The Files view in IBM Support Assistant enables you to efficiently manage and interact with diagnostic data files, a key to any troubleshooting process. Quickly manage, analyze, share and search the files associated with your case using the Files view.
What can I do in the Files view?
In the Files view, you can:
- Organize files in your case using the move, rename, delete, and copy file actions.
- Manage data collections with the upload, download, unpack and compress file actions.
- Run analysis tools on files to generate reports or interactively work with the diagnostic data. Use the Quick Tool Launcher to quickly identify tools that can run against a specific file and launch the associated tool.
- Search file content using keywords and then view that file content by double-clicking it or clicking the direct download icon.
- Filter the files list to only show the files you are interested in analyzing
Add files to the active case
Before you can interact with or analyze diagnostic data files, you have to add them to the active case. You can add large files to the case, upload multiple files concurrently, and pause and resume the active uploads. There are two options for adding files:
- If you have a modern browser, you can simply drag & drop the files you want to add to the case onto the files view. A new browser dialog will open where you can review the files you want to upload and click the Upload button to initiate the upload. The files will then upload into the selected folder of the active case.
- Select the Add files... button to open a new 'Upload' dialog. You can then click the Click to Select Files button to select the files you want to add.
Use file actions to interact with files
Use the context menu to access the available file actions that can be invoked against the selected file or files. The following actions are available:
| File Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Download | Selecting this action automatically
starts the download of the file. All files are selected to be
saved to the file system, except HTML files, *.txt, *.log, *.out
and image files which will be opened
in a new browser tab or window. |
| Compress | Selecting this action opens a dialog
with options for creating a new archive with the selected file(s)
or folder. When compressing file(s) or a folder, do not supply an extension when entering a value for the 'Archive File Name' text field. An appropriate extension will be supplied automatically, based on the selected compression method as follows: zip-> '.zip', jar-> '.jar', gzip-> '.tgz'. |
| Unpack | Selecting this action opens a dialog for unpacking an archive. All contents of the archive are extracted to a folder with a naming convention filename.zip_unpack which is located within the same folder as the archive itself. The "Extract contents of embedded archives" option only applies to compressed files in the root of the archive. |
| Rename File | Selecting this action opens a dialog to rename the file. Note that the previous file extension is not automatically applied to the filename entered. |
| Send to Trash | Selecting this action opens a dialog to send the file to Trash. Any file(s) or folder sent to trash are moved to the "trash" folder in the Navigator. They also retain their original folder structure within trash. Note that sending a file to trash does not remove the file from the system. (See the "Delete from trash" file action for more information). |
| Run Tool > Tool Name | The Run Tool sub-menu provides options for running specific tools against the selected file(s) or folder. Selecting a tool from the sub-menu will open a new dialog with options for running that tool. |
| Transfer > Copy to Case | Selecting this action opens a dialog with options to select the destination case. You also have the option to remove the original file(s). |
| Transfer > Move files | Selecting this action opens a dialog with options to select the destination folder. The original file(s) is moved from the original folder to the selected folder. |
![[Updated in May 2013]](../../images/delta.gif){kind=small}
Transfer > Secure transfer to IBM |
Selecting this action opens a dialog
with options to specify a PMR ID and optional notification e-mail
address. When the action is submitted, the specified files will
be transferred to IBM Support and associated with the specified
PMR.
