Any time VA Java encounters a system exception, it writes a message to the log window
something like this:
Terminating Default (System) (1/01/00 12:00:00)
An exception occurred in a system program.
With VA Assist or jFactor™
loaded, any time this occurs, the error will be a logged to a file
called VA-DEBUG.LOG in your VA Java \IDE\PROGRAM subdirectory
(i.e., the directory containing your IDE.ICX file). In fact, any exception that occurs within VA Java
will be logged (whether it is caused by VA Assist, jFactor or VA
Java itself). The resulting file can be easily analyzed by us or by IBM, so it can be a
very useful tool for identifying bugs in VA Java and reporting them to IBM (with enough
context that they can be quickly tracked down). Any log files should be sent to vaa-support@instantiations.com
(for VA Assist) or jFactor-support@instantiations.com
(for jFactor) as
described on our support page.
The "VA Assist/J Debug Utilities" options page gives you some control
over what gets logged to this file (and whether it is used at all). By default, the debug
utility will log messages from VA Assist or jFactor as well as any unknown exceptions that occur
within the IDE. Certain common, well know exceptions are ignored. It can also be set to
capture all exceptions (including known exceptions) any Java exceptions that occur in
running programs. You may also turn it off by setting it to record "Nothing".
You might want to do this in a case where you were rapidly encountering multiple
exceptions within VA Java and the debug logging process was slowing the system down
unacceptably.
The log file is cumulative and limited to a size of 100KB (settable via the options
page). Any time the log file grows to larger than 100KB, the next exception that is logged
will delete the current log file and create a new one (this is to prevent the log file
from unintentionally growing to megabytes in size). The 100KB limit should be large enough
to capture the most recent three to six exceptions that occurred. You may view the current
log file at any time via the "View Log" button, clear its
contents with the "Clear Log" button, and add a message to it
with the "Message to Log" button.
Note that the "Clear Log" and "Message to Log"
buttons are new as of the 2.0.5 version of VA Assist and the 1.1.1 version
of jFactor. See the VA Assist or jFactor
installation instructions for how to install the new error logging
facilities.
