Messages Tab
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[edit] General
The Messages Tab shows the messages that have been generated by the BOINC Client Software, the Project's Science Application, or a Scheduling Server.
[edit] Content Overview
The information shown in the columns is as follows:
[edit] Project Column
- This column contains the name of the Project that sent the message to your BOINC Client Software. This column is of critical importance when you are trying to resolve where the problem is and what has to be done (if anything) to correct the problem.
- Messages internally generated by the BOINC Client Software are shown without a project identifier but instead are shown with a blank entry to show that the message was generated by the local BOINC Client Software or Science Application. These are messages that are not specific to a Project. For example, those messages related to the Benchmarking Process.
[edit] Time Column
- This column lists the date and time of the message.
[edit] Message Column
- This column contains the text of the message that has been sent to the BOINC Client Software, or that the BOINC Software has made up on its own and is reporting it to you. So this is the actual message content that you should be interested in reading. Most of the time, the messages will be only an information or status status message. I know, I am not interested in most of the messages there either. So you are not alone.
- In the examples displayed you can see a variety of messages. In a later section of this BOINC Application Owner's Manual we will give you a more complete list and some explanations of each of those messages. Messages are classified by their nature into categories and how critical they are.
One of the last things to note is that messages are now color coded with Error Messages being Red on White. All other messages are the normal Black on White.
[edit] Messages by Message Types
A list of the message types:
- BOINC Messages <== This is a comprehensive list of all known Messages!
- Category List of All BOINC Messages
- Category List of BOINC Information Messages
- Category List of BOINC Status Messages
- Category List of BOINC Warning Messages
- Category List of BOINC Error Messages
[edit] Tasks Overview
There are not too many tasks that can be performed with the Messages Tab, but, the ones that are available are important.
[edit] Tasks "Copy All Messages"
There are a couple of tasks that can be performed on the Messages Tab. And at times one of these two tasks will be very important. In this tab you can select one or more of the rows and save the content of the selected rows to the clipboard. This gives you the ability to extract the messages and save them, or to paste into a message that you will post on a Forum.
If you select the task "Copy All Messages", with or without any rows selected, all of the messages, including those scrolled out of sight, will be copied to the "clipboard" and can be pasted into any editor.
This is useful for those cases where you have a lot of lines that may not be next to each other that you want to collect so that you can post a meaningful message on the Forum.
[edit] Tasks "Copy Selected Messages"
As soon as you select one message, the Tasks allowed add a "Copy Selected Messages" Task.
In the example you can see that several of the rows have been selected. This was accomplished by clicking on the top row and then, while holding down the "Shift" key, the bottom row was selected. Now, after doing that, all of the rows between the first row selected and the second row to be selected have been selected.
In the second example we have there we show that several rows have been selected. In this case we selected one row first by left-clicking on the row. Then while holding down the "Control" key we selected the second row by left-clicking on the other row we wanted to select. This allowed us to select only those row of interest in all of the rows within the Messages Tab. This allows you to select as many or as few of the rows that you want.
Of course, like all window type applications you have the option of using combinations of "Shift-Click" and "Control-Click" to select only those rows that you wish to have selected. In many cases it will be faster to select all of the rows and then de-select the ones that are not of interest.
Now, of course you want to know why we went to all of that trouble. Right? Well, if, after selecting one or more rows of interest you can save those rows to the clipboard and then send them in an e-Mail or post the error on a Forum. The keys to keep in mind is that you have to have at least one row selected, and if you mess up the right-click you will de-select all of those rows that you wanted to select, and make a record of.
From there we work with the rows on the clipboard like we would with any other Microsoft Windows® application.
[edit] Summary
The Messages Tab gives you indications and warning that inform you how well the BOINC Client Software is performing.
If there are problems with the BOINC Client Software or the Science Application, the Messages Tab is where you will find the news.
