Import / Export Logviewer

Owned by Morten Lindequist Køhler
Feb 14, 2024
6 min read

Perfion logs the data about each import and export procedure to Perfion database. All imports/exports are logged regardless of which type they are or where they are executed from.

Note, that the data output from the grid functionality is not a standard export. It is not supported by generic Perfion export interface and do not have any logging.

In order to be able to access the import/export log information stored in Perfion database there were created 2 applications, e.g. Import Log Viewer for import logs and Export Log Viewer for export logs. The preview of both applications are shown in the Figure 1.

Figure 1: Import and export log viewers

Import and Export Log Viewer

The import log viewer and export log viewer have the same functionality and the main difference is only that one handles import data while the other handles export data. There are a few other differences, but they are not essential. To see the differences between both log viewers refer to Figure 1. The description of how the import log viewer works can be also applied to export log viewer, so here it will be shown only information about import log viewer.

The import log viewer have the following functionality:

  • It shows all import logs from Perfion database.

    • Each row in the grid shows the information about a single import procedure.

    • The log viewer will show information about all imports, e.g. even those which are running from another PC by other user.

    • The log viewer context depends on the privileges the logged in user has.

      • Administrators can see information about all imports.

      • Normal users will only see information which is related to their own imports.

  • It allows limiting data scope.

    • The quantity of selected data can be limited based on how recent the log data is by using the Data Limit select box. It allows selecting the logs for the last day, 3 days, 7 days, 30 days or to show all available log data.

    • The grid has various filtering possibilities, so one can sort different columns and also filter the data by its content. This allows quickly selecting imports which fulfill certain criteria.

  • The log viewer is designed to be used for monitoring import related data in real time.

    • Refresh button allows manually refreshing the data in order to show the newest information.

    • The log viewer can also be set to use the Auto Refresh functionality which will automatically update the import data every 3, 5, 10, 30 seconds or every 1 or 5 minutes.

    • All the imports in Perfion support remote stopping functionality and log viewer allows to stop all running or waiting imports. One can see all running or waiting imports from the Status column and such imports will also have a Stop button in Action column. If the Stop button is pressed, the running import will be stopped. Note that import stopping is a “soft” stop, which means that the import can stop only after it finishes the currently running sub-routine. Refer to Figure 2 to see an example of 2 imports which can be stopped because one is running and another is waiting for its turn to run.

  • The logs can be saved, e.g. when there is a need to send them to Perfion support in case there is something wrong with some imports. One can save multiple logs at the same time by checking the checkbox in Save column in the grid and then pressing the button Save Selected. The logs are saved in XML format and can be opened only by Perfion support.

  • The details about selected import can be reviewed by pressing a button with a magnifier glass icon in Content column in the grid. After pressing the button, the new Import Log Detail Viewer application will open to show the content of full import log. Refer to Import and Export Log Detail Viewer for more details about it.

Figure 2: Import log viewer

Import and Export Log Detail Viewer

The import log detail viewer and export log detail viewer have the same functionality and the main difference is only that one handles import data while the other handles export data. There are a few other differences, but they are not essential. To see the differences between both log detail viewers refer to Figure 3. The description of how the import log detail viewer works can be also applied to export log viewer, so here it will be shown only information about import log detail viewer.

The import log detail viewer have the following functionality:

  • It shows import log data for chosen import. Each row in the grid shows the information about a single import log message.

  • It allows limiting data scope by filtering grid data by its content or by sorting grid columns.

  • The log detail viewer is designed to be used for monitoring import related data in real time.

    • Refresh button allows manually refreshing the data in order to show the newest information from currently running import.

    • The log viewer can also be set to use the Auto Refresh functionality which will automatically update the import data every 3, 5, 10, 30 seconds or every 1 or 5 minutes.

    • All the imports in Perfion support remote stopping functionality and log viewer allows to stop the import if it is in running or waiting state.

    • The import can be stopped if the Stop button is active. If the Stop button is pressed, the running import will be stopped. Note that import stopping is a “soft” stop, which means that the import can stop only after it finishes the currently running sub-routine. The Figure 4 shows the import detail viewer which have data of the import in running state and the Stop button is active. The Figure 3 shows the log for already finished import so the Stop button is not active anymore and the import cannot be stopped.

  • The logs can be saved, e.g. when there is a need to send them to Perfion support in case there is something wrong with this import. To save the log press the Save button. The logs are saved in XML format and can be opened only by Perfion support.

  • Some import log messages may contain extra data. This data could be anything from information which describes the import error in more details or information which would not fit in a simple log message.

    • The log message extra data if present will be shown in grid columns Data Type and Data.

    • Data Type column describes the type of extra data, while the Data column allows opening that data for preview.

    • The extra data can be of various types including DataTable (a special table like data format used by importer which is usually in HTML format), XML, HTML, text, etc.

    • To open the extra data press the button with a magnifier glass icon in the grid Data column. The data will be opened in the external viewer application which may differ based on which application handles which file format in Windows OS. So if the format is of text format, then it can open a Notepad application. If the data format is HTML, then it will probably open it in the default web browser.