Viewing application log files

In FootPrints, by default, application logging is written to a file named footprints.log found in the logs folder in the folder where the application was installed. This file is configured to roll over to a new file once the size of the footprints.log file reaches 10MB in size. The file is renamed footprints.log.# where "#" represents which rollover file it is; for example, footprints.log, footprints.log.1, footprints.log.2, footprints.log.3, and so on. Up to five rollover files are preserved by default.

The footprints.log file contains the most recent logging entries. In the case of rolled over files, the lower the number is, the more recent the file is.

This default logging configuration cannot be changed from the Administration console. It can only be changed by modifying the log4j.properties file located in the FootPrints installation folder under the conf sub-folder.

Log Viewer tool

FootPrints ships with a tool that allows easier viewing of application log files. This tool is not yet integrated into the Administration console but it can be run as a standalone program. It does not require Tomcat or the FootPrints server to be running to use this tool.

To run the Log Viewer tool

1. Go to the folder where FootPrints is installed and open the web\default folder.
2. Double-click the fp-log-viewer.html file to open it in a browser window.
   The FP Log Viewer window appears, showing columns for Timestamp, Level, and so on, but no data. Action buttons appear in the Actions ribbon above the table.
3. Above the first column in the data table, click the Load Log button.
4. In the Minimum log level to load field, accept the default level of ERROR or select another level.
   Options are ERROR, WARN, INFO, DEBUG, TRACE, and TIME.
5. Do either of the following:
   • To load data from a file, in the Load from a file section, click Browse to select a file or drag the file into the Drop log file here box.
   • To load copied data from the clipboard, click Load from the clipboard and paste the data into the Paste log content here box.
   The viewer loads the data into the table. The data source is identified at the top of the table.
6. To work with a different set of data, do any of the following:
   
   • Reload the same file with a different option selected in the Minimum log level to load field.
   • Load a different file.
   • Paste a new set of data into the Paste log content here box.
7. To view details of an entry, double-click the entry.
8. To exit, close the browser window.

To change how the log data is arranged

There are a number of ways that you can work with this data:

• To change which columns display, click the down arrow next to a heading and change the selections.
• To group data by field values, click the down arrow next to a heading and select Group by this field. This option is not available for the Timestamp field.
• To sort the data, click the down arrow next to a heading and select Ascending or Descending.

The data table refreshes immediately.

To search the log data

1. Click the Search button.
2. Enter a search string in the Search for field.
3. (Optional) To wrap the search to include the entire file, select Wrap search.
4. (Optional) To search for values that match the case of the search value, select Case-sensitive.
5. Click Find Next or Find Previous.
   The found record is highlighted. 
6. Repeat step 5 to review all of the matching records.

Related topic

Troubleshooting