Re: [OT] Need help finding a Java class

[Christopher Schultz <ch...@christopherschultz.net>]

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Steve,

This might be off-topic, but there's really not a good forum for
"general webapp what-the-heck-is-going-on discussion". But hey, we're
nice folks ;)

Steve Ingraham wrote:
> If no person is assigned to the case the phrase "NO ASSIGNMENT" shows
>  up on the front page of the application where the person's name 
> should have been and there is no record created in the ASSIGN table 
> in the MySQL database for the case and subsequently no ASSIGN.ID that
>  shows up in the web browser for that case.

Okay.

> I am attempting to create a report that will return all instances 
> where a person has not been assigned to a case.  There is nothing in
>  the database in any fields that the NO ASSIGNMENT phrase is related
>  to

This is not surprising. I'll bet that the code looks for an assignment
and, finding none, displays this message.

> I have been trying to track down within the code for the web page 
> where this NO ASSIGNMENT phrase is coming from in hopes of 
> understanding how the application knows to return this statement.  My
>  theory is that if I can see how the application is returning this I 
> can figure out how to query the database to show me all instances 
> where this has occurred.

This sounds reasonable. Unfortunately, web application can grow to
significant complexity, and sometimes things like strings displayed in a
page can come from unlikely sources. Are you familiar with Java at all?
That might be helpful for your forensic reconstruction, here.

> Can someone give me some direction on where I can search for this 
> type of code?

Well, it's unlikely that the phrase "NO ASSIGNMENT" will appear in any
of your Java source code (that is, files with the ".java" extension).
You're more likely to find it in either a JSP file (ending in ".jsp") or
in a properties file (ending in ".properties").

You can search everything on a UNIX system using something similar to
the following:

$ grep -l "NO ASSIGNMENT" `find /path/to/application -type f`

(Note the use of back ticks).

This will display a list of files that contain that phrase.

> <a 
> href="/occa/model.do?model=oscn.seq.prompt-Assignment&amp;assignType=1&a
>  mp;data=95972&amp;caseMasterId=95972"> NO ASSIGNMENT</a>

Can you determine which file generated this output? Usually Java web
applications will use JSP or some other technology to generate the
actual HTML that the user sees. By locating the file that generates this
output, you can probably figure out how the decision is made that there
is no judicial assignment.

Otherwise, you'll have to start searching through code and basically
backtrack through the process.

I can probably take a stab at a query that might work. You mentioned
that you have tables like this (well, I'm guessing for most of this)

CASE
- ----
id

ASSIGN
- ------
case_id  (points to case.id?)
id       (points to assignee.id?)

If an assigned case has a record in the ASSIGN table, then an unassigned
case would probably have /no/ records in the ASSIGN table.

You could find those cases using a query like this:

SELECT case.id
FROM case
     LEFT OUTER JOIN assign ON assign.case_id=case.id
WHERE assign.id IS NULL

This should pull all CASE records who have no matching ASSIGN records in
the database.

Just a thought, but I have /no/ idea how your database is laid out or if
there's a better way to do this.

> If this question is better answered outside the Tomcat community
> please let me know and I will not waste your time any further.  Thank
> you in advance for any assistance you can provide.

This list typically deals with Tomcat-specific issues, but, as I said,
there's no really good forum for asking for this type of thing. Just
leave "OT" in the subject line and you'll generally be forgiven ;)

- -chris

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