Logging of application messages

• US 9,098,613 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2006
• Issued: 08/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Egetoft, Karsten
• Primary Examiner(s): Sough, H S
• Assistant Examiner(s): JORDAN, KIMBERLY L
• Application Number:
  US11/474,004
• Publication Number:
  US 20070299849A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,329 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3476 Data logging G06F11/14, G06F11/2205 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/80 Database-specific techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/835 Timestamp
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/865 Monitoring of software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/87 Monitoring of transactions

Abstract

The processing application includes numerous jobs for performing processing operations on computing objects. Whereas previous systems log job information on a per job basis, the apparatus and method includes generating application messages. These application messages are generated based on events in the operation of the application and the messages include predefined event information. The application messages are processing and filtered by a central logging device, which may be in response to customization properties. From this central logging device the filtered messages are centrally stored in an application log database, thereby providing a central depository and formatting of previously incongruent job-specific logging data.

Claims

1. An apparatus for logging application messages from a financial application comprising:

a computing object including a data structure relating to a financial transaction;

a hardware processing device performing a plurality of processing jobs on the computing object within the financial application in a predetermined order to complete the financial transaction, at least two of the processing jobs generating application messages in distinct formats that document operations performed on the computing object by each respective processing job;

a central logging device filtering the generated application messages to identify those application messages to be logged, and generating a log entry in a common format for each identified application message, the filtering supporting, in accordance with an accounting requirement of the financial transaction, both process oriented logging and object oriented logging of each generated application message, wherein;

the process oriented logging includes logging activities inside the application on a process step level, wherein the activities include events associated with the computing object and at least one other computing object;

the object oriented logging includes exclusively logging events associated with the computing object during the life cycle of the computing object in the application; and

an application log database logging each generated log entry in the common format.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the application includes a plurality of processing steps with each job performing at least one of the processing steps and each application message relating to the at least one processing step.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a customizing device coupled to the central logging device, the customizing device enabling a selection of either process oriented logging or object oriented logging for each application.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the central logging device is operative to store the application messages in an application memory during application run time and then store at least a portion of the application messages during a commit time.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the application is a banking application and the processing jobs are directed to processing of financial transactions to the computing object in the banking application.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the filtering includes logging only process step application messages having an assigned message class, the assigned message class varying depending on whether a detected result of the corresponding process is a success class, an information class, a warning class, or an error class.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the filtering includes calculating an average processing time between different events from a comparison of timestamps in corresponding application messages.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the order in which the plurality of processing jobs is performed is defined by an executable goal for the computing object.

9. A method for logging application messages from a financial application comprising:

processing, using a processing device, a plurality of processing jobs on a computing object in the financial application in a predetermined order to complete a financial transaction, wherein the computing object includes a data structure relating to the financial transaction;

monitoring the processing device during processing of the processing jobs;

generating application messages documenting operations performed using on the computing object in each respective processing job from the monitoring, at least two of the application messages generated in distinct formats;

filtering the generated application messages, in accordance with an accounting requirement of the financial transaction, to identify those application messages to be logged, the filtering supporting both process oriented logging and object oriented logging of each generated application message, wherein;

the process oriented logging includes logging activities inside the application on a process step level, wherein the activities include events associated with the computing object and at least one other computing object;

the object oriented logging includes exclusively logging events associated with the computing object during the life cycle of the computing object in the application; and

generating a log entry in a common format for each identified application message.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the application includes a plurality of processing steps with each job performing at least one of the processing steps and each application message relating to the at least one processing step.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

generating, using a job control application, the application messages for the different processing jobs where the job control application identifies the application messages that are to be stored in the application log database.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

providing filtering parameters including an object identifier, process step number, and message class to only include application messages matching the filtering parameters in the filtering.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the application messages are stored in an application memory during application run time and then the at least a portion of the application messages are stored in the application log database during a commit time.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the application is a banking application and the processing jobs are directed to processing of financial transactions to the computing object in the banking application.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the filtering includes logging only process step application messages having an assigned message class, the assigned message class varying depending on whether a detected result of the corresponding process is a success class, an information class, a warning class, or an error class.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the filtering includes calculating an average processing time between different events from a comparison of timestamps in corresponding application messages and the storing of application messages in the application log database is in an object orientated manner.

17. A processing system logging application messages relating to a financial application, the system comprising:

a computing object associated with a particular financial computing operation including an amount representing a quantitative valuation of the financial operation;

a hardware processing device performing a plurality of financial processing jobs on the computing object and within the financial application in a predetermined order to complete a financial transaction involving a transfer of the amount between accounts, at least two of the processing jobs generating application messages in distinct formats, each processing job independently generating respective application messages to comply with an accounting requirement;

a central logging device filtering the generated application messages to identify those application messages to be logged, and generating a log entry in a common format for each identified application message, the filtering supporting, in accordance with the accounting requirement, both process oriented logging and object oriented logging of each generated application message, wherein;

the process oriented logging includes logging activities inside the application on a process step level, wherein the activities include events associated with the computing object and at least one other computing object;

the object oriented logging includes exclusively logging events associated with the computing object during the life cycle of the computing object in the application; and

an application log database logging each generated log entry in the common format.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the application includes a plurality of processing steps with each job performing at least one of the processing steps and each application message relating to the at least one processing step.

19. The system of claim 18 further comprising:

a customizing device coupled to the central logging device, the customizing device enabling a selection of either process oriented logging or object oriented logging for each application.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein the central logging device stores the application messages in an application memory during application run time and then sends the at least a portion of the application messages to the application log database during a commit time.