Text-to-Web Compare and Exception Log Converter (VTAM)

You can convert Comparison Logs, Exception Logs, and Onelogs to interactive Web-based reports.

 Converting logs

Performance Test for VTAM provides sample JCL to run the conversion as a batch job. Just open the sample member, modify the necessary DD statements and input parameters, and submit the job.

To convert log data sets to Web-based reports:

1. In an ISPF Edit session, open member CLOGGEN (see CLOGGEN JCL Sample), located in the system-level reporting library or the samples library (SQQFSAMP).
2. Insert a job card at the top and provide the necessary DD statements and input parameters.
3. Submit the job.

 CLOGGEN JCL Sample

CLOGGEN DD Statements and Input Parameters

PARM on CLOGGEN EXEC Statement

Identifies the program to use for conversion. Performance Test provides both a compiled and an interpreted version of the REXX program. Complete the PARM= clause with:

• 'CLOGGEN' to use the interpreted REXX version. Use this version if you do not have the REXX on zSeries compiler.
• 'CLOGGENX' to use the compiled version, which executes much more quickly.

SYSEXEC DD

Identifies the data set containing the CLOGGEN program. Point it to your Performance Test REXX library.

CLOG(dsn)

Identifies the log data set to be converted. Specify a fully qualified sequential data set or PDSE. Place the PDSE member in parentheses.

To convert multiple logs, enter the first part of the data set or member name followed by an asterisk (*). For example, USR2503.SYNC* converts all log data sets beginning with USR2503.SYNC and USR2503.SYNCH.CLOG(P*) converts all members in USR2503.SYNCH.CLOG that begin with the letter “P”. The conversion program ignores data sets or members that do not contain a Compare, Exception, or Onelog.

CLOGDIR(HFSpath)

Identifies a location for the output files. Complete this parameter with the desired HFS path and directory.

TRANS(row,column,length)

Optional parameter that assigns an area of the screen for CLOGGEN to use to create transaction identifiers. For example, create transaction IDs from the application’s screen titles or from certain fields on the screen to help you easily detect when and where the application returned an unexpected value. Specify the screen row and column where the transaction ID is located and supply the length of the value to return. For example, TRANS(1,4,10) returns 10 characters from row one, beginning at column four.

Use it to generate a Transaction Summary at the beginning of the report. If the view option is set to TRANS or BOTH, transaction IDs also appear in the navigation pane on the left side of the detail screens.

LISTVIEW(view options)

Optional parameter that determines what information to display in the navigation pane. The view options are:

• SCREENS presents the list of compared screens with the screen numbers.
• TRANS presents the list of compared screens with the transaction IDs found on those screens.
• BOTH presents the list of compared screen with both the screen number and transaction ID.

CLOGGEN generates the reports in SCREENS view if LISTVIEW is not specified.

LISTMAX(number)

Optional parameter that controls the maximum number of screens listed on a single summary page. Smaller values reduce the amount of time it takes for the browser to load the summary page but may result in multiple summary pages. CLOGGEN generates additional pages if there are more screens than the LISTMAX value. If LISTMAX is not specified, CLOGGEN uses 300.

DELETE

Deletes a specified Web-based compare log. Use the CLOG parameter to identify the sequential data set or PDSE and member of the originating log file and the CLOGDIR parameter to identify the HFS path and directory containing the Web-based report to delete. CLOGGEN deletes the associated HTML files.

Replaces the common directory containing HTML files that are shared by all compare logs. The common directory is built during the first conversion and typically does not require rebuilding. If you experience navigation/display issues, or suspect file corruption, specify REPLACE(YES) to rebuild the common directory. REPLACE(NO) is the default.

SEARCH(NO)

Disables the report’s “search” feature. Specify SEARCH(NO) to prevent the search field from appearing on the Summary page.

RESPONSE

Set a percent for allowable actual response times when compared to original response times in the script. For example, to identify response times that are more than 10% longer that original, specify: RESPONSE(10), for 20% use RESPONSE(20), and so on. The default is to ignore response times.

