You can access cxReveal search facilities through the Search menu in the Portal. Depending on the type of search you want to make, make your selection in the Search menu and configure the displayed options before you run the search.
Types of searches
cxReveal supports session searches and database searches.
Session Searches: These searches examine individual Canisters (Processing Servers) for matching sessions by using a wide range of criteria. Session searches are most useful for completing exploratory or discovery searches when the results are not well-known at the time of search.
Session searches use search templates from cxImpact.
Database Searches: cxReveal can be configured to capture session attribute information as soon as it is detected and to insert it into a high-speed database for immediate retrieval. Database searches are most useful for locating specific sessions for replay.
Search templates
When you begin a search, you can specify your search criteria, which are available to you through a search template. A search template defines the type of search you are performing and the available terms that you can use to specify a search.
A search template also contains a predefined set of fields and initial values to help you to create better search results that are based on your Tealeaf solution and its data.
- The name of the currently selected template is displayed as a hyperlink just below the toolbar.
- Below the listed search template, you can review the dates for currently available session data. By default, session search is configured to search only today's sessions.
- To change the search range, select a different range from the Search Range drop-down.
- Search templates can be defined by your Tealeaf administrator.
Search options
Each search template contains a list of options that can be configured. Depending on the type of search template that you select, the following options are displayed:
Search Time Zone- (Completed only) For Completed searches, you can select the time zone to use for your search. When a different time zone is selected, the date and times that are applied to the search are defined about the selected time zone.
By default, the applied time zone is the local time zone for the Tealeaf user.
Session List Template- Select the session list template to use with the current search.
To use the one auto-assigned with the base search template, select
<Default>. Sort Results By- The method by which to sort the returned sessions. This setting also determines the order in which sessions are matched against the search, which can impact the sessions that are returned if the search is canceled.
The available options vary depending on whether you are using an Active or Completed search template.
Search Servers- Select one or more servers whose Search Servers are queried when the search is run.
Automatic Search Timeout- (Completed only) The length in time that the search must run before stopping and returning any matched sessions.
By default, this value is set to
90seconds. Automatic Stop Limit- (Completed only) The maximum number of sessions that are found before the search is stopped and any matches are returned. This value is applied to each server. So, if your search spans four servers, the maximum limit is defined as four times this value.
Building and submitting a search
Through session search, you can search active, completed, or both types of sessions that are based on a set of criteria that you define.
You can select a search template and build your search by making selections in the Search Fields pane. When you specify your search, you must define your terms as narrowly as possible. If you can identify unique characteristics of the session segment, then your search results are returned faster and are of better quality.
Field types
In the Field Selection panel, the search terms available in the currently selected search template are organized into groups. These groups can be defined in the search template.
To add a field to the search, click a field type in the Field Selection panel. Then, click the link to the field. The field name and a text box are added to the Search Configuration Window. To remove a field from the list, click the X next to its name. If a field does not have an X next to its name, the field is required by the template and cannot be removed. It must be populated to run a search.
The groups that are used in the default templates are listed.
Basic Search Fields- Search for text in the request or response or events. In completed sessions, you can search for event values.
Session Info- Information pertaining to the visitor's session is recorded and maintained by Tealeaf so that you can search on it. Annotations added to the sessions by Tealeaf users can be available for search.
Page Info- Page-level information that is captured by Tealeaf can be searched by using the search fields in this group.
Submitting a search
When you have added all fields, specified operators, and entered field values for your search, click Search to submit.
As your search is being processed, a search status dialog displays progress.
After a search is completed, the results are downloaded and collated for display. Depending on the number of sessions that are returned, it can take a while for these processes to complete. They cannot be canceled.
Search results are displayed as a list of sessions.
Limits for displaying sessions
By default, cxReveal searches are limited to a total of 100 returned sessions.
- This limit can be configured by Tealeaf administrators.
- Another limit to the number of sessions is defined per search template. Typically, this value is much higher than 100. Therefore, the base setting is applied.
The search results can indicate that more than 100 sessions have been found. Only the first 100 are displayed and accessible through the Portal.
Searching sessions by session attribute
Through session attribute search, cxReveal users can search for sessions that are based on session attribute information that is captured by Tealeaf and recorded in the cxReveal database.
For example, if visitors to your web application must log in to use it, cxReveal can be configured to capture the login identifier and store it in the cxReveal database, as soon as the identifier is detected in the session data.
