Tail Help Contents
- Introduction
- Start using : Tail a file
- Projects in MakeLogic Tail
- Accessing Recent files from Client Area
- File Details Window
- Settings
- Pause button
- Scroll Delay
- Line number and column number
- Find
- Show, hide "Projects Panel"
- Cut, Copy and Paste
- Window Cascade, Tile, Close
- Conclusion
1. Introduction
MakeLogic Tail is similar to "tail -f" tool of Linux. It shows last few lines of
a growing log file in real time.
This tool provides more helpful features to than the command line tool available
in Linux.
Some of the key features are :
- Works on Windows and Linux
- Easy to use GUI
- Tail multiple log files simultaneously
- Tail files from other places on the network
- Highlight keywords
- Drag and drop log files into the tail window
- And more …
2. Start using - Tail a log file
To tail one or more log files do any one of the following
- Drag and drop a log file into the Tail window. For each log file, a log window will open and the last few files of the file will be displayed
- Click the "Open" button on the toolbar
- Choose "File|Open" menu item
File chooser dialog will appear
Choose one or more log files. Use "Ctrl" key to choose more files.
Click on Open button
For each log file that was opened, a tail window will open and the last few
files of the file will be displayed.
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A project is a collection of log files.
There can be any number of files in a project.
The same file can be a part of more than one project.
MakeLogic Tail projects have "*.mlproj" as the file extension. The log files
added to these projects can have any file extension.
The projects will be controlled from the "Projects Panel" that appears on the
left side of the application window.
Project operations allowed in the "Projects Panel" are :
- 3.1 Create a new MakeLogic Tail Project
- 3.2 Add an existing MakeLogic Tail Project to the "Projects Panel"
- 3.3 Remove a MakeLogic Tail Project from the "Projects Panel"
- 3.4 Add files to a MakeLogic Tail Project
- 3.5 Remove files from a MakeLogic Tail project
3.1 Create a new MakeLogic Tail Project
To create a new MakeLogic Tail Project do any one of the following:
- Press "Ctrl+N"
- Click on the "Create New Project" button on the toolbar
- Choose "File | New Project" from the menu bar
- Right click in the Projects panel. From the pop up menu click on the "New Project" menu item
“Create New Project” file dialog appears. Choose the folder where the project
should be created.
Then enter the project name and click on “Create Project” button
All the MakeLogic Tail Project files will have “*.mlproj” file extension
A blank project with the given name will be created. Now, files can be added to
the project. See Adding Files To A Project
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Projects in MakeLogic Tail
3.2 Add an existing MakeLogic Tail Project to the "Projects Panel"
To add an existing project to the “Projects Panel” do any one of the following:
- Press "Ctrl+Shift+O"
- Click on the "Add Existing Project" button on the toolbar
- Choose "File | Add Existing Project" from the menu bar
- Right click in the Projects panel. From the pop up menu click on the "Add Existing Project" menu item
“Add Existing Project” file dialog will appear. Go to the folder where the
project is located,
select the project file and click "Add Project" button.
The project will be added to the "Projects Panel" and list all the files it
contains.
All the MakeLogic Tail Project files will have “*.mlproj” file extension. Now,
files can be added or removed from the project.
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Projects in MakeLogic Tail
3.3 Remove a MakeLogic Tail Project from the "Projects Panel"
From the "Projects Panel", select the project(s) to be removed from the "Projects Panel" and do any one of the following
- Press the “Delete” key
- Click on the “Remove Project” button from the toolbar
- Click the “Project | Remove Project” menu item from the menu bar
- Right click on the file name and click the “Remove Project” menu item from the pop up menu
A confirmation dialog will appear. Choose yes to delete the project from the "Projects Panel".
When a project is deleted from the “Projects Panel”, it is only removed from being a part of the "Projects Panel".
It is not deleted from the hard disk. It can later be added to the "Projects Panel" again. The log files that the project contains will be listed again.
MakeLogic tail does not perform any write or modify operations on the log files.
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Projects in MakeLogic Tail
3.4 Add Files to a MakeLogic Tail Project
From the "Projects Panel", select the project to add file(s) to and do any one of the following
- Press "Ctrl+Shift+A"
- Click on the “Add Files To Project” button in the toolbar
- Click the "Project | Add File To Project" menu item from the menu bar
- Right click on the project name and click the “Add Files To Project” menu item from the pop up menu
“Add File To Project” file chooser dialog will appear.
From the dialog, choose one or more files that are to be added to the project and click the “Add” button. Use Ctrl key to select multiple files.
The selected files will be added to the project.