![[Updated in May 2013]](../../images/deltaend.gif){kind=small} |
| View > Checksum | Selecting this action will generate the checksum value of a file. This may be useful for verifying file integrity as it is moved from one system to another. |
| View > Tail or Top | Selecting this action opens a dialog to view the contents of the file in the browser. The dialog contains options to specify how to interpret the file and how the output should look. Once submitted, a new dialog with the output will be displayed according to the options selected in the original dialog. |
| Properties | Selecting this item will display a pane with additional file details. If no additional details are displayed, click the Scan this Case button to run the automated analysis scan that generates additional file details. |
| Folder Action | Description |
|---|---|
| New Folder | Selecting this action from the Navigator context menu creates a new folder with a user-specified name. Folder names should contain alphanumeric characters only as some symbolic characters can interfere with some file actions. |
| Compress | Selecting this action allows you to create a new archive file containing all of the contents of the folder. Available compression file types are zip, jar and gzip. |
| Move | Selecting this action will move a folder to another location within the case. |
| Copy to case | Selecting this action allows you to copy the folder and its contents from the current case to another case in the IBM Support Assistant system. |
| Open in a new window | Selecting this action opens a new browser window or tab and displays the selected folder. |
| Send to trash | Selecting this action moves the folder and its contents to the trash folder. |
| Delete from trash | Selecting this action when the "trash" folder is open deletes the file(s) or folder that is currently selected. This action permanently deletes the selected items from the filesystem. |
| Restore from trash | Selecting this action when the "trash" folder is open restores the file(s) or folder to their original location. |
Filter the displayed files
You can filter what files are displayed in the grid using the name filter above the files grid. To filter the displayed files, simply enter the file name or file name fragment that you want to use to filter the displayed files. For example, if you want to see only log files, you can enter ".log" and then select filter. Select the reset option to clear the filter term and reset the displayed files.
Search file content
You can search the content of files in a case using the Search File Content field. This search will search through the currently selected folder and all subfolders.
When performing a search, the keywords entered are broken up into terms and operators. There are two types of terms: Single Terms and Phrases.
- A Single Term is a single word such as "memory" or "error"
- A Phrase is a group of words surrounded by double quotes such as "application failure"
- Multiple terms can be combined together with Boolean operators to form a more complex query
- AND - The AND operator will match files where both terms exist. You may also use the symbol '&&' instead of the word AND.
- NOT - The NOT operator excludes documents that contain the term after NOT. You may also use the symbol '!' instead of the word NOT.
- OR - The OR operator will match files where either terms exist. The default behavior between terms is to perform an OR operation. A search for "memory error" is equivalent to searching for "memory OR error".
- To perform a single character wildcard search, use the "?" symbol. For example, "for?" will match the tokens "fork" and "form" in a file.
- To perform multiple character wildcard searches, use the "*" symbol. "*" will match 0 or more characters. For example, "*NotFound*" will match "FileNotFoundException" and "ClassNotFoundException" terms in a file.
Share data with collaborators
You can quickly share a link to the Files view and navigate to the currently selected folder quickly in IBM Support Assistant. Simply navigate to the directory containing diagnostic files. As you navigate, the URL in the web browser's address bar will update with the currently selected path. Once you are at the directory you want to share, copy the information in the address bar and paste it into another application (email, instant message, ticket tracker, etc).
Switch between tree or flat file layouts
You can display the files using either a tree layout or a flat layout. The tree layout provides a tree to navigate through folders and subfolders. This layout allows you to navigate to the specific files you are interested in and focus your analysis on those files. The flat layout shows all of the files within the case in a single grid. This layout allows you to quickly filter and find files if you are not sure where to look within the case, but lacks the more advanced features found in the tree layout.
To switch between file layouts, select the layout you would like to use from the layout selector below the files view tab.
Transfer files securely to IBM
If you are unable to find a solution to the problem under investigation after running an automated analysis or running the provided tools against a set of files, IBM Support Assistant provides a mechanism to transfer those files easily and securely to IBM's Enhanced Customer Data Repository (ECuRep) for further analysis by IBM Support.
To initiate the transfer, select the files you want to transfer, right-click to open the context menu and select the Transfer > Secure transfer to IBM menu option. This will open a dialog where you can specify the PMR ID for an existing PMR and an optional Notification e-mail address. If you specify an e-mail address, a notification will be sent to the specified e-mail address after the files have been processed by IBM.
Upon clicking the submit button, the transfer request will be started on the IBM Support Assistant Team Server and will run in the background. The application will respond with a notification indicating the transfer was started. The notification contains a link that will open a dialog where you can monitor the status of the transfer request.
To view the status of the current or previously completed transfer requests, click on the link in the notification or, alternatively select the View Transfers to IBM menu option from the Administration menu in the application header.
For details on the Transfer Request Status dialog, see Secure Transfer to IBM.