TEXTFILE Emitter Properties

A text trace file is the default format when a trace is run.

To control the behavior and the appearance of the file, set the following TEXTFILE emitter properties in the Consolidated Tracing Facility configuration file:

DELIMCHAR

The character used in the output file to delimit trace data parts for a trace event.

Default = space.

FILE

The name of the trace file to be written. You can use the following pseudo-variables for the construction of the trace file name:

$(APPNAME)

The basename of the executable invoked to start the current process. For example, "cobrun".

$(EMITTER)

Always "TEXTFILE" for this emitter.

$(GEN)

The generation of the file, starting from 1.

$(PID)

The operating system identifier for the current process.

Default = $(APPNAME).$(EMITTER).$(PID).log, or $(APPNAME).$(EMITTER).$(PID).log_$(GEN) if the MAXGENERATION property has been specified. For example:

• If the TEXTFILE emitter is being used to output trace events for cobrun executing as process-id 3456 and the MAXGENERATION property has not been specified, the trace file created will be called cobrun.textfile.3456.log .
• If the TEXTFILE emitter is being used to output trace events for myapp executing as process-id 1975 and the MAXGENERATION property has been set to 3, the trace files created will be called myapp.textfile.1975.log_1, myapp.textfile.1975.log_2, and myapp.textfile.1975.log_3.

FLUSHEVERY

The number of trace records that will be output before the file is flushed. 0 indicates that the file will never be explicitly flushed.

Default = 1

FORMAT

The format to be used for each trace data record written to the file. You can use the following pseudo-variables in the format specification:

$(COMPONENT)

The name of the component outputting the trace event.

$(DATA)

The trace data specified by the component to be output for the trace event. Each trace part will be delimited by the character specified by the DELIMCHAR property.

$(DATE)

The current date, output as yyyy/mm /dd

$(EVENT)

The event identifier as specified by the component outputting the trace event.

$(LEVEL)

The tracing level:

• 0: debug
• 1: info
• 2: warning
• 3: error
• 4: fatal

$(PID)

The current process identifier. Same as $(PROCESS).

$(PROCESS)

The current process identifier. Same as $(PID).

$(THREAD)

The current operating system thread identifier.

$(TIME)

The current time, output as hh:mm:ss

Default = $(TIME) $(COMPONENT) $(EVENT) $(LEVEL) $(DATA)

HEXBLOCKSIZE

The number of hexadecimal bytes to be output in each block when outputting binary trace data. Each block of hexadecimal characters will be separated by a '-' character. For example, if HEXBLOCKSIZE is set to 4, and some binary trace data with the value 3132333435363738393A3B3C3D3E3F is specified for output, it would be formatted as follows:

31323334-35363738-393A3B3C-3D3E3F

LOCATION

The folder where the trace files are to be written.

If the folder specified by the LOCATION property does not exist, the Consolidated Tracing Facility tries to create it. If this fails, the Consolidated Tracing Facility uses the default location (as specified by the MFTRACE_LOGS environment variable). If this fails, the current folder is used.

Default = 8

MAXFILESIZE

The maximum amount of data (in Kb) that will be written to the trace file before the file is closed and the next trace file in the generation sequence is opened. The first trace file in a generation sequence results in the $(GEN) pseudo-variable (see the description of the FILE property, above) being set to 1, the second in the sequence results in it being set to 2, and so on until MAXGENERATION is exceeded. Once the MAXGENERATION number of files has been reached, the generation number reverts to 1 and the first trace file in the generation is overwritten. This is only used if MAXGENERATION > 1.

Default = 0x00002800, indicating a maximum file size of 10 Mb.

MAXGENERATION

The maximum number of trace files that will be written to while tracing is enabled. Use this property in conjunction with the MAXFILESIZE property.

Default = 1, indicating that only a single trace file will be created.

MultiProc

Controls whether trace events are written to the trace file by a single process or multiple processes. If enabled for multiple processes, the File property must also be specified without the $(PID) pseudo-variable embedded in its name.

Default=FALSE, indicating that the configured trace file includes only events from the current process.

QUOTESTRING

Whether or not string trace data is to be output enclosed in double-quote characters.

Default = TRUE