[Error] Log uploaded via listener integration cannot be accessed

[ngblume]

Hej hej,

I use the listener integration (as mentioned in #242)..
Server is running with "--uselogs" and the logs are uploaded from the listener as well (robot.toml):
extend-listeners = { 'robotdashboardlistener' = ['host=192.168.10.146', 'port=8543', 'uploadlog=true'] }

I can click on data points in the charts, but always I am redirected to this...

What could be the issue?

It seems that despite having for example 12 runs in the DB, I only have a single log...
Can this be related ?

Thanks !

Cheers
Niels Göran

[ngblume]

Addition....
From the server logs, it seems that output and log are received and processed, but the logs cannot be properly acessed later on...
Am I missing some setting or logic here?
In my understanding, acc. to https://marketsquare.github.io/robotframework-dashboard/log-linking.html#remote-server, the upload happens, but still nto available via webUI..

[timdegroot1996]

Hi again @ngblume 😄, this issue seems to be related to the naming convention of the log files and the output files.

If you use the default name of outputs/runs it is quite hard to link them to the outputs and I think it then doesn't know what output to link it to, so the log file is uploaded, but not linked to the correct output.

My suggestion would be to use a robot cli option like timestampoutputs like this:

robot --listener robotdashboardlistener.py --timestampoutputs [your options] tests.robot

So the output files and log files are actually unique. This way when they are uploaded it should be able to link them together much better!

After trying this out (and when we figure out what the issue is) we can try to improve the documentation on the page you mentioned, because that needs some improvement I feel!

[timdegroot1996]

To clarify the way it works a bit more:

1. You upload an output file
2. Based on the file name of the output file (in your case for all of them this is output.xml), it determines the name of the log file, so
   • replace .xml with .html
   • replace output with log
3. When you upload a log file it searches matching outputs, which is now all of them and I think this causes the issues
4. This also results in only 1 log file, because you cannot upload the same file to the same folder multiple times

My proposed solution: make every log / output file have a unique name by using something like timestampoutputs or use your own output/log file names. Just make sure you keep their names similar so that replacing .xml and output will result in the log file name, sot hey can be matched correclty.

[ngblume]

Hej @timdegroot1996,

sounds like a good explanation..
I was under the assumption, that this "uniquefy" is internally taken care of by the listener...
For me, the listener is by far the most useful way of using RF Dashboard...

I will add the unique option "timestampoutputs" to my calls and see if it improves..
Needs to be tested out, since there might be issues at other locations in our pipeline...

---

Two follow-up question directly thogh:

Does the option "split-log" make any difference?
It sems, that the listener would need to upload the split log files (*.js) as well.. and they would also need to be made unique...

---

We run a set of testcases with different UUTs after ach other
Then we use "rebot" to combine (not merge) these runs together...
Since we have three of these sytems (each with multiple UUTs), we than combine the combined runs once more...
At the moment, we use the same TOML profile...
Is it correct, that these "combine-runs" do not show up in the dashboard (via listener), since listener aren't executed when using rebot?
Or is there another logic at work, like a prevention of adding runs multiple times?

Thanks!

Cheers
Niels Göran

[timdegroot1996]

Hi @ngblume, glad my explanation was sufficient!

Let me know how the changes go, and if this solves the initial issues.

Regarding your follow up questions:

Does the option "split-log" make any difference?

This will not help or solve your issues. This might even make it worse because the files required then need to also be sent to the server so that they can be "served" whenever you open a log file. I would recommend not using this and sticking with the self-contained log.html file, as I haven't experimented with the split-log. I don't think there's any benefit in adding it either as it would complicate the flow a lot without much benefit.

Is it correct, that these "combine-runs" do not show up in the dashboard (via listener), since listener aren't executed when using rebot?
Or is there another logic at work, like a prevention of adding runs multiple times?

That is exactly right. The listener wil upload the output and the log of the runs that are being executed by robot in that run. So if you have 3 runs then 3x output and 3x log will be uploaded by those test executions. If you don't want that you might have to change the listener to only upload the log file whenever you have run rebot, but then it would be more like a script than a listener that you can provide to robot on run time.

[ngblume]

hej @timdegroot1996,

thanks !

