Model Debug Messages

Select Model Debug Messages on the Debug menu to open the Model Debug Messages utility. You can also press Ctrl-Alt-M to open the Model Debug Messages dialog box.

Overview

Configuring recording mode

Model debug message components

Model debug message details

Datastream messages

Using model debug messages

Overview

Model debug messages provide detailed information for diagnosing problems such as synchronization with the host and for repairing a malfunctioning model. They provide a review of a model interacting with a terminal datastream, allowing you to diagnose and repair screen recognition, data reads and/or writes, and synchronization flaws in a model. This feature is particularly helpful for those model designers working with VT hosts, where synchronization issues are more common.

Model debug message recording can be used for models under development in the Design Tool and for runtime models that have been deployed to the Host Integrator server.

You can debug models as you build them in the Design Tool.
You can open the model debug messages file created by a runtime server. The naming convention for model debug messages is based on server startup time, model name or session pool, and session ID.

You can have up to five model debug message recordings open at the same time. This allows you to compare model behavior under different circumstances or after you have made changes to the model.

Configuring model debug message recording mode

Model debug message recording is always enabled for models you open in the Design Tool. When testing your model within the Design Tool, you can configure the message recording level for the test server.

You can record deployed models on the Host Integrator server. You can configure the recording option as you deploy the model, and you can also change the configuration in the Administrative WebStation. The recorded .vmr files can be opened later in the Design Tool for analysis.

Model Debug Message Components

The model debug messages list

The left hand panel of the Model Debug Messages dialog box shows a list of the messages. The time-based list includes messages that have a subset or a series of nested subsets of additional messages, or descendants, associated with that action. Click the + symbol to view the message subset. These descendants typically display the underlying steps that transpired to produce the top level action.

Click an underlined link in a message to navigate to the entity in question. This option is not available when viewing a saved model debug message (.vmr) file when the model file is not present.

When you're viewing all messages (not datastream messages only), right-click a message for additional options:

When a + symbol is present, right-click the message to expand the message node.
Open the Signature Analyzer.
Create a new entity. If your model navigates to an unexpected host screen, use the New Entity option to capture the information for your model.
Move to the next error.
Save a node of the message list as a separate .vmr file. This option is available for root level messages.

Use the following symbols to manipulate the model debug messages list:

Symbol	Meaning
	Display all messages.
	Display datastream messages. This option displays all messages that relate to the terminal exchanging data with the host, such as transmit, receive, and data processing messages. This option also displays entity arrival and departure, operation start and end, and errors associated with the datastream messages.
	Display relative time for descendants. By default, descendant messages associated with an action such as navigating to another entity are displayed with the time of the descendant message. Click this option to show relative time that elapsed relative to the action's start. This option helps identify abnormal delays associated with specific messages.
	Find a message. Click this option and type in a string to locate a specific message. You can also use the Find Message dialog box to find other occurrences of the messages, or to find messages of the same type as the selected message.
	Find next error. Click this button to locate the messages that are tagged as errors in the model debug messages list.
	Clear all messages. (Actions that are in progress will not be cleared.) Use this option when you are debugging a development version of a model and want to see the model's behavior after making some changes. You can save the previous collection of model debug messages before you use this option.
	If you have opened a model debug message file other than the one associated with the current model, click to close the file.

Model debug message details

The right hand panel of the model debug message dialog box shows the details of the message highlighted on the left. Depending on what type of message is selected, it can include one or more of the following:

Ending snapshot: A snapshot of the terminal at the time the message was generated. This is particularly helpful if you expect a full screen of data to have been processed, but the action and the associated snapshot shows only a subset of the host screen (with a gray overlay) was actually sent or received. The gray area of the snapshot represents the area of the screen that changed during the course of the action. This kind of feedback makes it much easier to identify where a synchronization issue needs to be handled.
Starting and ending snapshots: A navigation message shows both the starting and ending snapshot.
Message: When an error or operation message is selected, the message text is repeated in the lower-right panel. This text can be selected and copied to the Clipboard.
Procedure data: When a procedure message is selected, the procedure filter parameters and procedure output are displayed. You can use the Copy button to copy the filter parameters or procedure results to the Clipboard.
Datastream: When the message is associated with a datastream process, the datastream content is displayed in a text box in the lower right panel.
Event handlers: When a fired event message or event callback message is selected, the input and output of the event or callback is displayed.

You can view all messages associated with the runtime model or focus on datastream messages only.

Datastream messages

Click the datastream messages icon to view datastream messages only in the model debug messages list.

When you select a datastream message (whether you're viewing all model debug messages or just datastream messages), select a message to see datastream details in the window at the lower right of the dialog box.

The datastream window

The datastream window displays the real-time data sent and received from a host. This information is particularly valuable when debugging datastream issues on a character mode host. You can copy and paste text from this window into the WaitForCommString command dialog box or the Host Communication String event dialog box to configure operations that include raw host communications. This window contains errors, and operations in addition to the datastream messages.

Without this window, it is difficult to determine what effect a single key has on the host. With a character mode host, a simple cursor movement can use three packets of 50 or more characters. Lack of knowledge about these internal communications can often lead to missed synchronization points.

In addition, this view allows an easy view of the data that comes from the host, allowing you to choose which data to use for synchronization. Review the information about nonprintable characters, such as control functions, that appear in the Datastream view.

If you select a procedure in the Model Debug Message list, the details in the lower right include a Copy button. You can copy the procedure results to the Clipboard.

Searching datastream content

When debugging a VT model, use the Suggest Escape Sequence button to have the model debug messages utility suggest a unique escape sequence (if present) that can be used to help synchronize the model. This option is available for VT models only.

You can copy text from this panel to the Clipboard by using the right-click menu or Ctrl+C keystroke. This is useful to paste into a WaitForCommString command (in the Operation Edit dialog box, or in the Host Event Edit dialog box after selecting Host Communication String event) to resolve synchronization issues.

Type a string into the text box at the bottom of the datastream window. All instances of that string in the datastream window are highlighted.

Use the Next Match button to move to the next occurrence of the string.

Use the Previous Match button to move to the previous occurrence of the string.