Trace Parser - How to Use

Available in Mobile WMS for Dynamics 365FO

The built-in trace parser in Dynamics 365FO is a good tool to learn about your processes. It helps you to understand what is taking place during a request.

When you use a mobile device, your waiting time is basically from sending a request to actually receive the answer, but in between is a lof of processes taking place.

First to understand about waiting time is to seggregate into network time and server time.

Waiting time = (Time to send request XML) + (server time to process request XML and create answer XML) + (time to receive answer XML)

Trace parser only tells the story about server time.

I.e. you experience waiting time on the mobile device from you click on the "pick orders" page. If the waiting time is 10 seconds, you can navigate in D365FO to the document queue and find the correct document type that corresponds to the action you were doing.

On below image you can see marked in red "Create data and time" and "Answered data and time". This process took ~ 1 second to process. If you experienced 10 seconds of waiting, your network have taken 9 seconds to send the XML's to and from the mobile device.

This is just an example of waiting time caused by other factors than server processing requests.

But when you face processing requests being the bottleneck, it is important to learn more about it. This is where trace parser comes into the picture.

Unfortunately you can not directly trace a request from the mobile device, as the trace parser is client based and does not run via the service.

We can still use the trace parser, but we need to download the request XML first and the run this document from the client, that has activated trace parser.

Here is the steps to do so.

Trace a process in Mobile WMS

1. Use a mobile device to generate a request in the document queue

Below image shows

- 1: click on a pick order sends a request to the document queue
- the request is processing
- 2: the answer is sent to your mobile device

Now we need to download the request XML.

2. Download the request XML

Click the "XML file" button, marked in yellow on above image.

The XML request is saved to your downloads folder.

3. Start trace in client

Before you begin tracing, you must prepare as much as possible up front to avoid any irrelevant trace. Traces parser records everything you do, so it is better to prepare your steps before you begin tracing.

Preparation steps:

- Be sure you know where your request XML is stored.
- Navigate to: Mobile WMS/Setup/Troubleshooting/Test Document

Start trace parser

See on below image where you find trace parser.

In the dialogue give the trace a name and select the SQL parameter values.

Everything you do is being traced until you click stop trace.

Now you open the test document and load the request XML.

Once it is completed, you click stop trace.

Click download trace.

4. Open trace parser from your development environment

Click import trace.

It can take some time import the file.

Once it is opened you can begin analyzing the data. Examples below is from a selected group looking at the SQL and X++ data.

Online guide:

This is an online guide of how trace parser works.

https://mohitrampal.com/2023/03/24/how-to-use-trace-and-trace-parser-in-d365-fo/

On the page:

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