Generic Log Adapter (GLA) transforms proprietary log and trace data to the Common Base Event format. It is a feature of the Eclipse Test and Performance Tools Platform (TPTP) project.

GLA parses log files based on regular expression rules or java parsing classes specified in adapter configuration files. The configuration files define how to transform log file records into a standard form that can be used by other tools. Currently, GLA transforms log file records into standard Common Base Event objects. However, GLA is extendable to generate any kind of structured event representation.

GLA is written in the Java programming language and can easily be embedded in any Java application. The application may be a tool for examining or processing log files. For example, in TPTP, Log and Trace Analyzer uses GLA to import log files so that they can be displayed and correlated in the views of Log and Trace Analyzer.

Another example use of GLA is for an application that generates a log file in a proprietary format. The application can make its log file available for an administrator to monitor with TPTP Log and Trace Analyzer. Using the Adapter Configuration Editor in the Generic Log Adapter perspective of TPTP, an adapter configuration file can be created that continuously parses the proprietary log data into CommonBaseEvent objects and sends them to a logging agent. The application can create an instance of GLA to run the adapter configuration file in a separate thread. An administrator can then attach to the logging agent for the application using Log and Trace Analyzer and continuously monitor the log of the application in the Log View of Log and Trace Analyzer.

This document is intended for application developers who want to exploit the GLA technology in their programs to transform log and trace data to a standard format like Common Base Event. The programming interface and packaging details required to use GLA in another application are described. The discussion is based on TPTP 4.0 version of GLA.

GLA is implemented in the org.eclipse.hyades.logging.adapter plugin. To use GLA in an application, the main class org.eclipse.hyades.logging.adapter.Adapter must be instantiated. You can use the following Adapter instance methods to configure and run GLA.

The following example shows a simple main program to run the adapter configuration file c:\test.adapter.

import org.eclipse.hyades.logging.adapter.Adapter;
import org.eclipse.hyades.logging.adapter.AdapterException;
import org.eclipse.hyades.logging.adapter.IStatus;
import org.eclipse.hyades.logging.adapter.impl.Status;
import org.eclipse.hyades.logging.adapter.outputters.CBEFileOutputter;

public class RunAdapter {

    /**
     * This is a simple program to run the Generic Log Adapter
     * with a hardcoded adapter configuration file.
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) {

        String adapterConfigFile = "c:\\test.adapter";

        /* Create an Adapter instance */
        Adapter adapter = new Adapter();

        /* Set the adapter configuration file */
        adapter.setContextConfigPath(adapterConfigFile);
        adapter.setComponentConfigPath(adapterConfigFile);

        /* Create a file outputter to capture GLA
         * log messages.
         * WARNING:  The following code does not work
         * in TPTP 4.0 due to bugzilla 108187 in
         * CBEFileOutputter.  Please comment the
         * following three lines of code if using
         * TPTP 4.0.
         */
        CBEFileOutputter fo = new CBEFileOutputter();
        fo.setDirectory("c:\\logs");
        fo.setFileName("testgla.log");

        /* Set the outputter to capture the GLA log messages */
        adapter.setLogOutputter(fo);

        /* Validate the adapter configuration file */
        try {
            adapter.validate();
        }
        catch (AdapterException e) {
            System.err.println("Adapter configuration file is invalid.");
            System.err.println(e.getMessage());
            return;
        }

        System.out.println("Adapter configuration was validated.");

        /* Start the adapter as a separate thread */
        try {
            adapter.start(true, true);
        }
        catch (AdapterException e) {
            /* If we get an exception at this point we likely do
             * not have a valid configuration and hence the log file
             * is likely not flushed.  We need to write this to stderr.
             */
            System.err.println("GLA Exception occurred");
            System.err.println(e.getMessage());
            adapter.stop();
            return;
        }

        System.out.println("Adapter was started.");

        /* Wait 30 seconds */
        try {
            Thread.sleep(30000);
        }
        catch (InterruptedException e) {
        	
        }

        /* Get the adapter status */
        IStatus status = adapter.getStatus();

        if (status != null) {
            /* print the current adapter status out */
            printAdapterStatus(status);
        }

        /* If the adapter is still running then stop it */
        if (status != null && status.isActive()) {
            adapter.stop();
            System.out.println("Adapter was stopped.");
        }
    }

    /**
     * Print the adapter status.
     *
     * @param status Adapter IStatus object
     */
    private static void printAdapterStatus(IStatus status) {
        /* print the current adapter status out */
        if (status.isActive()) {
            System.out.println("Adapter is active!  It has processed "
                + status.getItemsProcessedCount() + " items in "
                + ((Status)status).getElpasedTimeInSeconds()
                + " seconds.");
        }
        else {
            System.out.println("Adapter is not active!  It processed "
                + status.getItemsProcessedCount() + " items in "
                + ((Status)status).getElpasedTimeInSeconds()
                + " seconds.");
        }
    	
        /* Get the status of the contexts */
        IStatus [] contexts = status.getChildrenStatus();

        if (contexts != null && contexts.length > 0) {
            for (int i=0; i < contexts.length; i++) {
                /* For each context, print its status */
                if (contexts[i] != null) {
                    IStatus cstatus = contexts[i];
                    if (cstatus.isActive()) {
                        System.out.println("Context " + cstatus.getName()
                            + " is active!  It has processed "
                            + cstatus.getItemsProcessedCount()
                            + " items in "
                            + ((Status)cstatus).getElpasedTimeInSeconds()
                            + " seconds.");
                    }
                    else {
                        System.out.println("Context " + cstatus.getName()
                            + " is not active!  It processed "
                            + cstatus.getItemsProcessedCount()
                            + " items in "
                            + ((Status)cstatus).getElpasedTimeInSeconds()
                            + " seconds.");
                    }

                    /* Get the status of the components */
                    IStatus [] components = cstatus.getChildrenStatus();
                    if (components != null && components.length > 0) {
                        for (int j=0; j < components.length; j++) {
                            /* For each component, print its status */
                            IStatus cpstatus = components[j];
                            if (cpstatus.isActive()) {
                                System.out.println("  Component "
                                    + cpstatus.getName()
                                    + " is active and has processed "
                                    + cpstatus.getItemsProcessedCount()
                                    + " items in "
                                    + ((Status)cpstatus).getElpasedTimeInSeconds()
                                    + " seconds.");
                            }
                            else {
                                System.out.println("  Component "
                                    + cpstatus.getName()
                                    + " is not active and processed "
                                    + cpstatus.getItemsProcessedCount()
                                    + " items in "
                                    + ((Status)cpstatus).getElpasedTimeInSeconds()
                                    + " seconds.");
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

This sample program performs the following operations:

To use GLA in your application you must package the required GLA run-time files with your application and make them available at the time of execution. The following GLA files are required: