How do I add annotations to logfiles?

The CDRouter Web UI has the ability to add comments to individual lines in a CDRouter test log. This is a very useful and powerful tool for sharing and discussing test results and their log files with colleagues, managers, and QACafe Support.

You will notice when you open a log file there are small lights next to each line number in the log.

When you click on one of these, a bubble will appear over the line that allows you to type your comments directly into the file. Repeated clicks of the small lights will hide and show your comment. To remove a comment, simply click on it, select all the text with your mouse, delete the text, and click somewhere else on the page.

Markdown

These comments support rich-text formatting by use of the Markdown language. To read more about Markdown you can visit this page describing it in detail. For BuddyWeb, there are a few quick styles you can use.

This will be *italicized*      ->  This will be italicized
This will be **bold**          ->  This will be bold
Both ***bold and italicized*** -> Both bold and italicized

Also incredibly useful is the ability to insert HTTP hyperlinks into comments. This is done by putting the link text in [square brackets] followed by parenthesis containing the link (http://www.qacafe.com). Be sure not to leave any spaces between the square brackets and parentheses.

This is a [link to qacafe.com](http://www.qacafe.com)  ->  This is a link to qacafe.com

Advanced Links

Having embedded links in your comments can help others navigate a log file. By using BuddyWeb’s new line number URL’s you can point someone at exactly the line they should see next. Simple create a new comment and link to another line in the same log:

Other links work well too. Relative URL’s specifying the log-id number to jump to, internal BuddyWeb URL’s for /packages or /configurations, or other Results entirely: /results/20101220132144/log/3#200 will link directly to a different result, log, on line 200.

Line Highlighting

In addition to commenting on individual lines, you can also simply highlight a line one of 4 different colors. To do this, click on the line number itself to cycle through Yellow, Blue, Red, Green, and back to Clear.

These highlighted colors, as well as the comments, are saved along side your CDRouter Results and even stick around when Exporting and Importing results from other systems.