Using the logging system

Logging can assist with debugging and creating demos.

Important: Sensitive and personal data may be written to the output. Make sure that the log output is written to files that can only be read by application administrators.
When GDC is started in debug mode, logging is available. Logging will help you to:
  • Debug your applications
  • Create a demo
The complete communication between the front-end and Runtime System is logged, so the Runtime System is not needed to replay the demo.
Important: As only the communication is recorded, the "local-only" actions such as moving columns are not saved and replayed. Only the sent value of a field is saved; user interactions (copy / paste, cursor, and so on) are not saved.
Figure: Logging configuration in the Debug panel

Logging configuration in the Debug panel

Recording Demo

To record a demo, specify the path and name of a log file to store the scenario. If the file exists, it will be overwritten.

Click on the Record button to start the recording. Click on the Stop button to stop the recording.

Important: Only applications launched after the recording is started are logged.

Logs are also created when you use the -r or --logrec option when starting the GDC. Using the command line option can be useful in circumstances where it may be difficult to manually request a recording. See Command line options for more information.

Replay Demo

To replay a demo, select the log file where the scenario is stored. Click on the Play button to start playing the demo. Click the Pause button to pause the replay. The progress bar indicates the progress of the demo.

Important: No user interaction is possible when replaying a demo. You may have to stop recording the demo before the end of the application. In this situation, use the Connections panel to kill the application.

The Enable Universal Rendering when replaying logs switch determines whether the logs are replayed in Universal Rendering mode (switch is on) or in Native Rendering mode (switch is off). If the switch is on and the logs are to be replayed in Universal Rendering mode, the Path to GBC field specifies the Genero Browser Client to use.

Figure: Configure replay for Universal Rendering

Screenshot with Enable Universal Rendering switch turned on and GBC path set.

You must have a GBC that can be accessed locally. Set the Path to GBC with the path to the index.html within a full GBC directory. It can be a GBC provided in the FGLGWS package or any customized GBC.

Note: While logs can be replayed in either Native Rendering mode or Universal Rendering mode regardless of the mode used when recording the logs, there may be potential issues with older logs or incomplete logs (logs recorded after the application start) recorded in Native Rendering mode, when replaying in Universal Rendering mode.