 Accessing reports

To access the Web-based Compare or Exception Log:

1. Open a supported Web browser.
2. In the address bar at the top, type:
   http://<URL of mainframe><directory path specified on CLOGDIR parm>/index.html
3. Press Enter. The browser displays an index (see Compare Log Index Page) of all Compare Logs, Exception Logs, and Onelogs found in the specified directory.
   Compare Log Index Page
   
4. Click the desired log, or in the case of a Onelog, the desired terminal. The summary page for the selected log/terminal appears. See the next section for navigation instructions and a detailed description of each page in the report.

 Reading and navigating web-based reports

The Web-based Compare Log initially displays a summary page. Access comparison detail from links on the summary page. Access the search feature from either the summary or detail pages.

 Report summary

The Web-based Compare Log Report initially displays a Summary page.

• Click Return to return to the list of available reports.
• Click View all screen to access comparison detail.

To learn about the search feature, see Search and Find Features.

If you used the TRANS parameter, the Transaction Summary tables provides a list of all transaction IDs found in the log data set.

• Click Sequence (column header) to sort the table by transaction sequence.
• Click Transaction ID (column header) to sort the table alphabetically and numerically by transaction ID.
• Click the transaction ID text in the table to view the first screen containing the given transaction ID.

 Web-based compare/exception report summary

Compare log summary fields

Original compare log dataset

Displays the selected sequential data set or PDSE member used to generate the report.

Date created

Displays the date that the original log data set was created.

Total mismatches

Displays the number of mismatches found in the given log data set or PDSE member.

Total screens

Displays the total number of screens in the given log data set or PDSE member.

Total transactions

Displays the total number of unique transaction IDs found in the given log data set or PDSE member. If the TRANS parameter was not used during report conversion, this field shows zero.

TPF

Displays the region name (VTAM LU name) of the transaction processing facility against which the script was played back.

Transaction Summary Fields

Sequence

Displays the sequence in which the unique transaction IDs were captured. CLOGGEN processes the log file from beginning to end. It looks at the screen location specified on the TRANS parameters and increments the sequence number when that location contains unique information. If all screens contained the same information in the specified location, only one transaction would be listed.

Transaction ID

Displays the unique transaction ID found in the specified screen location.

Total screens

Displays the total number of screens containing the specified transaction ID.

Total mismatches

Displays the total number of mismatches for the given transaction ID.

 Report detail

Access comparison detail (see Compare Log Navigation and Detail panes) from the Compare Log Summary page. The detail screen is comprised of two panes:

• The navigation pane on the left side of the screen (see Compare Log Detail Navigation pane).
• The detail pane that shows the “actual” and “expected” screens for the currently selected comparison entry (see Top of Compare Log Detail pane).

 Compare log navigation and detail panes

 Navigation pane

This pane provides information about the selected comparison entries and easy access to the selected comparison screens.

If you access detail via a transaction ID link, the navigation pane lists all screens containing the given transaction ID. If you access detail via the View all screens link, it shows all screens in the log.

 Compare log detail navigation pane

The navigation pane can contain any or all of the following comparison entry information and links:

• << (back) and >> (forward) move you through the listed comparisons (actual/expected screen pairs).
• return returns you to the summary page.
• find initiates the find feature. See Search and Find Features.
• +script name (x/y) is an expandable/collapsible list of all actual and expected screens for the given script. x is the number of mismatched screens and y is the total number of screens pairs from the given script. Click the plus sign (+) to view or hide the list of screen pairs belonging to the given script.
• +NE indicates the selected actual/expected screens do not match. It is followed by the screen number, the transaction ID, or both depending on the LISTVIEW value supplied during conversion.
  • If you specified SCREENS on the LISTVIEW parameter or you did not specify the LISTVIEW parameter, NE is followed by the screen number.
  • If you specified TRANS, it is either followed by the transaction ID or “unknown” if nothing is in the defined screen location.
  • If you specified BOTH, it is followed by both the screen number and transaction ID.

