TnRequestMonitorNetEditor V.1.11 alpha, help text
Platform: VisualWorks for Smalltalk-80 Release 2.5.1, ENVY Release 3.01, HP Distributed Smalltalk Release 5.5.

This net editor works together with TnRequestMonitor.

It needs the applications Tn_DPE V. 0.126 (or higher) and Lok_NetDisplay V. 3.1.

You find class TnRequestMonitorNetEditor in the latest version of application Tn_Monitor.

This help text is available from /net/WWWVST/html/ovma/tangram/project/alte_dpe/tools/TnRequestMonitorNetEditorHelpX.txt (where X is the version number).

To use this help text online, you have two possibilities:

• to place it into the same directory as the smalltalk image or
• to set a system environment variable TMMCSHELPPATH to the path where the help text resides (e.g. for GMD developers in UNIX: setenv TMMCSHELPPATH /net/WWWVST/html/ovma/tangram/project/alte_dpe/tools/).

To use the HTML version of this text with netscape started from an Request Monitor Net Editor you have also two possibilities:

• to place it into the same directory as the smalltalk image or
• to set a system environment variable TMMCSHTMLHELPPATH to the path where the help text resides (e.g. for GMD developers in UNIX: setenv TMMCSHTMLHELPPATH /net/WWWVST/html/ovma/tangram/project/alte_dpe/tools/).

Online display of T-MMCS activity

TnRequestMonitorNetDisplay is a tool for grafical representation of the T-MMCS. By the help of a local TnRequestMonitor each T-MMCS module (e.g. Access Session) sends events to a event channel. TnRequestMonitorNetEditor receives these events and animates a net representing the desired objects according to the the reported data.

Offline using of log files

Events may be recorded into a log file. Log files may be used later as input for the animation instead of online monitoring.

Object representation

The computational objects (CO) and their communication are represented as grafic objects and their connections. Each grafic object (node) visualises a CO or a module (session, service) and it's states and activities. Each connection stands for a communication (request) between two COs.

Module representing nodes:

• sending: red frame aroung node
• receiving: yellow frame around node

• not created: lined box
• created: filled box

• sending: red frame aroung node
• receiving: yellow frame aroung node

• request: red connection
• reply: yellow connection

Principle:

TnRequestMonitors and TnRequestMonitorNetEditor communicate by using an event channel.

To establish this event channel communication you connect a TnRequestMonitorNetEditor to the monitoring channel (available via name service or reference file) and connect all local TnRequestMonitors too.

Just after starting a module (Smalltalk image) with still opened TnRequestMonitorNetEditor or local TnRequestMonitor you first have to disconnect before you can connect.

TnRequestMonitorNetEditor works very slowly, mostly because of the simple grafic routines for this prototype (which was not implemented for rapid grafic changes). Therefore online monitoring will display the activities with an increasing delay.

Using the beep, show and write options (see below) on each reported activity consumes time too.

You start the TnRequestMonitorNetEditor by evaluating the phrase

TnRequestMonitorNetEditor open

Menu bar:

• Channel connected

  To choose channel as source and switch between connected and disconnected.
  Choice is indicated by setting a flag at the beginning of the menu item.

• Log file loaded

  To choose log file as source and switch between loaded and unloaded.
  Choice is indicated by setting a flag at the beginning of the menu item.

• beep

  To indicate each incoming event or each log line read by a short beep tone.

• show (Transcript)

  To write each incoming or read log line into the system Transcript.

• write log file

  Only in channel mode:

  To write all incoming log lines into a log file. File names are generated automatically using a time stamp (e.g. TnRMELog.230-12-34-10). The target path may be set using "set log file path" (see below).

• set log file path

  To set the path for storing log files.

• set log file running speed
  To choose between low vs. high speed for running a log file. Running with low speed can be interrupted, high speed not (or only after minutes of delay).
  In high speed mode accessing the stop button is problematic and using step or skip is not recommended.

• reset net

  To reset all node attributes (grafical and functional).

• Channel / Log file

  To switch between channel mode and log file mode. Channel mode receives events from the event channel which is filled by the local TnRequestMonitors. Log file mode reads events from a log file.

• connected / disconnected or

• loaded / unloaded

  To switch between the two activity states of the chosen working mode.

• beep

  To indicate each incoming event or each log line read by a short beep tone.

• show

  To write each incoming or read log line into the system Transcript.

• write

  Only in channel mode:
  To write all incoming log lines into a log file. File names are generated automatically using a time stamp (e.g. TnRMELog.230-12-34-10). The target path may be set using "set log file path" (see below).

• run / stop / continue

  To start, stop or continue displaying the events received from a channel or the lines read from a log file.

• step

  Only in log file mode:
  To show the next line from a log file.

• skip

  Only in log file mode:
  To skip the next lines from a log file until a line

  SKIPMARK ....

  is found and wait there. (The first word has to be "SKIPMARK" the rest of the line is free text which will be displayed in the log line - field.). Continue with "step" or "continue".

The main part of the net editor view is the net display field. In this field nodes and connections can be placed which represent modules or computational objects and their communication. A node has a grafic name which appears in the grafic and it knows the name of the object which he represents (object name). In runtime a node may be instanciated (automatically) with the instance id of the CO which it represents.

Node menus:

Connection menus:

See help for net editor.

At the bottom of TnRequestNetEditor is a log line field in which the used log line is displayed.

The contents of a log line are:

A log line looks like:

Access  in:26   begin  19:14:46  TnUserAgent  Rudi Ratlos  I_Cucaracha
TnUsageContext  Rudi Ratlos addNumber  13

When waiting at a skipmark the skipmark line is displayed.

Path and filename for exchange of the event channel's reference are

/net/temp/TnRequestMonitorChannel

The default application names are:

'Access' 'Accounting' 'Communication' 'Subscription' 'Service' 'EndUserSystem1' 'EndUserSystem2' 'EndUserSystem3' 'EndUserSystem4' 'EndUserSystem5' 'GSEP1' 'GSEP2'.

TnRequestMonitorDisplay uses TnMonitorInfo, a dictionary class specified with IDL in class DSTRepository protocol 'Tangram IF'.