Tracer – Understanding results

Column

Description

Number of events traced, starting at 1 for the first (oldest).

The Thread object for the step.

The interaction number for the step. This total starts being counted at login and is reset upon logout.

Count of distinct activities traced. This is not reset to zero if you clear all the events. When a single activity is re-executed later, the previously assigned number is repeated.

Rules other than activities are not assigned a number.

For an activity, the method in this step.

For a declarative rule or decision rule, indicates the start or end of a computation.

For a when condition rule or Boolean expression, identifies the rule name or (a portion of) the expression.

When tracing a database operation, this column lists the specific operation performed on the database. (Commit, insert, update)

Name of the step page, or =unnamed= if the Step Page column of this step is blank. A bright ORANGE background marks step pages that have messages set on them (such as error messages).

When tracing a database operation, this column lists the database table affected by the database operation in the Step Method column.

Step number of this step. When two or more rows appear with the same step number, an iteration is in process at that step.

Status of the method in the step, from the pxMethodStatus property, such as Good, Fail, or Warn. A RED background marks Fail steps (that are not addressed by a transition).

Exit Iteration marks the end of an iteration step.

In this context, a red Fail row indicates an unhandled exception condition. If a method returns a Fail status but the step contains a transition, the Tracer row is displays the status as Good and has a normal gray background. This is consistent with the processing status that is be perceived by the next activity step to execute; it reflects that any error condition that existed has been noted by the activity. See How to test method results using a transition.

When tracing a database operation, this column lists the number of bytes involved in a write to the database.

Optional. Properties that you've used the Watch Variable facility to watch.

Type of event or rule: Step Begin, Step End, Activity End, Constraint, Expression, DecisionTree, MapValue, and so on. When Begin and When End events identify the start of a when condition rule or similar test, such as in a precondition or transition.

For Step End and Activity End rows, elapsed time in seconds for the step. (This time interval may be seriously degraded by Tracer operation.)

Full name of the rule being traced as a blue-text link, showing all key parts.

When tracing a database or cache operation, the Name and RuleSet columns are combined. The text in this combined column provides details on the rules being searched for in the cache, or on the size of the database operation.

Ruleset and version containing the rule being traced.