they're the last protocol
> in the "stack" for a particular frame.

I suspect the answer is "yes" - i.e., the trace file *is* a really large
trace file, and I could imagine somebody might want to load such a file
and look at only a small part (a part they can't predict beforehand, so
a read filter wouldn't necessarily help), but the generation of multiple
layers of column data, only the last of which is used, doesn't help,
either (that was one of the rationales for having some dissectors set
address information by filling in an address structure rather than by
setting column data).