How to enable logging to file?

[didikunz1963]

To get a valid pattern for AllowListUrlPattern I would like to enable logging to a file. I am using the Flash ActiveX hosted inside a third party software (CasparCG) and would need to see, what goes wrong with the patern using AllowListPreview set to 1. But as there is no console output in the software I would need to have Flash log to a file. According to variouse manuals one need to add the following settings to mms.cfg:

TraceOutputEcho=1
ErrorReportingEnable=0
MaxWarnings=0
TraceOutputFileEnable=1

But that does nothing. Has anybody any idea, what could be wrong?

[jeromiec83223024]

TraceOutputFileEnable only works in the debugger variant of Flash Player, and is set via mm.cfg (not mms.cfg -- put it in the same directory though).  I'm not 100% sure that it will work when we're embedded inside a desktop application, but it's your best bet.

There's not a debugger for Windows 8 and higher because Microsoft declined to ever ship one, and we can't write to the special location where Flash Player lives on Win8+.  You'd need to do this on Mac, or Win7 or below.  

Also, have you tried just setting "AllowListUrlPattern=file:*" in mms.cfg?

[didikunz1963]

Thanks, I use the debug version, but missed the trick with the mm.cfg file. Wil try and post back. And yes, I tried a lot possible patterns...

[jeromiec83223024]

Here's a link to the debugger downloads: 

https://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/debug_downloads.html

[didikunz1963]

That seems not to do anything. It is super weird, as if I add these settings to mms.cfg:

TraceOutputEcho=1
ErrorReportingEnable=1
MaxWarnings=500
TraceOutputFileEnable=0

I get output to the console in Internet Explorer. So why needs the writing to a file go to mm.cfg?

And if I add these settings to mm.cfg:

TraceOutputEcho=1
ErrorReportingEnable=1
MaxWarnings=0
TraceOutputFileEnable=1

 I get no w log in the IE console and also no logfile on the whole C: drive. Or is it not called "flashlog.txt"?

[jeromiec83223024]

mm.cfg is the config file for the debugger.  We added TraceOutputEchoEnable into the generally available player when we added AllowList, because there's no debugger on Windows 8 and higher, but debugging output was traditionally limited to the debugger.  We wanted to give people a way to debug the AllowList stuff in enterprises that were entirely on Win10, but you have to actually be running in the browser to pipe content out to the browser console.

The use-case that we really intend Flash Player for is as a browser plug-in.  People embed Flash Player in desktop applications and we try not to break them, but it's not really recommended.  Adobe AIR (now EOL) was the supported path for creating desktop applications using Flash technology.

I'll play with CasparCG this afternoon and see if I can come up with a way to troubleshoot for you.  We're getting pinged about it from a few different channels, and I'm inclined to write a guide.  Have you tried AllowListURLPattern=file:* ? 

[didikunz1963]

Yes, I tried a lot of the patterns also file:*  and others. Thank you for helping us, as there is a big worldwide comunity working with CasparCG.

[jeromiec83223024 · Accepted solution]

Just closing up this particular forum thread for other people that might be following along. 

If you're trying to log AllowListPreview output from an application embedding Flash Player on Windows, you'll need to use Windows 7 or below with a debugger variant of Flash Player, and you'll need to configure the debugger to log trace output to a file. 

To do this, place mm.cfg in %HOMEDIR%\mm.cfg (e.g. C:\Users\<username>\mm.cfg) with the following contents:

TraceOutputEcho=1
TraceOutputEnable=1
ErrorReportingEnable=1
MaxWarnings=0
TraceOutputFileEnable=1

You should then see flashlog.txt in %HOMEDIR%\AppData\Roaming\Macromed\Flash Player\Logs\flashlog.txt. 

See the Flash Player System Administrator's guide for more details:

https://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/articles/flash_player_admin_guide.html

For ongoing details specific to Caspar CG see the bug notes at: 

https://github.com/CasparCG/server/issues/1352