Program Flow and Data Logging

      Under normal circumstances, you will not have any reason to use the functions supported by this dialog.  As you will see from the following description, the capabilities provide here are of use primarily during program development and testing.  However, they are also of critical use when you run into a program error or malfunction.

      When you run into a problem, you need to record what you did to create the problem.  In other words, you need to provide the program developer with an accurate description of exactly what menu selections you made, what keys you pressed, and what inputs you made.  This can be a time consuming task, especially if there are several ways in which The error can be created.

      The capabilities provided here make this a whole lot easier.  When you start the program the logging function is turned "OFF".  Should you encounter a problem, or are curious about its internal operation; you can come here and turn on the logging activities.  To see how this all works, simply perform the following steps

1.  Click the “ALL” radio button at the bottom the Log Levels radio buttons.  This will capture the maximum amount of internal information.  It will also erase any old log file which may exist and start a new one.

2.  Click the Read the log file button.  The log file display window will display a list of actions which have taken place up to this point.  The list will look something like the following:

Default LogFile = C:\MicroMap\Log.txt
MainWindowFrame entering constructor
MainWindowFrame entering jbInit
MainWindowFrame exiting jbInit
MainWindowFrame exiting constructor
MainWindowFrame jMenuHelpLog_actionPerformed
LogIt entering constructor
LogIt entering jbInit
Logger getLogFilePath = C:\MicroMap\
Logger getLogFileName = Log.txt
LogIt exiting jbInit
LogIt exiting constructor
LogIt jButtonHelp_actionPerformed
HTMLviewer constructor entered
HTMLviewer jbInit entered
Loading file C:\MicroMap\HelpFiles\LogFileHelp.htm
File C:\MicroMap\HelpFiles\LogFileHelp.htm loaded
HTMLviewer jbInit exited
HTMLviewer constructor exited
LogIt jRadioALL_actionPerformed
LogIt jButtonReadLogFile_actionPerformed
TextViewer JDialog constructor entered
TextViewer jbInit entered
TextViewer file load started.
Loading file C:\MicroMap\Log.txt

This information is very important when trying to figure out what went wrong in the program.

Notice that the location and name of the log file is displayed in the title bar of the window.

2.  Click the Done button on the window.

3.  Click the Add environment variables button.  This will add quite a bit of internal system information to the log file.

4.  Click the Read the log file button again.  Now you will see that a whole bunch of additional information is in the file.  Note: the viewer always places you at the end of the log file so you can automatically see the most recent additions to the file.

5.  Click the Done button again to close the window.

6.  Click the “OFF” radio button to turn off the logging and then the Done button to close the Program Logging window.

You can turn the logging function on or off at any time during your use of the program.  You can also change the level of logging at any time.





LogItHelp.htm