Evergreen DokuWiki

This was sent out to PINES-DEV and I'm reposting it here. We mention screenshots below, but a better option is to use the clipboard.

Subject: debugging tip for the staff client

Here's something you can add to your debugging arsenal, though it might require help from your local IT staff to setup if they have your system locked down.

First, make a copy of the icon/shortcut that you use to startup Evergreen.

Now right-click on that new Evergreen icon/shortcut and choose Properties; a window should show up with a field labelled Target being hilighted. If you press the right-arrow key or the End key, the cursor should move to the end of that previously highlighted text, the last part of which should say "application.ini". Actually, in newer versions of Evergreen, evergreen.exe will be the last thing in the target. You still simply append -console to whatever is there.

If you change "application.ini" to say "application.ini -console", and then hit Apply and OK, if you then completely restart the staff client with that same icon/shortcut, there will be an extra window with a black background. We can call this the debug window, and if you could take a screenshot of its contents (maybe after maximizing it to full size) right after any bug happens, it could help us a lot. And of course liberal use of screenshots in general is much welcome.

This is what the Target text should contain after you modify that field, assuming a default install:

"C:\Program Files\Evergreen Staff Client\xulrunner\xulrunner.exe" application.ini -console

Thanks!

– Jason Etheridge GPLS – PINES Development http://open-ils.org/

Increasing the buffer size for the debug window will give us more information and make it easier to track down bugs. However, you shouldn't do this if you're using a machine that is starved for memory.

• Assuming WinXP, right-click on the titlebar for the debug window.
• Choose "Properties"
• Select the "Layout" tab
• In the "Screen Buffer Size" area, change the "Height" field to 3000.
• Choose "OK"
• You should get a pop-up titled "Apply Properties to Shortcut". Choose the second option, "Modify shortcut that started this window" and click "OK".

To get the most out of the increased buffer size, you should use the clipboard instead of taking screenshots when reporting errors.

I have this on a separate page.