RoAccess Support Help \

Support Help

Problem Analysis and Resolution

I cannot talk to the Rochade Repository

Firstly, there are really few things in RoAccess that can go wrong. RoAccess depends on the Rochade Repository server and the Rochade batch client working. In the vast majority of the cases where there were access problems, it was the Repository server.

RoAccess does not keep a database that can get damaged. It only uses the RIM and related system tables. If the Rochade Repository gets damaged, then RoAccess will not display and access it correctly because the information received from the Repository, if at all, can contain errors and inconsistencies.

RoAccess uses the perl installation and the Rochade client. If any of these have changed because of a new installation or disk re-structuring, they can cause a problem.

Each of RoAccess' screens is a small application. Using the "Environment, Capture and Trace" facility, you can actually see what is happening in great detail. RoAccess is designed to be simple and modular to assist problem resolution. An example is DEFINITION is defined by Autopilot to be one line long, but will allow you to enter multiple lines.

Should RoAccess perform improperly, the nature of what you will see is data that is typically incorrectly formatted or perhaps missing. This can always be verified by using Autopilot on the same data.

First be sure you can run Autopilot from one or more hosts.

If you have a second RoAccess installation, does it run? If so, one of the files for the first installation has changed in content, access permissions or location. One can have multiple versions of RoAccess installed simultaneously so you can do program development on one and production work on the other, as an example.

Does Autopilot work?

Yes

Run the /roaccess/Test.html low level diagnostic page. This is found by clicking on the "References,Tools and Utilities" icon on the first screen or anywhere it appears. Then click on "Diagnostic Utilities" and go to the Low Level Testing section. This is Test.html

Check to see that perl still works. Was there a new installation or did the installation change?

Is the Rochade batch client executable by the WEB user id or has its installation changed?

There have been cases when Autopilot will work and RoAccess will not. In this case, somehow the Rochade Repository was damaged and a call to Rochade tech support cleared it up. (RoAccess does not write to any Rochade system table. RoAccess is read only on them.) There have also been cases where RoAccess worked but Autopilot did not. A call to Rochade tech support solved it, too.

Is the Rochade server up? If not start it.

Follow the Rochade procedures for checking the Repository and server.

Can you bring up the Login screen?

The Login screen shows the available databases, like AP-DATA and AP-PROC, and allows you to input your name and password.

If the databases are listed in the popup list box, then at least simple communication is possible. If no databases appear, then there is a basic communication problem.
Go to the first screen, start the Trace facility, then bring up the Login screen. This will show a screen with all the captured information. Edit the source for the screen to see the Trace results. Since some things will not display on a HTML page, iso t is necessary to "view page source"

How to run the Environment Capture and Tracefacility.

This is one of the nicest things about RoAccess. It allows your program development debugging and can allow us to solve a problem that occurs only at your site.

This facility is enabled to help isolate problems that cannot be duplicated at our location. There are many "data" related problems, where one's database is slightly different from another, and an unexpected display results. Most of the times, the symptoms can be duplicated here, which would allow us to either correct the problem or report it to Viasoft it the problem lies in the server or batch client.

The basic idea is to have two screens up. One is the trace screen, the other has the normal RoAccess screens. You then enable the Trace Flag right before the screen that has the problem, and then run that screen. It will display a lot of additional information on the screen.

The Diagnostic Utilities screen controls the trace facility. You get to this screen by

Bringing up RoAccess in a new window
clicking on the "References, Tools and Utilities" icon on the first screen
This brings up RoAccess/Documentation/Help page. From here, click on the "Diagnostic Utilities" link. This bring up the desired page, "Diagnostic Utilities".
Click the red ball next to the "Set the Trace/Environment Capture flag" list of utilities
This scrolls the Utilities screen to the "Set RoAccess Trace/Environment Capture" section
Click the "Click Here" link to pop up the screen to set/reset the trace flags
A new window with radio buttons pops up.
In the starting window, bring up RoAccess again. Do NOT create a new window to run RoAccess in. The RoAccess window and the trace flag window must have started from the same window.

Below is the screen to allow you to toggle the trace flag on and off:

There are two sets of Flags

RoAccess Trace Flag displays the data passing phase from one screen to another plus internal information for each screen. The process phase show what is done with that data, what queries are issued, what the results were and what processing then ensued.
Stored Procedure Trace Flag. This allows one to trace the stored procedures.

So you have two screens up:

The "Trace Flag Summary" screen.
the RoAccess Documentation/Help screen you clicked on to bring it up. Use the BACK button on the Documentation window until the RoAccess first screen come up.
Select "NO FRAME" mode and go to the screen that you have the question about.
Now, on the Trace Flag Summary screen, set the "RoAccess Trace Flag" button. Any screen run by RoAccess from this point on will display the additional environment/trace information. NOW click the button that displays the screen that has the problem and all the trace info will be displayed. It is not pretty to look at, but contains a world of information. To view the results, either click on "View/Page Source". Then save this text file. If you are sending this to RoAccess support, send this file in .ZIP format.