Feature - View Database Activities Through Control-Shift-D Key
Version 8.5 & Up
Release Date: 7/7/2021
Control-Shift-D Support in the Past
The Control-Shift-D key has been available in Elliott since V7.x. It is a very useful tool for debugging purposes. For example, let's say you started to notice performance issues when bringing up a record in Customer File Maintenance. In that case, you can go to Customer File Maintenance, bring up a customer, and with the cursor at the "Field Number ?" you can press Control-Shift-D.
There is a potential security issue, so you may encounter the message "You Do Not Have Database Activities Log Privilege." See sample screen below:
This was later changed to prompt for the SUPERVISOR password instead. See the following KB article:
To allow a user to access the Control-Shift-D key, you will need to go to Password Setup -> Global Security -> User Global Security -> Change, and bring up the user. Go to screen 2, field "5. Access Database Activities Windows Ctl-Shift-D" and change it to "Y." See sample screen below:
From that point on, that user will be allowed to access the Ctl-Shift-D window as shown below:
The last 1,000 IO to the database will be displayed. You can then look at the area where the slow down took place to find out what was likely causing it. In most situations, the Elliott end user won't be able to make sense of the information in CTL-SHIFT-D. On the other hand, it is an extremely valuable tool for Netcellent's developers to investigate the issue further.
The following is an example of how we can use CTL-SHIFT-D to investigate database performance issues:
In addition, if a user encounters a file IO error, in the window that displays the error status code, the user can click on the "Detail" button to bring up the database activities snapshot, which is the same information as CTL-SHIFT-D.
New Control-Shift-D Support in 8.5
In the latest Elliott 8.5 release, when printing is taking place the user can press CTL-SHIFT-D to bring up the Database Activities Snapshot. This is similar to pressing the ESC key to abort. However, CTL-SHIFT-D only temporarily halts the printing. When the user exits the Database Activities Snapshot window, the printing will continue. Keep in mind that checking of the CTL-SHIFT-D or ESC key only takes place when printing of a line takes place. If the current printing function is in a loop without any printing, then the CTL-SHIFT-D or ESC key may not work.
New Control-Shift-D Support in 8.6
In Elliott 8.6, the user can press CTL-SHIFT-D to bring up the Database Activities Snapshot window as long as active database access is taking place. For every 10 IO, the system will check to see if CTL-SHIFT-D was pressed. This will temporarily halt the Elliott process. When the user exits the Database Activities Snapshot window, the Elliott process will continue. This feature is best used when the user's current process is locked up, which is typically in a reading loop. Allowing Netcellent developers to investigate the current IO activities will help to pinpoint the cause and possibly come up with programming changes to avoid locking in the future.
8.5 Modified Programs: NWSMSCRN
8.6 Modified Programs: NWSMSCRN, BEXTFH
EMK
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