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SummaryULSViewer allows users to open a ULS log file and display its contents in a user friendly format. Users

can then perform advanced functions such as filtering, sorting, highlighting, loading logs, appending

logs, etc in order to single out the data that is important to the user. This information can be used to

diagnose problems with machines running ULS services, or to monitor machines and the events they

create in realtime.

IntroductionThis article discusses the ULS Viewer tool.

Warning: The ULSViewer tool is an unsupported application that can be used to analyze ULS

log files. Microsoft does not provide support for this tool. Use this tool at your own risk.

Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) cannot answer questions about the ULSViewer tool.

ULSViewer allows users with access to ULS log files to view their logs in a more user friendly interface

instead of using standard log file viewers. Logs opened can be filtered, sorted, highlighted, appended,

etc in order to single out the data that is important to the user. This information can be used to

diagnose problems with machines running ULS services, or to monitor machines and the events they

create.

The ULSViewer tool runs on either 32 or 64 bit architectures of Microsoft Windows 2003 Server,

Windows 2008 Server, Windows 2008 Server R2, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.

FeaturesThe ULSViewer tool performs various actions against the data from ULS log files in order to better

analyze it. ULSViewer allows the user to:

y Highlight data of importance to the user on the flyy Bookmark log entriesy Append logs to other logs in order to track trendsy Hide unimportant datay Only view critical log entries by sorting data by severityy Write rules to prompt the user when certain events occury View your data in a spreadsheet instead of the text file ULS generatesy Monitor remote machines logs that are running ULS servicesy Open multiple logs at the same time in order to compare log files.y Open logs files from multiple machines at the same time.

InstallationTo obtain the ULSViewer tool, follow these steps:

1. The following file is available for download from the MSDN Code Gallery ULSViewer site at:http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/ULSViewer

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Download the ULSViewer tool

now.http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Project/Download/FileDownload.aspx?ProjectName=ULSViewer&DownloadId=7482

2. In the File Download dialog box, click Save, and then save the file to your machine.3. When the download is completed, click Close.4. In the folder you saved the file, double-click ULSViewer.exe.

Usage Syntax

UlsViewer.exe [-Options]

Options:file:

This will open the given file in ULSViewer(You can omit the -file: and if the file exists, it will still work)

ulsrt

This will open the real-time ULS tracing in a tab in the ULSViewer window.realtime:

This will make ULSViewer monitor a specific path for real-time ULS tracing.

Running UlsViewer.exe without parameters will show the ULSViewer UI.

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UI Detail

DROPDOWN MENUS - FILE

Save As Saves the active log window to a file

Save Workspace Saves the entire workspace including all log tabs to a fileLoad Workspace Loads a previous workspace from a file

Open From File Opens a log file from a file on the local hard drive or any

networked drive

ULS Opens the current ULS log file on the machine if it is

running ULS services at the time. UlsViewer will try to

automatically stop process the log if running unattended

for more than 2 hours to prevent memory leak.

Clipboard Opens a log file if one has been placed on the clipboard

through a copy action

Append From File Opens a file on a local or networked drive and appends it

to the end of the currently opened log fileULS Opens the current ULS log file on the machine if it is

running ULS services and appends that data to the end of

the currently opened log file. UlsViewer will try to

automatically stop process the log if running unattended

for more than 2 hours to prevent memory leak.

Clipboard Takes log data from the clipboard and appends it to the

end of the end of the currently opened log file

Recent Recent drops down a list of the last log files that the user opened. From here,

the user can click on any of these recent logs and they open in a new tab.

Abort Load If the user is loading a log file, abort load stops the file from being loaded to

the workspace.

DROPDOWN MENUS - EDIT

Sort

Entries

Sorts all log data in the current tab by timestamp

Find Opens a prompt to search for a value in any field in the current log

Find

Again

Moves to the next instance of the last value entered in the Find box. If the user has not

used the Find function it acts as if the user had selected find

Find

Previous

Moves to the previous instance of the last value entered in the Find box. If the user has

not used the find function it acts as if the user had selected Find

Goto Opens a window where the user can enter a timestamp and have it take the user to the

entry in the log as close to that timestamp as it has availableNext

Same

Thread

Takes the currently selected log entry and jumps to the next log entry with the same

thread id

Prev

Same

Thread

Takes the currently selected log entry and jumps to the previous log entry with the same

thread id

Next Takes the currently selected log entry and jumps to the next log entry with the same

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Same

Process

process id

Prev

Same

Process

Takes the currently selected log entry and jumps to the previous log entry with the same

process id

NextSame

Correlatio

n ID

Takes the currently selected log entry and jumps to the next log entry with the samecorrelation id

Prev

Same

Correlatio

n ID

Takes the currently selected log entry and jumps to the previous log entry with the same

correlation id

Modify

Filter

Opens a window for modifying the currently applied filters

o Each line contains four filter fields, in order to specify a filter the user needs tospecify

FIELD This is which field in the log to look under OPERATION Specify if the user wants the field to contain or equal the

value to look for

VALUE Type the value that the user wants the filter to search for AND/OR Specify the modifier between individual rules applied to the filter

Toggle

Bookmar

k

Takes the currently selected log entry and tags it as a bookmark

Next

Bookmar

k

Moves to the next bookmark in the current log

Previous

Bookmar

k

Moves to the previous bookmark in the current log

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Clear

Bookmar

ks

Clears all bookmark tags in the current log

DROPDOWN MENUS - FORMATTING

Edit

Default

Formattin

g

Opens a window that allows for the highlighting of entries to be modified.

y To add a new formatting entry select ADD.y Just like with the Modify Filter specify the following fields

o FIELD This is which field in the log to look undero OPERATION Specify if the user wants the field to contain or equal the

value to look for

o VALUE Type the value that the user wants the filter to search foro AND/OR Specify the modifier between individual rules applied to the filter

y Then, in section two, the user can specify which colors the entries are highlighted.

