Agent Logging – Budget Style

At my work, we had several issues/needs related to agents in different Domino databases. I tried to come up with a quick and lean solution, that gave us the functionality we needed, nothing more and nothing less. Yes, I am aware of Julian Robichaux’s excellent OpenLog. But we had some needs that I did not feel were addressed in that project.

What I wanted was a database where the agents could be documented, and also where the log data was stored. So I created a Agent Log database where one document is stored per agent. The form let me document the actions of the agent, as well as what server it is running on, in what database, when it is triggered, etc. When the document is opened, I also read the last time the agent was run and if the agent is enabled or not.

This is a sample document for an agent. It is scheduled to run at 11am every day:

This is what the actual database looks like.

I plan to release the database on OpenNTF.org when I get the time.

Nothing complicated this far. The next step was to create a small script library, doing the actual logging. I created a script library called Class.AgentLog with the following code:

Public Const THREAD_TICKS=6
Public Const THREAD_TICKS_PER_SEC=7

Class AgentLog
	Private session As NotesSession
	Private logdb As NotesDatabase
	Private agentdoc As NotesDocument   ' Main doc in Agent Log db
	Private logdoc As NotesDocument
	Private running As Integer
	Private tstart As Long              ' Ticks at start
	Private tend As Long                ' Ticks at end
	Private tps As Long                 ' Ticks per second (system dependant)
	
	Public Sub New( agentname As String )
		Dim view As NotesView
		Dim key As String
		running = True
		tstart = GetThreadInfo( THREAD_TICKS )
		tps = GetThreadInfo( THREAD_TICKS_PER_SEC )
		Set session = New NotesSession
		Set logdb = New NotesDatabase( session.CurrentDatabase.Server, "IT/AgentLog.nsf" )
		Set view = logdb.GetView( "(LookupAgent)" )
		If agentname = "" Then
			agentname = session.CurrentAgent.Name
		End If
		key = session.CurrentDatabase.FilePath & "~" & agentname
		Set agentdoc = view.GetDocumentByKey( key )
		If agentdoc Is Nothing Then
			Print "AgentLog: Failed to locate agent document for " & agentname & "."
			Exit Sub
		End If
		Set logdoc = New NotesDocument( logdb )
		logdoc.Form = "LogItem"
		Call logdoc.MakeResponse( agentdoc )
		Call logdoc.ReplaceItemValue("AgentName", agentname )
		Call logdoc.ReplaceItemValue("StartTime", Now() )
		If session.IsOnServer = True Then
			Call logdoc.ReplaceItemValue("RunBy", session.CurrentDatabase.Server )
		Else
			Call logdoc.ReplaceItemValue("RunBy", session.CommonUserName )
		End If
	End Sub
	
	Public Sub Finish()
		running = False
	End Sub
	
	Public Sub Terminate()
		Dim seconds As Integer
		If logdoc Is Nothing Then
			Exit Sub
		End If
		tend = GetThreadInfo( THREAD_TICKS )
		seconds = (tend - tstart) / tps
		Call logdoc.ReplaceItemValue("EndTime", Now() )
		Call logdoc.ReplaceItemValue("Seconds", seconds )
		If running = True Then ' Check if not terminated gracefully
			Call logdoc.ReplaceItemValue("Terminated", "Yes" )
		End If
		Call logdoc.Save(True,True)
	End Sub

End Class

All code goes in the (Declarations) section of the script library.
There are a few things to notice. I actually make each log item a child (response) document to the main document. By doing this, I can easily later create reports for each agent about all the times it was executed, etc.
When the object is instantiated, a blank string is normally passed. This will set the agent name variable to the actual agent name. The agent name is listed in the agent log document. If for some reason you want to use a different agent name in the document (e.g. the agent is a manually triggered agent called AdminUpdateSelectedDocuments and you want it listed just as UpdateSelectedDocuments).

The only thing left now is to update every agent you want to log as follows:

In the (Options) section:

Use "Class.AgentLog"

In the (Declarations) section:

Dim agent As AgentLog

In the Initialize event, I put one line at the beginning and one right at the end. The first line instantiate the agent log object and. set a flag indicating that the agent is running. The second line will clear that flag, so the final function knows that the agent ended gracefully.

Sub Initialize
 Set agent = New AgentLog("")
 ' *** Do stuff here
 Call agent.Finish()
End Sub

The last thing is to add one line to the Terminate event. This line is where the logging is actually done. If the flag running is set, we know the agent was terminated before it actually reached the end.

Sub Terminate
 Call agent.Terminate()
End Sub

Happy logging!