Tracer and Activities

Pega Systems provides powerful tools for debugging and understanding application workflows tracer and Activities. When used effectively, they can significantly improve your development and troubleshooting processes. Here’s a breakdown of their functionalities and best practices.

Benefits of Pega by using Tracer and Activities

This option stays within the character limit and highlights the combined benefits of these Pega features.

Pega: Refers to the Pega platform itself.
Power Up: Emphasizes the improvements gained by using Tracer and Activities effectively.
Tracer & Activities: Keywords that Pega developers would recognize.

Advantages of Pega in Tracer:

Trace & Fix Issues  – This option is concise and highlights both tracing and troubleshooting functionalities.
Pinpoint Errors Fast – This option emphasizes the speed and accuracy of error identification using Tracer.
Debug with Clarity – This option focuses on the improved understanding of workflows achieved through Tracer.

Function:

The Tracer logs and displays events that occur during case processing. It captures details like rule executions, data transformations, database operations, and more.

Benefits:

• Troubleshooting:

  Identifies the root cause of errors by pinpointing the exact step where an issue arises.

• Performance Analysis:

  Helps identify performance bottlenecks by visualizing the time taken for different activities. (Use with caution; Tracer itself can impact performance.)

Best Practices:

• Use sparingly:

  Tracer can be resource-intensive. Use it only when troubleshooting specific issues.

• Configure Settings:Filter the events captured by Tracer to focus on relevant information (e.g., specific rules, activities).

• Pause and Resume:

  Pause tracing when unnecessary and resume when needed to capture specific events.

Tracer is one of the main debugging tools in PRPC, using which we can see the step-by-step execution of different rules in PEGA.

The Tracer icon is available beside the clipboard.

Click on that to open Tracer.

For the first time, when we open the tracer, make sure to do settings.

In the settings of the tracer, we can choose different rule types like activities, when rules, sections (streams), flows, declare rules, etc.

We also need to select specific rule sets, i.e., user-defined rule sets and/or OOTB rule sets.

Uncheck check boxes other than activity and user-defined rule sets.

Click only, then select All.

Select only our application-related rule sets.

Click on OK.

Click on “Clear” to clear everything.

While we are executing the rules, make sure Tracer is up and running.

Run any one of the activities.

Now, Maximum Tracer.

Now we can see the activity has been traced.

Tracer records the execution from bottom to top.

Different columns in tracer

1. Rule Set: It says what rule set rules are being executed.
2. Name: Name of the rule and rule class.
3. Event type->Identifies, what exactly is happening to the rule, and different steps, i.e., being, ending
4. Step Method-> It talks about what method is being executed.
5. Step Page: On which page the step is being executed.
6. Status: identifies the success, failure, or warning of execution at a particular step.

Activity Continuation:

Advantages of pega in Activity

Modular Apps with  – This option emphasizes the modularity achieved through Activities.

Reuse & Efficiency  – This option highlights code reuse and development efficiency benefits.

Build Maintainable Apps– This option focuses on the improved maintainability of applications built with Activities.

Function:

In essence, Activities are the building blocks of Pega applications. More specifically, they represent specific actions within a workflow, like calling a service, manipulating data, or updating a database.

Benefits:

• Modular Design:

  Break down complex workflows into reusable activities, promoting modularity and maintainability.

• Code Reusability:

  Reuse activities across different applications to save development effort.

• Improved Readability:

  Make workflows easier to understand by visualizing the logic through individual activities.

Best Practices:

• Descriptive Names:

  Use clear and concise names for activities, reflecting their functionality.

• Error Handling:
  

  Implement proper error handling mechanisms within activities to gracefully handle unexpected situations.

• Proper Sequencing:
  

  Organize activities in a logical flow to ensure the desired outcome of the workflow.

Tracer & Activities

Using Tracer and Activities Together:

• Step-by-Step Debugging:

  Use Tracer to identify the activity causing the problem, then delve deeper into that specific activity’s logic to understand the issue.

• Activity Testing:

  Use Tracer to monitor the execution of individual activities during development and testing to ensure they function as intended.

By mastering Tracer and Activities, you can streamline your Pega development process, efficiently troubleshoot issues, and ultimately build robust and maintainable applications.

Additional Tips:

• Utilize the Pega documentation and online resources for in-depth information on Tracers and Activities.
• Consider using the Pega Tracer Viewer tool for offline analysis of captured trace data.
• Explore Pega’s built-in debugging capabilities, like breakpoints and variable inspection, for further troubleshooting.

How to call an activity from another activity

An activity can be called from another activity by using the below instructions: “call, branch, queue.”.

Understanding “Call”

To understand this, create two activities: “child activity” and “parent activity.”.

Creating Child-Activity:

Save, Done. Keep Aside.

Now create a parent activity and call a child activity.

Save. execute parent activity and understand the execution process using Tracer.

The execution happened like this.

Parent Activity Start -> Child Activity called and executed -> After child activity is completed, control is resumed for parent activity.

The steps after the call step are executed, and finally, parent activity ended.

Understanding Branch:

Modify Parent Activity in pega Step 2; use a branch in place of the call; execute and trace it.

Execute and trace.

The execution happened like below:

Parent Activity Start -> Child Activity called and executed -> After Child Activity Completed -> control resumed to Parent Activity -> the steps after Branch Step are ignored -> finally Parent Activity ended.

Understanding Queue Instruction 

Parent Activity Start -> Child Activity Called and Executed -> Parent Activity Step 3 executed at the same time while the child was executing its steps -> Finally, Parent Activity ended.

When we use Queue Child Activity, it runs in the background, which we cannot trace.

Conclusion

Remember, effective use of Tracer and Activities requires understanding their functionalities and employing them strategically throughout the development lifecycle.

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