The Event Log Viewer Page
This screen is used to view Event Log entries. Log entries are
generated when specific actions are taken inside the application, such as:
- any change to the user accounts
- running the sanity check
- running the ID gaps check
- any data deletion event
- creating, closing or re-opening a project
- creating a LaTeX report file
Each Event Log entry records a specific event, its author and
the exact time at which it occurred. It will be assigned a severity
ranging from 'debug' to 'critical'. It may also record the address of the
client that issued the request, as well as a browser identification string.
The Event Log is by definition immutable and as such can only be
viewed. Non-admin users will only be allowed to view the events they
generated themselves.
By default, the Event Log is presented sorted with the most recent
events on top (descending order).
The Event Log Viewer screen is not available straight from the
Main Application Menu. To reach it:
- From the Main Application Menu (or indeed almost any other Project Hirtius page),
click on the "Manage Users" icon in the header
().
- Scroll to the bottom of the page. Click on the Event Log
link located on the right, between the Users List and the page footer. This
gets you to the Event Log Viewer.
N.B.: a similar link is available from the Database Statistics Page.
Each entry in the list will use the following layout:
ID |
Who |
When |
Severity |
Message |
Client |
User Agent |
And here is the meaning of each of these fields:
- ID
- Event Log entry ID (sequential number, primary key).
- Who
- The login ID of the user who initiated the action that triggered the
creation of the Event Log entry.
- When
- Exact timestamp for the creation of the Event Log entry. Please note
that this timestamp is stored and displayed using the time zone of the
Hirtius server, not that of the client (should they differ).
- Severity
- A value representing the "severity" of the event being recorded. Values
will range from 'debug' (lowest) to 'critical' (highest). The list of
supported severities is defined in the Global Definitions File.
- Message
- A short text describing the action / event being recorded.
- Client
- The IP address or fully-qualified host name (if available) of the
client machine from where the request was issued that initiated the
action being logged.
- User Agent
- A string that can help identify the browser being used (brand and
version) on the client machine from where the request was issued that
initiated the action being logged.
The first row of controls beneath the page header allows the user to
select the desired sort order for the list. The currently active sort order
is rendered as text, whereas all other available choices are rendered
as HTML links. Here are the three available choices:
- by ID: (default). Ordered by decreasing log
entry ID.
- by severity: ordered by decreasing severity, then
by decreasing log entry ID.
- by owner: ordered by increasing login name, then
by decreasing log entry ID.
Selecting a different sort order always returns you to the top of the
list (as defined by that order).
The second row of controls beneath the page header allows the user to
navigate the Event Log entries based on the currently selected sort order
(see above). Some action links (prev
and next) may be rendered as text when not applicable.
Here are the available actions:
- First: jump to top of list (first record).
- Prev: show previous page (i.e. previous chunk of 'N'
records, where 'N' is a value defined in the Global Definitions File).
- All: show all records on a single page. Depending on the
length of the list, this may be more than your browser can handle, and it
may make it crash.
- Next: show next page (i.e. next chunk of 'N' records,
where 'N' is a value defined in the Global Definitions File).
- Last: jump to bottom of list (last record).
See also:
Project Hirtius, © Les Ateliers du Héron, 2022.
Last updated: Wednesday, Apr. 26, 2023.