Setting error logging and debugging

About error logging and debugging

FCAS has multiple logging levels that can be turned on and off, similar to Internet Services logging, from the FCAS Configuration form or, in Windows, the console.

In general, the only logging setting that you want on is Errors. The other settings can be used for debugging specific problems, but reduce performance and provide huge volumes of unnecessary data. As a rule, you only want logging turned on for non-error conditions if requested by Customer Support.

Errors are listed in the Language Support/english.lang file.

Runtime errors can be trapped using the On Error command. Information about the error can be retrieved by use of the Err object, which is set whenever an error occurs, whether or not it is trapped by an error handler. Untrapped errors will present a dialog with the error information and terminate the application. Trapped errors can be handled programmatically to avoid the condition that causes the error without terminating the application. All of the data presented in the error dialog and console log file can be retrieved from the Err object at runtime.

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Using the FCAS Configuration form

To set error logging and debugging using the FCAS Configuration form, select the types of data you want to log on the Debug tab, and specify the log schedule and location on the Logging tab.

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Using the console emulator application

FCAS includes a console emulator application (Console) that shows the same information as the console on the FCAS machine, plus dropdown menus that let you control logging and debugging.

This application runs through the FirstClass client, and is located in the FCAS Config folder for the cluster you're working with.

The Connection dropdown commands control the connection between FCAS and the server.

To select the types of data you want to log, choose them from the Logging dropdown:

Logging option	Action
Log Everything	Turns on all logging levels.
Log Errors	Reports error conditions.
Log Connection Details	Provides details of the service-to-server connection.
Log Transaction Details	Provides debugging of transaction details.
Log Tasking Details	Shows detailed debugging of tasking data.
Log ASClient	Shows detailed server object access debugging information.
Log Special	Shows specialized debugging for specific problems. Only required when requested by Support.
Log Console Messages	Shows the results of Debug and Console commands from programs.
Log Nothing	Turns off all logging levels.
Default Logging	Sets Errors and Console ON, and all the others OFF.
Console to File	Writes the content of the Console as it is generated to the FCAS.LOG file.

To toggle between Log Everything and Default Logging, press CTRL/BREAK.

To print a one-time report of particular data, choose the type of data from the Debugging dropdown:

This debugging option	Prints a report of
Show Tasks	Currently running tasks and what they are doing.
Show Memory	Currently used objects, free memory, and allocated memory.
Show Memory Heap	Individual heap memory detail by allocation size. This is a very verbose report.
Show Memory Leaks	Only choose this if instructed to do so by FirstClass Support.
Show Workers	ODBC worker threads.

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