ERS Message Window

The Error Reporting System (ERS) message window at the bottom of the Igui contains a table reporting all the ERS messages flowing through the system the Igui is subscribed for. Each message contains a time/date stamp, the message severity, the name of the application the message comes from, the message name and the message text.


Changing the ERS Subscription

The ERS message subscription criteria can be changed using the panel toolbar. By default the Igui subscribes at start-up for WARNING, ERROR and FATAL messages. The user can select a different set of available message severities or even build custom subscription criteria. When the Expression radio button is selected all the other ones will be unavailable (this means that it not possible to mix a custom subscription string with a pre-defined subscription option). The user has to press the Subscribe button to actually request to change the current subscription. Any error will be reported and the current subscription is always shown in the right bottom corner of the panel toolbar (in case of errors the label background will be red painted).

Syntax for subscription is defined using EBNF notation:

key = 'app' | 'msg' | 'qual'
sev = 'sev'
par = '(param|par)(+[a-zA-Z_-])'
context_item = 'app' | 'host' | 'user' | 'package' | 'file' | 'function'
context = 'context(context_item)'
sevlev = 'fatal' | 'error' | 'warning' | 'info' | 'information'
token_wildcard = +[a-zA-Z_:\-]-'*'
token = +[a-zA-Z_:\-]
item = (key ('=' | '!=') token_wildcard) | (sev ('=' | '!=') sevlev) | (par ('=' | '!=') token) | (context ('=' | '!=') token)
factor = item | ( expression ) | ('not' factor)
expression = '*' | factor *(('and' expression) | ('or' expression))

Examples of selection criteria are:

(sev=ERROR or sev=FATAL) or (app=Tile* and not qual=debug)
msg=HLTMPP* or sev=fatal or param(err_code)=123 or (context(user)!=crrc and qual!=DEBUG and context(package)!=TestManager)

Default Message Filter

Some times could be desirable to add some default filter in order to not show messages that are very frequent but not critical. The ERS panel supports this feature and when it is enabled, the toggle button at left of the "Subscription criteria" is automatically selected with red borders. The default filter can be disabled at any time de-selecting the toggle button. The definitions of the messages to filter out are taken from an OKS configuration file; whenever that file is changed, the user can update the filter pressing the reload button (the first button in the ERS window top toolbar).

How to setup a default filter

In order to have a default filter, the environment variable TDAQ_IGUI_ERS_FILTER_FILE has to be defined and should point to the file containing the description of the messages to be filtered out. A simple example of such a file can be found here. The OKS schema can be fond here as well.

Setting the Message Format

The user can choose between two different display styles for the message text: a short message format, showing only the bare message text


and a long message format, showing the full message including additional message qualifiers:


The user can choose between the different settings via the Message format buttons on the panel bottom toolbar.

Number of Visible Messages

The user can changs the number of visible messages in the table using the Number of visible rows spinner on the panel bottom toolbar. Once the maximum number of messages has been reached, the oldest message is removed for each new message. If the maximum number of visible message is inserted manually into the spinner (not using the up/down arrows) then the insertion must be confirmed pressing the ENTER button. For efficiency reason the minum number of visible messages is fixed to 100; for the same reason the user choice should not be greater than a few thousands (~ 1000/2000).

Clearing the Message Display

The message table can be cleared using the Clear button on the left corner of the panel bottom toolbar. Only the last message will be kept.

Removing or Copying a Message to the System Clipboard

Message can be removed or copied to the system clipboard (to use it in another application) by selecting them and pressing the right mouse button.
Depending on your display settings the full message (including time, severity etc.) will be put to the system clipboard in the short or the long message format.


Searching Messages

A basic search on all the message table row is available. To show the search dialog the user should select a message and press the CTRL-F keys.