PeopleTools 8.54 Feature: Application Engine Trace File Enhancements

In this blog, we have been reviewing the new features of PeopleTools 8.54. Today is the turn of Application Engine, particularly on its troubleshooting. This release of PeopleTools include several enhancements on Application Engine tracing, which are outlined below:

• The .AET trace file can now include the PeopleCode trace. This removes the need of checking the .AET file for the the non-PeopleCode steps and the .TRC file for the PeopleCode steps. Surely, .TRC files could also contain the SQL executed in non-PeopleCode steps if needed, but it was significantly more difficult to read as the SQL statements were not formatted.

This new feature is enabled by setting the TraceAECombineOutput parameter in the server configuration file for Application Server or Process Scheduler Server.

TraceAECombineOutput=Y

• You can set the file size of the Application Engine Trace file. This way, if the trace file exceeds the threshold, it splits into a different file. For certain processes, this could be quite handy, as sometimes the trace sizes become unmanageable.

This new feature is enabled by setting the AETFileSize parameter in the server configuration file for Application Server or Process Scheduler Server. The size is measured in Megabytes.

AETFileSize=20

• You can actually select which sections of an Application Engine program should be traced and which not. This can contribute to reduce unneeded trace information, just focusing on the potential error areas.

This new feature is enabled by setting the TraceAEEnableSection parameter in the server configuration file for Application Server or Process Scheduler Server.

TraceAEEnableSection=Y

Then, using Application Designed, you should mark the sections you want to trace. Keep in mind that by default all sections are unmarked:

In order to enable the flag in Application Designer, the Enable Section Trace(g) setting has to be enabled in Configuration Manager:

Note: As far as I can tell, you can only set this flag when you create a new section. If you need to modify an existing one, you would need to copy and paste, and then remove the original one. Have any of you found a more efficient way of setting the flag?

• The Application Engine Trace file name now includes the Date/Time stamp.

These enhancements should simplify troubleshooting of Application Engine program issues, particularly those ones containing a significant amount of PeopleCode processing or generating very large trace files.