Using AuditMaster Viewer
A Tour of the Main Window and a Reference List of Tasks
The following topics give a general explanation of AuditMaster Viewer and its use:
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AuditMaster Viewer Concepts
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AuditMaster Viewer GUI Visual Reference
AuditMaster Viewer Concepts
The viewer is a client user interface to the AuditMaster application. From this main window, you may work with the following features:
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AuditMaster Server
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Data Tree
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View File
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Alerts
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Reports
AuditMaster Server
An AuditMaster server is a PSQL database server on which the AuditMaster event handler and configuration files are installed and running. The event handler monitors the database and logs audit records which can then be queried for display in the AuditMaster Viewer client. Each AuditMaster server is a top branch in the AuditMaster data tree.
Data Tree
The data tree presents your auditing system in graphical form. Each branch of the tree holds an AuditMaster server and its current view file, archived files, and saved queries. For more information, see AuditMaster Viewer GUI Visual Reference.
View File
Audit records in an AuditMaster event handler log are moved to a view file for query and display. The records reside in the view file until they are moved to an archived file. Each server in the data tree has its own view file and archived files. For more information, see AuditMaster Viewer GUI Visual Reference.
Alerts
An alert is an automated notification that a set of conditions has matched a newly captured audit record. A tripped alert can send email to a selected group of recipients. It also starts an application on the server. See Working with Alerts.
Reports
Reports for viewing on-screen and printing are loaded with queries for selecting audit records. See Printing Reports.
AuditMaster Viewer GUI Visual Reference
The following topics reference the main window of the AuditMaster Viewer. Once you have logged in as a user and run a query to display audit records, the window should resemble the following figure. The window includes the following items:
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Title Bar
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Menu and Toolbar
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Data Tree
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Audit Record Grid
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Audit Record Detail
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Status Bar
For details, click any item in the list, or click an area of the image.
Title Bar
The title bar of the main window lists the name of the application, the active server, and the current screen. In this example, the system being monitored is a PSQL database.
Menu and Toolbar
This topic describes items in the main window menu and toolbar, shown in the following figure. For details, click an area of the image.
 
Menu or Toolbar
Command
Description
File
Query
or
Displays the Query Builder to search for records. A query may be based on user, date, action, and other criteria. For details, see Querying Audit Records.
Alert
or
Builds an alert based on a query (e.g., a certain user has made a change or when a check is cashed for over $100,000). A tripped alert flags the monitored record with an icon and performs an action, either sending email or starting a program. See details under Working with Alerts.
Report
or
Prints the selected audit records. See details under Printing Reports.
Exit
Select Exit to log out and close the viewer
Edit
Copy
Copies selected fields to the clipboard as tab-delimited text strings
Select All
Highlights all records
Tools
Search
or
Searches for specific text in audit records. For details, see Searching Audit Records.
Sort
or
Sorts audit records based on the currently selected column. For details, see Sorting Audit Records.
Export
or
Exports a current or archived view file to a text file. For details, see Exporting Audit Records to Other Applications.
View
Show Active Local Monitors
Displays an icon in the data tree to provide information about the currently installed event handler. The default for this setting is off and is left off under normal use.
Set Archives to Show
Sets how many items are displayed under Archived Files in the data tree. For details, see Using the Data Tree to Archive Audit Records.
Show AM Debug Messages
Sets whether debug messages are displayed in query results during certain integration development activities. The default for this setting is off and is left off under normal use.
Show AM Monitor Messages
Sets whether internal messages are displayed in query results during certain integration development activities. The default for this setting is off and is left off under normal use.
Server
Add
Creates a connection from an AuditMaster Viewer client to an AuditMaster server.
Remove
Removes an AuditMaster server connection. The server continues to capture new audit records, but the client cannot currently access them, although it still can query and display records already in its current view and archived files.
Update Current View File
or
Refreshes the current view file from the audit log so that queries display the most up-to-date audit records.
Archive Current View File
Archives all audit records in the current view file, including any captured in the log file but not yet updated to the view.
Archive and Compress View File
Archives and compresses all audit records in the current view file, including any captured in the log file but not yet updated to the view.
Change Password
Changes the password for the user currently logged into an AuditMaster server.
Admin
(Available only to administrative logins.)
View Status Log
Displays the status log of AuditMaster activity.
Audit Configuration
Sets the files for an AuditMaster server to monitor, including any operations to be monitored for individual files.
User Maintenance
or
Allows you to add or remove users.
Server Settings
Maintains paths and other system settings for an AuditMaster server.
Help
Contents
Provides an online version of the user’s guide..
Trouble-shooting
Provides steps for troubleshooting common problems. For additional support, visit the PSQL website.
Index
Displays the index of the user’s guide.
About
Displays AuditMaster version information.
Visible Columns
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A drop-down list to set which columns display in the audit record grid. For steps, see Setting visible columns in the audit record grid.
Active Server and Data Source
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The toolbar lists the current AuditMaster server login and the audit files selected for the last query, as shown in the following examples:
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AM Server: \\VM-WIN7-ENT-64
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Data Source: Current View File - AMVIEW
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Data Source: Archived File - \\VM-WIN7-ENT-64\
PSVWAUDIT$\arch\20160321.00v
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Data Source: Multiple View Files (i.e., both current view and archived files)
Data Tree
The data tree displays an AuditMaster server. Branches of the tree can be expanded by clicking the plus signs for more detail. You can also right-click tree icons for various command options. Queries may be run against the current view or archived files. The data tree lists queries saved for repeated use and offers the last query executed for your convenience.
Audit Record Grid
When a query is run against the current view or an archived file, the audit record grid shows the result.
Audit Record Detail
Audit records capture both AuditMaster operations and database activity. For database activity, the audit record detail area in the lower part of the AuditMaster Viewer window shows the fields of the data record where activity occurred.
Note Data record detail may be in human language or in hexadecimal, depending on whether the database schema has been imported for AuditMaster to use in displaying data. For details, see Working with Audit Configurations.
Status Bar
This section explains the text in the status bar at the bottom of the main window.
The status bar displays two messages:
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The active server to which the viewer is currently a client
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The active view file, either the default name AMVIEW for the current view file or the date of the archive file currently selected in the viewer, such as 20160325 for March 25, 2016.