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y In section three the user can specify which portions of the entry are highlightedwhen the event occurs.

y Save/Save As/Load These three buttons allow the user to save the changes to thecurrent configuration, save the current configuration to a file, and load a previously

saved format configuration.

y Choose Columns Opens a window that allow user to control which columns to beshown and their width.

Clear

Bookmark

s

Clears all bookmark tags in the current log

DROPDOWN MENUS - TOOLS

Notification Filter Opens another window that allows the user to modify which log entries will

prompt an on screen notification. By default, traces with Assert and Critical

level will be shown in the notification list.

Options Opens another window that allows the user to control how large cache filescan be, custom sounds for notifications, and if the whole row should be

highlighted when using smart highlighting

DROPDOWN MENUS - WINDOW

Close Page Closes the current page

Clear Page Deletes the contents of the current page

Next Tab Switches to the next tab of log data

Previous Tab Switches to the previous tab of log data

New Tab Creates a new tab with all the trace entries in the current tab.

BUTTON PANNEL

Starts the display of the data if the user has chosen to open a log file that is

being actively written to.

Pauses the display of the data from an actively written to log file.

Redirects the user to the Filter By menu which can be found by navigating EDIT

> MODIFY FILTER.

Closes the currently open log file.

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Opens the notification list. The list looks as follows...

This screen displays a list of log entries that are flagged for notifications.The user can double click on the notification and ULSViewer will take the

user to the entry.

The Clear button will clear the l ist of notifications. The Remove button will remove the selected notification from the

screen.

The Bookmark & Clear button will add bookmarks to each of the events in

the notification log and clear the screen.

This button will allow popup notifications when activated. If not activated it

will not show the popup notifications.

Left Allows the user to select a previously saved filter and apply it.

Right Allows the user to select a previously saved format and apply it.

Allows VerboseEx messages to be displayed in the data view.

Allows verbose messages to be displayed in the data view.

Allows medium messages to be displayed in the data view.

Allows high messages to be displayed in the data view.

Start to record incoming log file data into a new csv file.

Stop recording incoming log file data into the csv file.

Highlights all values in the data view that are exactly the same as the value

that the mouse is hovering over.

Changes the magnification of the log data.

Opens a hierarchical view of the data by child/parent relationship. This data is

displayed in the TREE PANEL.

DATA DISPLAY PANELThe Data Display Panel is broken up into two different pieces, the tabbed portion and the data portion.

Tabbed Portion The tabbed portion is at the top of the screen in the many colors. Each of these

tabs corresponds to one log file that is open in ULSViewer. Users can switch

between them by clicking on the tabs directly.

Data Portion The data portion is the grid below the tabbed portion. The data portion is where

all the data from each of the log entries are displayed on the screen. Each log file

is broken up into fields like TimeStamp, PID, TID, Product, Category, Event ID,

Level, Correlation, Message, etc.

RIGHTMOUSE BUTTON MENU

In the Data Display panel additional functionality is accessed through a right mouse button menu.

Right Mouse Button Menu

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New Page By This

Item

This button opens a restrict by entry window which allows for a filter to be

applied on the fly.

o The boxes are all populated with the selected log entry that was rightclicked on. The user can now check all boxes for values that the user

wants the data to be filtered by

o For instance, if the user wanted to create a filter for the PID of a certainentry the user could right click on it, select New Page By This Item, then

check the PID box and click OK. The new filtered data is opened in

another tab

Filter By This Item This does the exact same thing as the New Page By This Item selection

except that new filtered data is not opened in another tab

Filter By This Time

Range

If one item is selected this button applies a filter that removes all data that

did not occur at the time of the selected entry. If multiple entries are selected

then the program filters for all data that occurred between the two selected

log entries

Show Errors Only Applies a filter that will only show errors that occurred in the ULS log that is

openCopy Copies the log entry onto the clipboard

Export To File Exports the selected log entries to a specified file

Static Grouping From All Groups all data in the data view panel by Time, PID, TID,

Product, Category, Event, or Level

From Selected Groups all the selected data in the data view panel by

Time, PID, TID, Product, Category, Event, or Level

Quick Filter Quick filter populates another menu with the values of the currently selected

log entry and by selecting one of the options will filter out log entries that are

not the same as the selected option.

Quick Formatting Auto Color

Column

Automatically applies a coloring scheme to the first 100

different distinct column values for any given column

selected

Clear All Quick

Formatting

Removes all currently applied quick formatting

Format when

{column} is

{value}

Apply a specific selected color when a column contains

the value under the mouse when the right click menu was

invoked

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