Regarding the questions:

split-log

It was also my impression, that split-log makes it worse... And we are currently using split-log.. :-(
So I am thinking, that using split-log currently contributes to the issue as well...
And just timestamping the files (with split-log active) would not fully resolve the issue, since the relevant *.js-Files are nevertheless missing on the server, when upload happens via listener integration ...
Reason for using "split-log" is simply the anticipated size of our log files... Might have to rethink that part...
I am also sure, that the js-files created by "split-log" are not timestamped, even if the log file itself is timestamped...
I stand correced.. the split js files are also timestamped..
This for me would mean, that the future-proof solution would be to extend the listener to also upload the js-files alongside the log.html
Do you see any issue to utilize such logs on the server, if the js-files are uploaded alongside the log.html?
(assuming all are timestamped to allow correlation to the output and from the log to the js-files)

rebot

I am happy with what is happening so far in terms of uploads...
What I do not fully understand ist, why I do not see the "combine" runs with rebot, which use the same TOML-profile with the robotframeworkdashboard listener active...
My only explanation would be, that listeners are not executed with rebot ...

Thanks !

Cheers
Niels Göran

[timdegroot1996]

I stand correced.. the split js files are also timestamped..
This for me would mean, that the future-proof solution would be to extend the listener to also upload the js-files alongside the log.html
Do you see any issue to utilize such logs on the server, if the js-files are uploaded alongside the log.html?
(assuming all are timestamped to allow correlation to the output and from the log to the js-files)

This is something I don't know. If possible I would ask you to just try it out if you can upload it and see if they are "callable". Do they get returned correctly or is that missing functionality? I could always try to extend the server to also take this into account but let me know what you find there.

I am happy with what is happening so far in terms of uploads...

Good to see that it is working as expected! This is indeed how it should work 👍

What I do not fully understand ist, why I do not see the "combine" runs with rebot, which use the same TOML-profile with the robotframeworkdashboard listener active...
My only explanation would be, that listeners are not executed with rebot ...

Your explanation is exactly right. Robot has the listener implementation as far as I know, rebot does not. Rebot is literally only the "reporting bot" which combines and edits the log/output files. So the upload is never triggered again. As mentioned in the other thread the only thing I could think of is making a custom script that would upload only the rebot logs which you can run after rebot has created the file. And if you only want that file you can leave out the listener in your regular run commands.

So something like

robot --output app1-... --log app1... [options]
robot --output app2-... --log app1... [options]
robot --output app3-... --log app1... [options]      # no listener if you only want rebot, add listener if you want all 4 outputs to be uploaded

rebot --merge app1-... app2-... app3-...
python python-upload-script-robotdashboard.py

[ngblume]

Quick update on the results:

1. timestampoutputs and NOT split-log
   everything as expected > full content available...

2. timestampoutputs and split-log
   log can be opened and initial info is there...
   from a certain level on, no content is displayed...

For me this means either

• do not use split-log

• extend listener to also upload the timestamped js-files...
  which, if I understood you correctly, should than work, since the log.html itself is found, and should point to the js-files (which are individually identified by timestamp...
  Looking at the screenshot makes me think, that the relative path from the log.html to the js-files might not work as expected..

Cheers
Niels Göran

[timdegroot1996]

@ngblume nice to see that it works as we expect!

extend listener to also upload the timestamped js-files...
which, if I understood you correctly, should than work, since the log.html itself is found, and should point to the js-files (which are individually identified by timestamp...
Looking at the screenshot makes me think, that the relative path from the log.html to the js-files might not work as expected..

Regarding this statement, I am not entirely sure if the *.js files will be served correctly, the only way to know for sure is to try it. If it works > no action, if it doesn't > make a new issue requesting that this is also supported in the server as a new improvement.

I have a feeling it "might" work since I solved something similar for selenium screenshots that were also external files, but I can't be sure unless you tested it. That is why I added this entry in the docs (https://marketsquare.github.io/robotframework-dashboard/dashboard-server.html#additional-server-endpoints). But again, I am not sure this works in the split-log usecase.

[ngblume]

so...

in summary:

1. I will run the tests with split-log == false for now...
2. I will look into extending the listener to also transfer the js-files
3. I will report findings, given that the js-files are uploaded correctly and I know, wether the access to the js-files works from log...

Thanks for now!

Cheers
Niels Göran

[timdegroot1996]

@ngblume Sounds good to me! Does that mean we can close this issue and if required you will open another or are there more questions you want to drop here?