Troubleshooting and analysis with the action log

When developing an app, it can happen that unexpected events occur when actions are executed. In such cases, it is helpful to analyze diligently the details to understand what exactly happened.

In edoc automate, you can use the action log to track the execution of views and tasks. The action log provides you with answers to the following questions:

• Which actions were executed?

• Which values were passed to the parameters?

• What values did the actions return?

Activate the action log

Before you can use the action log, you must activate it in the app settings.

Here's how

1. Open the corresponding app in the app editor.

2. Switch to the App-Details tab.

3. Open the Settings section.

4. Activate the Log Runtime Actions option by selecting the Enabled value.

5. Save the app to apply the change.

Display the action log when executing views

If you execute a view and want to track which actions–for example when clicking a button–have been executed, you must open the action log.

Here's how

1. Open the corresponding view whose actions you want to check.

2. Start the log with the key combination CTRL+ALT+D so that an overlay with the text Debug and a colored badge with a number is displayed at the edge of the browser window (on the right).

3. Use the mouse to hover over the overlay to enlarge it and display the entries for the actions performed.

The following information is displayed in each entry:

• Time of the event at which actions were performed.

• Triggering component: When hovering over the ID of the component, the component is highlighted in the view.

• List with the executed actions of the view.

For each action, the value passed to the parameters, the value returned by the action and whether errors occurred when executing the action are displayed.

Display the action log when executing tasks

If a task has been executed and the action log has been activated in the app, you can track which actions have been executed within the task.

Here's how

1. Open the corresponding task in the edoc automate editor.

2. Wait until the task has been executed. An entry indicating that the task has been executed is displayed in the History section. If there are log entries for the actions executed in the task, a Debug icon (beetle symbol) is displayed next to each entry.

3. Click on the Debug icon to display the log entries.

Each entry contains the following information:

• Time of the event at which actions were performed.

• Triggering component (if the event was triggered by a component in the view): When hovering over the ID of the component, the component is highlighted in the view.

• Information about the trigger (if the actions were executed in a task).

• List of actions performed: including the following information:

  • Values passed to the parameters.

  • The value returned by the action.

  • Error when executing the action.