To troubleshoot a problem, you can turn on tracing. Trace messages
help you monitor actions taken in components of the WebSphere InterChange
Server Express system. Trace levels define the amount of detail written
to the trace file. The higher the trace level, the more detail you
receive.
Tracing is off by default because it produces messages that are more
detailed than you normally need. You can turn tracing on and off as
necessary when InterChange Server Express is running.
For background information about tracing, see Trace files. For configuration information about tracing, see Configuring logging and tracing.
Use LogViewer to display trace information for InterChange Server
Express. In addition to displaying the debugging trace information for
collaborations, it allows you to view the progression of a business object as
it passes from one processing point to another, for example as the business
object exits the collaboration processing point and is sent on to other
collaborations or connectors for processing or is forwarded to the mapping
stage for data transformation. For information about flow tracing, see Business object tracing (flow tracing).
InterChange Server Express system message logging is used to communicate
messages, component state changes, and failures.
- Note:
- Log Viewer views log files and therefore does not need InterChange Server
Express to be running. The InterChange Server Express system
administrator must have the appropriate file system permissions set to view
log files.
You can view log files containing messages and explanations of system
messages either of these ways:
- Use Log Viewer to view system log files in its window, and obtain a
message explanation interactively by clicking on a message number. See Overview of Log Viewer and tracing.
- Use a text editor to view a log file and to search the InterChange Server
Express message file by message number or text content to obtain an
explanation.
Log Viewer allows you to see all messages contained in a log file.
You can sort and filter the output display and print, save, and e-mail of the
file.
A sample log file is shown displayed in Log Viewer in Figure 53..
Figure 53. Log Viewer

Perform one of these steps to start Log Viewer:
- Select Start > Programs > IBM WebSphere Business Integration
Express > Toolset Express > Administrative > Log Viewer.
Click File > Open to browse for the log file.
- Use the Run command from the Start menu and browse for the
LogViewer.exe file. Click File > Open
to browse for the log file.
Perform the following steps to set Log Viewer preferences:
- Click Edit > Preferences.
The User configuration options dialog box appears, with the
General tab selected (see Figure 54).
Figure 54. Log Viewer User configuration options dialog box, General Properties tab

- Under Open action, select how to display the log file when you
open a log file:
- Ask after opening the file: You are asked what you want
to do each time you open a log file.
- Add a new file to the existing data: The opened log file
is merged with the currently displayed log file.
- Replace all existing data with the new file: The
currently displayed log file is replaced with the contents of the opened log
file.
- To change the background color and font of the Log Viewer messages, click
the Format tab.
The Format tab appears (see Figure 55).
Figure 55. Log Viewer User configuration options, Format tab

- Select options to display the various types of log messages:
- Assign different background colors and fonts for each type of message that
appears so you can easily recognize its severity (for example, a red
background with larger font allows for Warning messages).
- Select the Wrap message text into multiple lines check box if
you want the text to wrap when wider than the column.
- To change which Log Viewer columns are displayed, click the
Columns tab.
The Columns tab opens (see Figure 56).
Figure 56. Log Viewer User configuration options, Columns tab

This window allows you to determine which columns display in Log
Viewer:
- To display a column, select a column name in the Available
Columns list and click the >> button to move it to the
Visible Columns list.
- To hide a column, select a column name in the Visible Columns
list and click the << button to move it to the Available
Columns list.
- Click any of the column names in the Available Columns list and
click the Up or Down button to change its ordering from
left to right in the Log Viewer. Up moves columns to the
left and Down moves columns to the right.
The View menu contains additional options to change how Log
Viewer appears:
- Display/hide the Log Viewer toolbar.
- Display/hide the Log Viewer status bar.
- Split the window into two or more views.
- Sort the messages. Figure 57 shows the Sort dialog box.
Click the down arrow in each sort field to select Date/Time, an
EventID, or a business object. Further sort by ascending or descending
order.
Figure 57. Log Viewer Sort dialog box

