WebFOCUS Online Help > Managed Reporting Administrator > Additional Administration Topics > Debugging

Debugging

In this section:

These topics describe how you can access debugging information and enable tracing options.

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Your Browser's Java Console

When you encounter problems with Java applets in the Internet Explorer, you can receive valuable debugging information by looking in the Internet Explorer Java Console. Access this from the menu bar by clicking View and then Java Console. The Java Console (as shown in the following image) shows you which Microsoft Java Virtual Machine release you are using. You can also see messages from the IBI Java code, such as the Managed Reporting Java Gen number. Information Builders Customer Support Service (CSS) may ask you to check for specific messages in this console to aid in problem determination.

If the Java Console does not appear in your View menu, you may need to activate it. The way to activate this varies with each Internet Explorer release. In Internet Explorer version 6.0, enable the Java Console by selecting Tools, Internet Options, Advanced, Microsoft VM, and Java Console enabled. You must restart your browser for the changes to take effect.

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Tracing the Java Applets

It is possible to increase the level of trace messages written to the Internet Explorer Java Console. This can be helpful for debugging purposes. Before carrying out the following steps, you should back up your mr_ie.htm file in case you accidentally corrupt it.

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Procedure: How to Trace the Domain Builder Applet
  1. Edit webfocus76/ibi_html/workbnch/mr_ie.htm and search for the JavaScript function: 
    function showDomainAdmin()
  2. Under this function, uncomment the following lines (remove the two slashes): 
    //    innerHTML += "<PARAM NAME=FOCUStrace value='true'>";
//    innerHTML += "<PARAM NAME=PROGRAMtrace value='true'>";
  3. Save the file and either log onto Managed Reporting again or click your browser's Refresh button (if you are already logged on). You now see detailed trace messages in your Java Console.

    Note: While tracing is on and the Java Console is open, applet performance will be decreased. Keep the Java Console closed until you have reproduced the steps you are debugging in order to improve performance.

    You can copy the following trace lines to other JavaScript functions in order to trace the behavior of other applets: 

    showUserAdmin() - the User Administration applet
showDomains() - the Domains applet
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Tracing the WebFOCUS Client

See the WebFOCUS Security and Administration manual. To turn tracing on, set Trace=ON.

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Enabling Tracing Options in Dashboard

By default, the Dashboard tracing option is not turned on. Tracing should only be turned on when requested to do so by an Information Builders representative.

Tracing is only active when the TRACE_LEVEL parameter exists with a valid value. To turn the Dashboard tracing option on, add the TRACE_LEVEL initialization parameter in the servlet engine configuration. For details, see How to Add the TRACE_LEVEL Parameter for Windows and How to Add the TRACE_LEVEL Parameter for UNIX and z/OS.

All trace files are created under the ibi\WebFOCUS76\worp\log directory. A trace file is created for every session, therefore it is possible to have many trace files generated for one user.

You can turn on traces dynamically by editing the bid-config.xml file. See How to Turn On Dynamic Tracing in Dashboard.

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Procedure: How to Add the TRACE_LEVEL Parameter for Windows
  1. Open the ServletExec Administration tool.
  2. Under Web Applications, click Manage.
  3. Under WebFOCUS76 Application Name, click web.xml.
  4. Under Servlets, click Manage.
  5. Under Servlet Name, click WORP_Loader.
  6. Under Initialization Parameters, add the following:
    • name: TRACE_LEVEL
    • value: FATAL, ERROR, WARN, INFO, or DEBUG. FATAL is for minimum tracing, DEBUG is for maximum tracing, and OFF turns the tracing option off.

    Descriptions are optional.

  7. Click Submit.
  8. From the Configure Web Applications window, click Reload for the WebFOCUS76 application.
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Procedure: How to Add the TRACE_LEVEL Parameter for UNIX and z/OS
  1. From the WEB-INF directory, open the web.xml file.
  2. Add the following immediately preceding the line </servlet>: 
    <init-param>
    <param-name>TRACE_LEVEL</param-name>
    <param-value>DEBUG</param-value>
</init-param>
  3. Save and close the file.
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Procedure: How to Remove or Modify the TRACE_LEVEL Parameter for Windows
  1. Open the ServletExec Administration tool.
  2. Under Web Applications, click Manage.
  3. Under WebFOCUS76 Application Name, click web.xml.
  4. Under Servlets, click Manage.
  5. Under Servlet Name, click WORP_Loader.
  6. Under Initialization Parameters, delete the TRACE_LEVEL parameter, or change the value to OFF.
  7. Click Submit.
  8. From the Configure Web Applications window, click Reload for the WebFOCUS76 application.
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Procedure: How to Remove or Modify the TRACE_LEVEL Parameter for UNIX and z/OS
  1. From the WEB-INF directory, open the web.xml file.
  2. Change the value in the TRACE_LEVEL parameter to OFF, as follows: 
    <init-param>
    <param-name>TRACE_LEVEL</param-name>
    <param-value>OFF</param-value>
</init-param>

    Alternatively, you can delete the lines that were added for TRACE_LEVEL in the web.xml file.

  3. Save and close the file.
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Procedure: How to Turn On Dynamic Tracing in Dashboard
  1. In the WebFOCUS76\worp\conf directory, open the bid-config.xml file in a text editor.

    Find the following line:

    <trace-option trace-flag="false" trace-level="DEBUG"/>
  2. Change the value to true.
  3. Save and close the file.

    You do not need to reload the servlet.

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Reference: Dashboard Trace File Names

Trace files are named as follows: 

<username>_<date>_<timestamp>.log
ADMIN_20010829_140159.log

where:

username

Is the name that the user logged in with, not the description in Managed Reporting.

date

Is the date in yyyymmdd format. For example, 20010829.

timestamp

Is the time using 24-hour time. For example, 24hhmmss, such as 14015959.

The log file for a user logged in as ADMIN on Aug 29th, 2001 at 2:01:59 PM would be:

ADMIN_20010829_140159.log
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Reference: Dashboard Trace File Contents

Trace files contain the following information: 

<thread number> <date> <time> <level> <location> <message>

where:

thread number

Is the number generated for each new task performed in the servlet

date

Is the date when the line of trace code is created. The format is MM/DD/YYYY.

time

Is the time when the particular trace code has been written to the trace file. The format is hh:mm:ss:nnn.

level

Is the TRACE_LEVEL defined in the servlet parameters. Valid entries are FATAL, ERROR, WARN, INFO, DEBUG or OFF.

location

Is the internal location called by the Dashboard. The format is <Java class name>.<Java method name>.

message

Is the internal trace text.

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