Getting started with the stand-alone Generic Log Adapter

You can use the standard or the stand-alone Generic Log Adapter to convert application log files to Common Base Event format.

The standard Generic Log Adapter, included with the Eclipse Test and Performance Tools platform, requires you to set up a log parser plug-in project, create a rules-based or static adapter file, and source files (for static parsers). The File > Import... > Log File option in a new Eclipse runtime instance allows you to import application log files and the Generic Log Adapter works behind the scenes to convert the application log file to Common Base Event format. Ultimately, the log data is displayed in the Log and Trace Analyzer views. For more information about creating a log parser plug-in project for the standard Generic Log Adapter, consult the Eclipse Test and Performance Tools Platform online help.

The stand-alone Generic Log Adapter, on the other hand, provides a command-line interface to convert application log files to Common Base Event format. In this case, you perform the following steps to process application log files and transform their contents into the Common Base Event format:

• Create a rules-based or static adapter
  For rule-based parsers, you create an Adapter configuration file and use regular expressions to define the mapping of log file structure to Common Base Event format. For static parsers, you create an Adapter configuration file and use a Java class to implement the extractor, parser, and formatter components.
  For more information about the Adapter Configuration file, see Adapter Configuration File structure and Adapter Configuration Editor.
  For more information about creating Rule-based and static adapters, see Creating a rules-based adapter and Creating a static adapter, respectively.
  
• Run the stand-alone Generic Log Adapter
  The stand-alone Generic Log Adapter creates an XML Common Base Event document. For more information about running the Generic Log Adapter command-line utility, see Running the stand-alone Generic Log Adapter.
  

The stand-alone Generic Log Adapter can also be integrated into other applications to parse log files. For information on how to do this, refer to the document Transforming log and trace data in your application with Generic Log Adapter.

Parent topic: Stand-alone Generic Log Adapter User's Guide

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