- Filter or show all messages. Configure filter options by checking
filtering options in the filter tabs, such as time range or type of message
(see Figure 58 and Table 17). Under Activate Filters,
select the check box that is associated with the tab where you selected the
filter options, and click OK to enable filtering. The
filtered output can be toggled on or off with the Filter Toggle
button on the Log Viewer toolbar.
Figure 58. Log Viewer Filter Settings dialog box

Several options are available for manipulating Log Viewer output. In
the File menu, there are options for print previewing, printing,
saving, refreshing the display, sending to an e-mail recipient, and
determining the style for page setup, headers, and footers. The
variables for headers and footers are:
- $F
- Name of file
- $A
- Application name
- $P
- Page number
- $N
- Total number of pages
- $D
- Date (can be followed by additional parameters (for example
$D{%y:%h:%m})
Perform the following steps to filter messages in Log Viewer:
- Click View > Filter >Use Filter. The Filter
Settings dialog box appears. The Filter Settings dialog box displays
categories that correspond to the parameters of the logging message format
(see Table 17 for a descriptive list of the parameters).
- Select a tab under Set up Filters to display the items that you
want to use for filtering messages. For example, select the BusObj tab
to display a list of business objects to be used in filtering, and select Time
if you want to filter according to the timestamp of the message. You
can set up multiple filters, and use them either separately or with one
another.
- In the displayed list of items, select each item for which you want to
view messages in Log Viewer. For example, if you want to view messages
related only to the Cost and Customer business objects, select only those
business objects in the list. If you want to view only messages that
are time-stamped between 5 March 2002 at 9:00 a.m. and 6
March 2002 at 5:00 a.m., select the range for those times
under the Time tab.
You can use the buttons below the list box to select all the displayed
items, to clear all the displayed items, or to invert your current selected
choices.
- Under Activate Filters, select the check box for each filter
type that you want to activate. For example, if you want to see all
messages for the Cost and Customer business objects (which you specified in
the previous step), activate only the BusObj filter. If you want to see
only those messages for the Cost and Customer business objects that have a
particular timestamp, activate both the BusObj filter and the Time
filter.
- Click OK. The Filter Settings dialog box closes, and the
Log Viewer refreshes to show only those messages that you have allowed through
the filters.
Note that in addition to filtering according to the categories, you can
also display only those messages that contain a specific text string.
To do so, click Message under Set up Filters, type the
specific text for which you want to show messages, and select the check box
for Message under Activate Filters.
Flow tracing a business object, or access flow, allows you to track its
progress throughout each of the processing points in its life cycle.
Using Log Viewer, you can follow the progress by checking the trace messages
that display. Each business object has an flow initiator ID associated
with it for this purpose. If you sort the Log Viewer display by flow
initiator ID and date/time, the trace messages for the business object are
grouped together so you can easily follow its status. Sort by ascending
or descending order to see a historical perspective or the latest event
displayed first.
- Note:
- Flow tracing is performed only when the business object is within the domain
of InterChange Server Express, that is, from the connector controller of the
source application to the connector controller of the destination
application. Business object flow tracing is not performed when the
business object is processed by connector agents or applications.
Perform the following steps to trace a business object flow:
- Set the trace log file destination, if necessary (see Configuring logging and tracing).
- Select the originating triggering business object (not the generic
business object) to trace and set its trace level (see Steps for configuring tracing levels for InterChange Server Express, business objects, and collaborations).
- Send an event from the source connector to the destination
connector.
- Open Log Viewer (see Steps for starting Log Viewer).
- Set the display preferences to view the flow tracing (see Overview of Log Viewer display options).
- Click any error message button in the MsgID column to view the
text of the message.
- Click any of the business object name buttons in the BusObj
column to view the data contained within the business object.
This action uses the Business Object Viewer, which allows you to save the
data to a separate file. The file can then be read by either the
Mapping tool or the Test Connector.