Same files can be added to any number of different projects.
Any file type can be added to a project, ie files added to a project can have any extension.
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Projects in MakeLogic Tail
3.5 Remove files from a MakeLogic Tail Project
From the "Projects Panel", select the file(s) to be removed from a project and do any one of the following
- Press the “Delete” key
- Click on the “Remove File” button from the toolbar
- Click the “Project | Remove File” menu item from the menu bar
- Right click on the file name and click the “Remove File” menu item from the pop up menu
A confirmation dialog will appear. Choose yes to delete the file(s) from the project.
When a file is deleted from the project, it is only removed from being a part of the project.
It is not deleted from the hard disk.
MakeLogic tail does not perform any write or modify operations on the log files.
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Projects in MakeLogic Tail
4. Accessing Recent Files from Client Area
Most recently opened files will be listed and hot linked from the client area. They will be listed under "Open a Recent File" heading in the main window.
Click on the hot link to open the file.
Recent files will also be accessible from the "File | Recent Files" flip menu.
To open the "File Details" window do any one of the following
- Press "F4"
- Click on the "Show File Details" button on the toolbar
- Choose "Options | File Details" from the menu bar
- Right click in the "Projects Panel" and from the pop up menu click on "File Details" menu item
"File Details" window will open. It shows the summary information of all the log files that are currently listed in all the projects in the "Project Panel" and other opened files.
Information in the "File Details" window will be updated in real time.
It shows the following details
- File Name
- File Size
- Last Modified
- Time Stamp
- Absolute Path
One file is listed per row. The row highlights in different colors.
- Deleted files will be highlighted in red
- File currently being logged will be highlighted in green
- Choose "Options | Settings" from menu bar
- Click on the "Settings" button on the tool bar
A settings dialog box appears with two tabs in it
Whenever a keyword appears in the tail window, it will be highlighted.
The keywords tab, shows two sections, where the keywords can be entered. Add, Delete or Edit keywords from here.
Each keyword set will be highlighted in a different color as shown in the preview pane.
- Max Lines to Display
Specify the max number of lines to show in the internal tail window. When the total number of lines crosses the maximum limit, the extra lines will be deleted from the top of the window
- Max number of projects to show
Specify the max. number of projects to show in the projects panel. When more projects are added, the older projects will be removed from the panel. If needed they can be added again, replacing the next older project.
- Max number of recent files
Specify the maximum number of recent files to show in "File | Recent Files" flip menu
- Send bug info
Allow the bug information to be sent to MakeLogic. Please note that, only the bug information will be sent and no private information will be sent
Pause button is located in the status bar of every tail window. It is a toggle button with Pause/Scroll the contents of the tail window.
Click on the “Pause” button to stop scrolling. However at this time, any active log file will continue to grow. The number of lines added to the log file after pressing the “Pause” button will be shown in the “... Lines Paused” status parameter.
Scrolling speed inside the tail window can be adjusted using "Delay" settings.
If any file is growing too fast, then the contents inside the tail window may scroll too fast, making it unreadable.
Increasing the "Delay" settings by the choosing from the combo box, adjusts the scrolling speed and makes it more readable.
9. Line number and Column number
The Line number and Column number of the cursor is shown in the status bar of the tail window.
Line numbers are calculated with reference to the beginning of the log file and not with reference to the number of lines shown in the tail window.
- "Ctrl+F"
- "Edit | Find" menu option
Enter the search pattern in the Find Dialog and perform search
- Search can be done in the current document
- Search can be done in all open documents
11. Show, Hide "Projects Panel"
To Show/Hide the Projects Panel do any of the following
- Press "Ctrl+Shift+O"
- Click on the "Hide Project Panel" or "Show Project Panel" button on the toolbar as the case be
- Choose "Options | Hide Project Panel" or "Options | Show Project Panel" from the menu bar as the case be
- Right click in the "Projects Panel" when it is visible and from the pop up menu click on "Hide Project Panel" menu item
"Project Panel" lists the Created/Added MakeLogic Tail Projects. Each project will in turn list all the files added to it.
- Cut Ctrl+X,
- Copy Ctrl+C,
- Paste Ctrl+V
operations will be available in the log windows. Cut, copy and paste can be done across the log windows and to other applications too.
The changes made by these operations will not be saved to the log files.
13. Window Cascade, Tile, Close
Following operations can be done on tail windows opened inside the main window
- Cascade
- Tile horizontally
- Tile vertically
- Close all
These operations are accessible from the
- Tool bar
- Window menu in the menu bar
Please feel free to send us your feedback
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