Click the plus sign to view or hide the following detail information and links:

• trans id field displays the transaction ID for the given screen pair.
• key field displays the input function key, if any, used to generate the screen during recording and playback.
• actual and expected links position the detail window to the actual or expected screen for the given comparison.
• +EQ indicates the selected actual/expected screens match. This plus sign link (+) behaves the same way and displays the same information as NE.
• continue appears at the bottom of the list if there are more screens in the log data set than the LISTMAX parameter value. Click continue to go to the next set of screens. Once there, the previous link appears at the top of the list. Use it to return to the previous set of screens.

 Detail pane

The detail pane shows the set of “actual” and “expected” screens for the selected comparison entry (see Compare Log Navigation and Detail panes). By default, the report highlights differences in the screens. The screen number displays in the upper left corner of each screen and the script data set appears across the top.

The >> (forward) and << (back) links that appear in the upper right corner of the screen title bars toggle the view from the “actual” screen to the “expected” screen and vice versa. The same links appear above the screens. However, they move you through all of the screens in the log.

 Top of compare log detail pane

• Click change settings to change the color scheme and font size of the report. See Customizing Report Presentation.
• Click highlight on/off to turn difference highlighting on and off. This is useful for viewing screens that have many differences.
• Click print to print the current page.

The ATTENTION IDENTIFIER that appears at the bottom of the comparison entry detail (see Compare Log Navigation and Detail panes) lists the input function key, if any, used to generate the screen during recording and playback.

 Search and find features

Web-based Compare Logs offer the Search and Find features.

• Search appears on the summary page if you did not specify SEARCH(NO) in the conversion JCL. Use it to search all of the screens in the selected log.
• Find appears at the top and bottom of the list of comparison entries in the report detail navigation pane. Use it to find specified text in the comparison entries.

Following are instructions for using each of these features.

To search all screens in the log:

1. On the Compare Log Summary page, enter the desired text in the Search field and click Search. The Search Results page appears and, if applicable, provides a list of all screens containing the specified text.
   Compare Log Search Results 
   
2. Click a screen number. The actual and expected screens appear.
3. To return to the Search Results page, click the browser’s back button. Repeat screen selection as needed.
4. Click Return at the top of the Search Results page to return to the Compare Log Summary page.

To find specified text in the comparison entries:

1. From the report detail, click find, which is located at the top or bottom of the comparison entries in the navigation pane. The Find Text dialog appears.
   Find Text dialog box
   
2. Enter the text you wish to find. This feature is case sensitive.
   If there is a continue link at the bottom of the comparison entries list, check the Continue find to next page without prompting box to search the rest of the comparison entries in the file without interruption. Otherwise, the browser prompts for confirmation each time it opens the next list. To search a previous list, start the search from the beginning of that list.
3. Close the dialog by clicking the X button in the upper right corner.

 Customizing report presentation

This section discusses the change settings feature that allows you to customize the presentation of the comparison screens. It also provides system-setting information for optimizing report viewing.

Report settings

Web-based Compare Logs offer the following options for changing the appearance of the reports:

• change settings to change the screen color, the highlighting color, and the screen text color and size.
• highlight on/off to turn screen difference highlighting on and off.

When you exit the report, the browser saves your settings as cookies. Each report has its own set of cookies to allow you to create different settings for each report.

To change the appearance of a report:

1. Navigate to the report detail screen.
2. Click change settings, which is above the “Actual” screen in the detail pane (see Compare Log Navigation and Detail panes). The Change Settings dialog appears.
   Change Settings dialog box
   
3. Click the desired color button for the screen, text, and highlighting. Click the down arrow to choose text size from a list. Changes take effect immediately.
4. To exit the dialog, click close or the X button in the upper right corner.
5. To turn difference highlighting on or off, click the highlight on/off link located above the “Actual” screen in the detail pane.

System display settings

View Web-based Compare Logs at any display resolution. However, lower resolutions result in a larger display of the report. If scrolling up and down to see the “actual” and “expected” screens is too tedious, consider:

• Increasing screen resolution to 1280 X1024 pixels. Refer to your operating system help to learn how to adjust the display resolution.
• Maximize the browser window by clicking the middle button on the upper right corner of the browser window.
• Reduce the screen text size using either the browser settings or the report settings. Browser settings affect all text displayed in the browser window. Report settings affect only the text that appears on the comparison screens.