What is the HotDocs Server log file?

The HotDocs Server log file contains a record of each request HotDocs Server receives, as well as other error and status messages. If errors occur in your application, you can review the log file to determine additional information about the error.

HotDocs Server begins with a log file called HDSLog.log. It will grow to the size of 5MB at which time it will be named HDSLog1.bac (and then HDSLog2.bac, HDSLog3.bac, etc). When the .bac file is created HDSLog.log will start again empty with new log information. The location of these log files is specified at the Service Node of the HotDocs Server Management console. (The default location is C:\Program Files\HotDocs Server\HotDocs Server Log .)

Each log file begins with the same heading, which begins with the software, version, build date, operating system, user name, computer name and log date. That is followed by a summary of the worker and assembly threads:

#Software: HotDocs Server

#Version: 11.0.1.4417

#Build date: 20130730

#OS: Microsoft Windows 7Ultimate Edition Service Pack 1 (build 7601), 64-bit

#Username: SYSTEM

#Computer name: WIN7QA-PC

#Log-Date: 2013-08-02 15:38:25

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[8/2/2013 3:38:27 PM][3112][HotDocsServerModule.cpp:376]-HotDocs 11 Server started.

Licensed product: HotDocs Server

Version: 11.0.1.4417

10 worker threads

4 assembly threads

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After the heading, begins the list of log entries. There are three distinct entry types:

Interview: These entries begin with "GetInterview" and correspond to requests for HotDocs Server interviews.
Assemble: These entries begin with "Assemble" and are made when HotDocs Server assembles a document. A further entry is made to denote whether the assembly was successful or not.
Log entries: These entries can be identified by the "e:\" before their location and are made when something else happens, most frequently when an error occurs. (Your host application can create LOG ENTRY entries using either the HotDocs_Online.Session.AddLogEntry or HotDocs.Server.Session.AddLogEntry API methods.)

The following are some examples of log entries:

[8/2/2013 4:09:55 PM][3552][AssemblerWork.cpp:607]-GetInterview: af=(Server cached answer set)

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[8/2/2013 4:10:00 PM][3836][AssemblerWork.cpp:966]-Assemble: C:\Program Files (x86)\HotDocs Server\Sample Portal\Files\Templates\Demo Employment Agreement.docx, af=, df=C:\Program Files (x86)\HotDocs Server\Sample Portal\Files\Documents\pjwm5c8g3s.docx

*****************************************************

[8/2/2013 4:10:00 PM][3836][AssemblerServerObject.cpp:1574]-Assemble Completed Successfully: C:\Program Files (x86)\HotDocs Server\Sample Portal\Files\Templates\Demo Employment Agreement.docx, df=C:\Program Files (x86)\HotDocs Server\Sample Portal\Files\Documents\pjwm5c8g3s.docx

*****************************************************

[8/2/2013 4:17:56 PM][3364][e:\ccnet\hd11\hotdocsserver\hotdocsserver\Application.h:215]-CApplication::BuildSupportFiles: The component file 'Demo Employment Agreement.cmp' cannot be opened.

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For IT administrators

There are DWORD values available to set in the registry in this key: HKLM\Software\Wow6432\HotDocs\HotDocs Server\Log

The names of the keys are:

NumBackupLogFiles – an integer specifying the number of backup log files (defaults to 200)

MaxLogFileSize – an integer specifying the maximum log file size (defaults to 5MB)

When these keys are absent the default values are used, which amounts to a maximum of 1 gigabyte of log file disk space.

These keys are NOT set in the HotDocs Server Management Console, so the user would have to manually add them to the registry.