Right Java tools for J2EE, Web Service, Grid and more

Java EE (Java Enterprise Edition) is the new name for the Java platform. But J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition) is still widely used. In this document J2EE and Java EE are interchangeable.

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Prerequisite
• Tracing
• Syntax highlighting
• Column
• Search
• Parse
• Unrecognized columns
• Security
• Appendix: Regular Expression

Overview

SuperTracer is a tracer and a reader for J2EE logging system.

• It provides source code level tracing facility: a single mouse click will show the source code and the line in question will be marked and highlighted.
• It provides syntax highlighting for easy reading.
• It support SuperLogging and native server logs.
• It provides both simple search and Regular Expression search, for both search down and up.
• It provides filter to select the log records you want.

Examples:

Prerequisite

See Prerequisite in Installation for general prerequisite.

Tracing

When you click a file name in a log messages on the Trace Panel, the Source Code Panel will display the source code. The line of the source file in question will be marked and highlighted. The file name must be in the correct format. It can be generated by Java stack trace. The class information of a class can be auto-detected by SuperLogging, if you use the following log methods:

  public static void log(String msg, int level)
  public static void log(String msg, int level, String producer, String why)

If you directly write log records in correct format into the log database outside of SuperLogging, your records will be valid candidates for source code level tracing as well, regardless of what language you use. Specifications are available.

Syntax highlighting

SuperTracer displays log information by log records. Each record consists of many columns. The syntax highlighting shows different color for different column. The colors can be set by mouse clicks

Column

SuperLogging stores log messages in relational database. So it is very easy to parse log information. Each record is naturally divided into columns.

For native log file from J2EE servers. Log files are flat text files. When a log messages is generated, it is written "segment" by "segment". The "segment" is similar to column in relational databases. SuperTracer calls "segment" as column. 

Filter

The Filter filters unwanted log messages using WHERE clause of SQL. To be user friendly, SuperTracer provides a GUI input panel for the time period part of the WHERE clause.

When you write WHERE clause, you need to know the column names of SuperLogging message table. See Columns of SuperLogging message table for detailed information.

Search

Search is based on the current position of the caret. If a search is successful, the found text will be highlighted and the caret will be placed on a new position as described below: 

• for Down-ward search: the end of the found text.
• for Up-ward search: the beginning of the found text.

The search facility searches record by record and column by column. The delimiters of columns and records are not part of log messages, so they are not searchable.

The search facility provides the following algorithms: 

• Simple, case insensitive: Simple search, ignore cases.
• Simple, case sensitive: Simple search, matches cases.
• Regular Expression: Regular Expression search. If you are not familiar with it,  See Regular Expression for more information.

Parse

For SuperLogging, log records are stored in a relational database. So, parse is easy and always correct.

But, for flat log files, there is no guarantee. The following is some common issues:

• If a part of an application message falls to the pattern of the start of a record, SuperTracer may be confused. For example, Weblogic uses "####" as start symbol for each record. If a message from your application contains multi-lines and a line starts with "####", SuperTracer may or may not parse it correctly.
• Log files may be corrupted by many reasons. 
• A log file may grow too big. Your J2EE server may rotate log files to avoid that. If a record spans to two files during rotation, SuperTracer will meet difficulties. We have such experience with Websphere 6. 

These problems are rare. SuperTracer tries its best to solve these issues. 

Unrecognized columns

If a column is unrecognized, it will be displayed as "????".

Security

Direct database connection

Users need sufficient privileges on J2EE server, the database and all underlying facilities. The system is protected by these accounts and passwords.

If you use SuperLogging, you need password. The password will not show literally. But it is saved literally. If you have security concerns, do not save.

Appendix: Regular Expression

Regular expression is a powerful search mechanism. If you are not familiar with it, Google for "regular expression". You will find a lot of tutorials. Many of the tutorials are for specific software. You still can read them even you are not interested in the specific software. The general rules are the same among software.