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UserManual.md

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@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@ This manual includes a description of the system functionalities and capabilitie
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* [Run an application with parameters](#run-an-application-with-parameters)
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* [Open a command prompt in directory](#open-a-command-prompt-in-directory)
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* [Select two files for an operation](#select-two-files-for-an-operation)
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* [Troubleshooting](#troubleshooting)
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* [Logging support](#logging-support)
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* [Reporting bugs](#reporting-bugs)
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</shell>
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</root>
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```
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# Troubleshooting #
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## Logging support ##
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ShellAnything provides logging support for troubleshooting and debugging commands.
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### Location ###
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The log files are stored in the user's home directory available in `C:\Users\%USERNAME%\ShellAnything\Logs` directory where `%USERNAME%` matches your current login username.
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For instance, the user `JohnSmith` can find his ShellAnything log files in directory `C:\Users\JohnSmith\ShellAnything\Logs`.
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### Filename Format ###
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The log files names are generated in the following format:
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`<name>.<LEVEL>.<date>-<time>.<pid>.log`.
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The following table defines each field identifier in the filename format:
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| Identifier | Description |
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|:----------:|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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| name | Matches the name of the dll that generates log messages. Usually `shellext.dll`. |
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| LEVEL | The logging level. Accepted values are `ERROR`, `WARNING` and `INFO`. See [glog documentation](https://github.com/google/glog/blob/v0.4.0/doc/glog.html) for details. |
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| date | The current date when the file was created in `yyyymmdd` format. |
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| time | The current date when the file was created in `hhmmss` format. |
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| pid | The Process Id which generates the log message. |
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For example, the following filename is a valid log file format:
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`shellext.dll.INFO.20191125-083305.9456.log`
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### Levels ###
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The logging library used by ShellAnything is [Google's logging module (glog)](https://github.com/google/glog).
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All messages logged by the application have an associated level to describe the severity of the message.
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The application supports 3 differents logging levels: `ERROR`, `WARNING` and `INFO`. See [glog documentation](https://github.com/google/glog/blob/v0.4.0/doc/glog.html) for details.
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Each level have a dedicated log file for storing messages. For example:
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```
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shellext.dll.INFO.20191125-083305.9456.log
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shellext.dll.WARNING.20191125-083701.9456.log
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shellext.dll.ERROR.20191125-084152.9456.log
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```
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See [Filename Format](#filename-format) for details.
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Each log file contains the messages at it's matching level but also the messages with a higher severity.
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In other words, all logs messages are available in the INFO log file, including messages logged with WARNING and ERROR levels.
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The ERROR log file contains all messages with ERROR level.
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The WARNING log file contains all messages with ERROR and WARNING levels.
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The INFO log file contains all messages with ERROR, WARNING and INFO levels.
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Debugging log messages are only available in debug builds of the application.
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### Log files life cycle###
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The log files are kept for a maximum of 5 days.
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On application startup, the existing log files are all validated and files older than 5 days are deleted.
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To force the the application restart, one can do one of the following:
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* reboot the computer, open a new Windows Explorer.
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* close all Windows Explorer before opening a new Window Explorer window.
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This is for security reason as the files may contains sensitive information.
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There are no mean of keeping the log files for more than 5 days.
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## Reporting bugs ##
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If you find any issues while using ShellAnything, please report your findings using the [project issue page on GitHub](https://github.com/end2endzone/ShellAnything/issues).
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Improvements to the software are also welcome and can be proposed using the same method.

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