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Selection Tool Window

  • Articolo

The Selection Tool Window is an interactive and dockable window that enables you to readily expose message selection in several Message Analyzer data viewers, which is especially advantageous in cases where message selection could be ambiguous. For example, in a data viewer such as the Gantt chart, message selection is not as obvious as other viewers such as the Analysis Grid or Interaction chart. The Selection window makes your selection more obvious because it exposes message selection in its window as a table of information that appears separate from the viewers in which you make selections. Integral to this capability and equally as important is the ability of the Selection window to maintain the context of multiple message selection in the following ways:

  • Within a specific viewer, such as the Analysis Grid.

  • Across multiple viewers or multiple instances of the same viewer type, in the same session.

  • Across multiple viewers in different sessions.

The Selection window provides a separate space that independently monitors and displays the selection of messages in multiple viewers and keeps track of such selections, so that you can thereafter back- and forward-navigate among messages as necessary, while maintaining the context of previously selected messages. This enables you to undo any message selection that you made accidentally, without affecting other messages that you selected. The Selection window also provides various Column Layouts that can expose different message fields. All of these features enable you to improve message correlation and analysis capabilities.

Modes of Operation

The Selection window provides the following modes of operation that diversify the scope of message selection:

  • Single viewer selection mode — this mode is the default state in which the Selection window initially displays. In this mode, both the Activate Session Viewer and Navigate Across Sessions buttons are disabled, as indicated by a subtle blue background color that displays when you hover over them with your mouse. The name of each button also displays in a popup when you hover over them. In this mode, you can only navigate among previously selected messages in the currently active data viewer. For example, as you select multiple messages in a single data viewer such as the Analysis Grid, the Selection window builds a collection of the selected messages. Thereafter, you can use the Go back and Go forward arrow-buttons on the Selection window toolbar to navigate through the messages that you selected in the currently active data viewer only.

  • Activate session viewers selection mode — this mode is enabled by clicking the Activate Session Viewer button on the toolbar of the Selection window. When this mode is active, the Activate Session Viewer button displays with an amber background color. In this mode, the Selection window tracks all messages that you select in a single session by building an associated message collection, where the data is displayed in one or more data viewers — for example, one or more Analysis Grid and Gantt viewer instances in the same session. After you select a number of messages, you can use the Go back and Go forward arrow-buttons on the Selection window toolbar to navigate through the message collection that is displayed in current session viewers only. To disable this mode, click Activate Session Viewer button again to remove the amber background color.

    As a usage example for this mode, you might have multiple book marked messages that you have selected in the Bookmarks Tool Window, where such selection in turn drives message selection in the Analysis Grid viewer. Furthermore, because the Selection window interacts with the Analysis Grid, it responds to messages that are selected in the grid—and also to the manner in which they are selected, as in single or multiple message selection—by adding those messages to the Selection window. While reviewing a group of book marked and selected messages in the Analysis Grid viewer that are distributed throughout a trace, you can lose the multiple selection context in the grid if you select any single message in the group for further inspection. With the Selection window, you can select individual messages without resetting the selection context in the Analysis Grid viewer. Moreover, as you select messages in the Selection window, it drives message selection in the Analysis Grid viewer by placing the selection arrow to the left of each selected message; however, the original multiple message selection context in the grid is not lost as you do this.

  • Navigate across session viewers selection mode — this mode is enabled by clicking both the Navigate Across Sessions and the Activate Session Viewer buttons on the toolbar of the Selection window. When this mode is active, both of these buttons display with an amber background color. In this mode, the Selection window tracks all messages that you select in multiple sessions by building an associated message selection collection, where the data is displayed in one or more viewers in each session. After you select a number of messages in different viewers from different sessions, you can use the Go back and Go forward arrow-buttons on the Selection window toolbar to navigate through the message collection that spans across all session viewers in which you selected messages. To disable this mode, click these same buttons again to remove the amber background color.

Example Use Cases

As a simple usage example when navigating across sessions, you might have multiple log files or other saved traces that contain related data in separate Analysis Grid viewer session tabs that you need to analyze. You can then use the Go To Message function on the Analysis Grid toolbar to jump to specific messages in each session tab that you know have related data. Each time you jump to a message, it is displayed in the Selection window, which in turn keeps track of all your selections, as described earlier. You can then use the Go back and Go forward arrow-buttons on the toolbar of the Selection window to navigate back and forth between the messages with related data for a comparative analysis. For each selected message that you navigate to, you can view the associated data in the Message Stack, Details, and Message Data Tool Windows to correlate the details you need to analyze. To further facilitate this scenario, you can drag the Selection window tab away from its default docking location in the lower right corner of the Message Analyzer UI so you can more easily expose the Message Data window in its default docking location.

Another usage example that applies to any mode is if you click a message in the Analysis Grid viewer, possibly to bring it into focus, and you inadvertently undo a previous selection that is important to the analysis in which you are engaged. With the Go back or Go forward feature, you can resume navigation among previous message selections, regardless of whether the context of the previous message selection was lost.

Changing Column Layouts in the Selection Tool Window

The Selection window also provides a Default column layout that has some similarities with the default column layout of the Analysis Grid viewer. However, you can change the column layout within the Selection window for analysis purposes. To do this, right-click anywhere within the Selection window to display the Column Layout context menu, which contains all the column layouts that are available from the Layout drop-down list on the Analysis Grid toolbar; an Example View Layout is also provided. By selecting a layout item from the Column Layout submenu, the specified layout replaces the current column configuration of the Selection window.

This feature enables you to conveniently maintain the context of the current Analysis Grid column Layout, while simultaneously and independently displaying a different layout in the Selection window that is tailored for a more detailed and on-the-spot analysis of specifically selected messages. For example, you could select a TCP message in the Analysis Grid viewer and display it in the Selection window. Thereafter, you can right-click the message in the Selection window and select the TCP item from the Column Layout context menu to display fields that are important for TCP analysis, such as the following:

  • DiagnosisTypes

  • Timestamp

  • TimeDelta

  • Source address

  • Destination address

  • SourcePort

  • DestinationPort

  • PayloadLength

  • SequenceNumber

  • AcknowledgementNumber

  • Window

  • Summary

Tip

If you want to create your own view Layouts that you can select from the Selection window Column Layout menu, you will need to create a new Layout in the Analysis Grid viewer and save it from the Layout drop-down list on the Analysis Grid toolbar. For more information, see Applying and Managing Analysis Grid Viewer Layouts.

Displaying and Re-docking the Selection Tool Window

If the Selection window is not already displayed, you can display it by clicking the Selection item in the Windows submenu, which is accessible from the global Message Analyzer Tools menu. Note that you can redock the Selection window by using the docking navigator control that displays after you undock the window from its default location. Undock the Selection window by dragging it by its tab away from the default location.

You can use this feature to facilitate a convenient location for your analysis processes. For example, you might undock this window from its default location and reposition it alongside another Tool Window or data viewer, or you can allow the window to float in a chosen location outside the Message Analyzer user interface. This is also possible for any other Tool Window or data viewer.