If the value for the login identifier is captured in the first hit to (typically) SessionAttribute00, then the user's session is available as soon as that hit is captured and processed by Tealeaf. Through session attribute search, cxReveal users can have immediate access to active sessions, which facilitates managing customer support inquiries and other customer-focused activities.
To run a session attribute search, you use a cxReveal search template to specify the session attributes and their values that match the session or sessions for which you are looking.
When the search is run, the Portal queries the cxReveal database through the Data Service for matching values to the specified session attributes. The search is run against a single, high-performance database that contains only the session attribute information and the data that is required to locate the sessions among the Canisters in the Tealeaf system. Thus, search results are returned much faster.
A session record is written to the database as soon as the first session attribute is detected in the capture stream. So, the session can be available for search through session attribute search as soon as the first hit is processed by Tealeaf.
Differences between cxImpact Search and cxReveal Search
A cxImpact search queries the Search Server, which queries the appropriate Canisters in the Tealeaf environment for sessions.
This type of search depends on the type of session:
- Active sessions: Search Server examines the Short Term Canister, which is an in-memory database on the Processing Server.
- Completed sessions: Search Server examines the Long Term Canister, which is a disk-based on the Processing Server.
A single search of multiple Canisters across active and completed sessions can create multiple searches that are run by the Search Server. This process can take a while to return results.
By contrast, cxReveal session attribute search makes a single query of a single database.
- If including Canister data is enabled in session attribute searches, queries are passed to Search Server to run against each Canister to retrieve relevant session information. Because these queries retrieve summary information about the session, they are faster than cxImpact search.
- The maximum number of returned sessions is limited to
100. Results are returned based on the last use of the session, which is recorded as a timestamp in the database record. More recentLast Usevalues are listed first.- For completed sessions, the
Last Usevalue is the time when the session was closed. - For active sessions, the
Last Usevalue records the last time the database record was updated with a new or changed session attribute.
- For completed sessions, the
Because a session attribute search queries a database, the accepted wildcards and the available comparison operators are different.
Session attribute search in cxReveal is best used for searching all sessions by using a well-known session attribute for purposes of retrieving and replaying the session. Typically, this session attribute is the identifier of the visitor to your site.
cxImpact search is more appropriate for exploratory or generalized searches. cxImpact searches request and retrieve a larger volume of data, which is helpful if you are unsure of the session or hit.
cxReveal search templates
Session attribute searches can use any cxImpact or cxReveal session list template. However, to query the cxReveal database, use a cxReveal search template.
If cxReveal is not configured to access Canister data, only session attributes that are marked for tracking in the cxReveal database can be retrieved by a cxReveal search template. This data includes the cxReveal session attribute fields, first use, last use, Canister Name, Tealeaf session ID, and session ID.
After cxReveal search templates are configured, you can select them through the Portal.
- In the Template Selector, you can select a cxReveal template for any type of search. The Portal search screen is automatically updated to use that template.
Note: Unless there is a specific reason to limit your searches to active sessions or completed sessions, you must select a cxReveal search template for All Sessions. Session attribute searches that use this search template make a single query to the same database. In cxImpact, All Sessions searches require multiple queries of different components of the Tealeaf system.
- For more information about the names of your cxReveal search templates, contact your Tealeaf administrator.
Search terms
In the main panel, you can select one or more of the available terms to use in your search.
- Session attributes are stored as text data.
- You cannot perform numeric comparisons on them.
- To retrieve date information that is stored in session attributes, you must know the exact format of the date value that is stored in them.
Note: If a session attribute does contain numeric data, you can locate instances of specific values. Do not enter the exact value. Enter the integer value or as many consecutive digits of which you are certain. Then, apply the
likeoperator. Depending on how many digits you specify, you are likely to return a hit. However, you can also return other unwanted results.
- If no search terms are specified, the submitted search queries the specified date range for all sessions, active, or completed, depending on the type of selected template.
Search results
When search results are returned, they are displayed in the selected session list template.
The session list can contain multiple entries for the same session. These session fragments can split entries for the values of session attributes. If you believe two entries in the session list come from the same session, refer to the timestamp for each entry to determine the final values for the session attributes.
At replay time, session fragments can be reassembled into a single complete session.
In the session list, you can scan the results to find the matching session. Links are available in the left column to review the list of pages, review session information, or replay the session through your browser or through RTV.