path: root/lib/et/doc/src/et.xml

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<!DOCTYPE erlref SYSTEM "erlref.dtd">

<erlref>
  <header>
    <copyright>
      <year>2002</year><year>2009</year>
      <holder>Ericsson AB. All Rights Reserved.</holder>
    </copyright>
    <legalnotice>
      The contents of this file are subject to the Erlang Public License,
      Version 1.1, (the "License"); you may not use this file except in
      compliance with the License. You should have received a copy of the
      Erlang Public License along with this software. If not, it can be
      retrieved online at http://www.erlang.org/.
    
      Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
      basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See
      the License for the specific language governing rights and limitations
      under the License.
    
    </legalnotice>

    <title>et</title>
    <prepared>H&aring;kan Mattsson</prepared>
    <responsible>H&aring;kan Mattsson</responsible>
    <docno></docno>
    <approved>H&aring;kan Mattsson</approved>
    <checked></checked>
    <date></date>
    <rev>%VSN%</rev>
  </header>
  <module>et</module>
  <modulesummary>Main API of the Event Trace (ET) application</modulesummary>
  <description>
    <p>Interface module for the Event Trace (ET) application</p>
  </description>
  <funcs>
    <func>
      <name>report_event(DetailLevel, FromTo, Label, Contents) -> hopefully_traced</name>
      <name>report_event(DetailLevel, From, To, Label, Contents) -> hopefully_traced</name>
      <name>phone_home(DetailLevel, FromTo, Label, Contents) -> hopefully_traced</name>
      <name>phone_home(DetailLevel, From, To, Label, Contents) -> hopefully_traced</name>
      <fsummary>Reports an event, such as a message</fsummary>
      <type>
        <v>DetailLevel = integer(X) when X =&lt; 0, X >= 100</v>
        <v>From        = actor()</v>
        <v>To          = actor()</v>
        <v>FromTo      = actor()</v>
        <v>Label       = atom() | string() | term()</v>
        <v>Contents    = [{Key, Value}] | term()</v>
        <v>actor()  = term()</v>
      </type>
      <desc>
        <p>Reports an event, such as a message.</p>
        <p>These functions are intended to be invoked at strategic places
          in user applications in order to enable simplified tracing.
          The functions are extremely light weight as they do nothing
          besides returning an atom. These functions are designed for
          being traced. The global tracing mechanism in et_collector
          defaults to set its trace pattern to these functions.</p>
        <p>The label is intended to provide a brief summary of the event.
          A simple tag would do.</p>
        <p>The contents can be any term but in order to simplify
          post processing of the traced events, a plain list
          of {Key, Value} tuples is preferred.</p>
        <p>Some events, such as messages, are directed from some actor to another.
          Other events (termed actions) may be undirected and only have one actor.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
  </funcs>
  
</erlref>