JavaScript Errors Report

Whenever users are performing high profile transactions on a web site/web application, say for example, a banking web site, users may always prefer the transactions to succeed. If the links in the browsers used by the users to access the web site/web application are broken or if the users are experiencing issues with the interactive functionality of the web site/web application that completes the transaction, then, this may be due to the JavaScript errors experienced while viewing that particular web site/web application. JavaScript errors may be browser based or may be web site/web application based. When the users are experiencing too many errors while viewing the web site/web application, then the users may be frustrated and may start to rethink on using that particular web site/web application. By generating the Javascript Errors report, administrators will be able to historically analyze the javascript errors encountered by the users while accessing the web site/web application. Using this report, administrators will be able to answer the fowllowing questions:

• How many times a web page of the web site/web application has been viewed with the javascript errors?
• How many types of errors have been encountered?
• Which type of error was encountered the maximum number of times when a page was viewed?
• Are these javascript errors occurring in patterns consistently or are these errors sporadic in nature?
• If the errors are sporadic, what is the real reason behind the sudden surge in the errors?

To generate the JavaScript Errors report, do the following:

1. Login to eG Reporter.
2. Follow the menu sequence: REPORTS BY FUNCTION -> RUM Reports -> JavaScript Errors.

3. Figure 1 will then appear.

   

   Figure 1 : Generating a JavaScript Errors Report

4. Select the service for which the report is to be generated from the Service list box.
5. Select a Component that is associated with the chosen Service and for which you wish this report to be generated.

6. Provide a report Timeline. You can either select a fixed timeline such as 1 hour, 2 days, etc., or choose the Any option from the Timeline list, and then provide a From and To date/time for report generation.

   Note:

   For every user registered with the eG Enterprise system, the administrator can indicate the maximum timeline for which that user can generate a report. Once the maximum timeline is set for a user, then, whenever that user logs into eG Reporter and attempts to generate a report, the Timeline list box in the report page will display options according to the maximum timeline setting of that user. For instance, if a user can generate a report for a maximum period of 3 days only, then 3 days will be the highest option displayed in the Timeline list - i.e., 3 days will be the last option in the fixed Timeline list. Similarly, if the user chooses the Any option from the Timeline list and proceeds to provide a start date and end date for report generation using the From and To specifications, eG Enterprise will first check if the user's Timeline specification conforms to his/her maximum timeline setting. If not, report generation will fail. For instance, for a user who is allowed to generate reports spanning over a maximum period of 3 days only, the difference between the From and To dates should never be over 3 days. If it is, then, upon clicking the Run Report button a message box will appear, prompting the user to change the From and To specification.

7. In addition to the settings discussed above, this report comes with a set of default specifications. These settings are hidden by default. If you do not want to disturb these default settings, then you can proceed to generate the report by clicking the Run Report button soon after you pick a Measure. However, if you want to view and then alter these settings (if required), click on the icon. The default settings will then appear in the MORE OPTIONS drop down window (see Figure 2). The steps below discuss each of these settings and how they can be customized.

   

   Figure 2 : The default settings for generating a JavaScript Errors report

8. If the timeline specified for the report needs to exclude the data collected during the Weekends, then set Exclude weekends to Yes. If not, select No.

   Note:

   By default, the weekend constitutes Saturday and Sunday. To override this default setting, do the following:

   • Edit the eg_report.ini file in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory.
   • In the [JAVASCRIPT_ERROR] section of the file, the EXCLUDE_WEEKEND parameter is set to Saturday, Sunday by default. You can modify this by setting the EXCLUDE_WEEKEND parameter to a comma-separated list of other days of the week - say Friday, Saturday.
   • Save the file after making the required changes.
9. Next, specify the start time and end time for report generation against the Time period field.

10. In large environments, reports generated using months of data can take a long time to complete. Administrators now have the option of generating reports on-line or in the background. When a report is scheduled for background generation, administrators can proceed with their other monitoring, diagnosis, and reporting tasks, while the eG manager is processing the report. This saves the administrator valuable time. To schedule background processing of a report, select the Background Save - PDF option from the Report Generation list. In this case, a Report Name text box will appear, where you would have to provide the name with which the report is to be saved in the background. To process reports in the foreground, select the Foreground Generation - HTML option from this list.

    Note:

    • The Report Generation list will appear only if the EnableBackgroundReport flag in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file (in the {EG_INSTALL_DIR}\manager\config directory) is set to Yes.
    • The default selection in the Report Generation list will change according to the Timeline specified for the report. If the Timeline set is greater than or equal to the number of days specified against the MinDurationForReport parameter in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Background Save - PDF. On the other hand, if the Timeline set for the report is lesser than the value of the MinDurationForReport parameter, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Foreground. This is because, the MinDurationForReport setting governs when reports are to be processed in the background. By default, this parameter is set to 2 weeks - this indicates that by default, reports with a timeline of 2 weeks and above will be processed in the background.

11. Finally, click the Run Report button to generate the report.

    

    Figure 3 : The JavaScript Errors Report

12. The resulting report (see Figure 3) consists of the following two sections:

    Note:

    • The Summary section helps you to view the number of the page views with JavaScript errors and the percentage of page views with errors on the target web site/web application during the chosen time period.

    • The Details section provides you with a list of the top page groups that have encountered JavaScript errors while being viewed by the user. When you further drill down each page group by clicking the adjacent icon, you can view the list of errors (see Figure 4) encountered by the user while accessing the page group and the number of times the users encountered each of the error.

      

      Figure 4 : The breakup of JavaScript errors encountered in a page group