Merge pull request 'docs(troubleshooting): document the browser_info / browser_url_vars support diagnostics' (#9) from docs/support-diagnostics into main

Reviewed-on: #9

docs/dci-troubleshooting.md

@@ -140,4 +140,97 @@ Then recycle any existing compute sessions - hot sessions keep the old setting u
 
 The app version is bundled into the frontend during the release, and is visible by clicking your username in the top right.
 
-You can also determine the app version (and SASjs Version, and build time) by opening browser Development Tools and running `appinfo()` in the console.
+You can also determine the app version (and SASjs Version, and build time) by opening browser Development Tools and running `appinfo()` in the console.
+
+## Support Diagnostics
+
+The frontend sends two input tables with the startup service and with the services that execute customer-provided code - the [hook scripts](macros.md) (pre/post edit and approve hooks) and the dynamic cell dropdown programs. They are available in those services as `work.browser_info` and `work.browser_url_vars`, so a support ticket can be diagnosed from the job log without asking the user follow-up questions, and a hook can adapt to its context. Other services do not receive them.
+
+The services that receive the tables are: `public/startupservice`, `editors/getdata`, `editors/getdynamiccolvals`, `editors/stagedata`, `editors/loadfile`, `editors/restore` and `auditors/postdata`.
+
+`editors/loadfile` is the exception in practice: the app reaches it through the adapter's file-upload call (multipart), which carries no input tables, so the service - and the post edit hook it runs - does not receive them in normal use. It is on the list for completeness, and would receive them if the service were ever invoked through the ordinary request path.
+
+### browser_info
+
+A single-row table with these columns:
+
+| Column | Description |
+|---|---|
+| `url` | The URL of the Data Controller page itself (the iframe), not the document embedding it. When the editor is embedded in a report, the embedding URL is visible here. |
+| `referrer` | The embedding document, from `document.referrer`. For an embedded report this is the report URL, so the embedding report can be told apart from the editor URL. |
+| `timezone` | The browser's IANA timezone name, e.g. `Europe/Berlin`. |
+| `tz_offset` | The browser's UTC offset in minutes, as `Date.getTimezoneOffset()` returns it (positive west of UTC, so `Europe/Berlin` in summer is -120). |
+| `locale` | The browser locale, e.g. `en-GB`. |
+| `dc_version` | The Data Controller build, as shown by `appinfo()`. |
+| `adapter_version` | The `@sasjs/adapter` version the client was built with. |
+| `browser` | The browser family, parsed from the user agent. |
+| `browser_version` | The browser version. |
+| `platform` | The operating system, parsed from the user agent. |
+| `user_agent` | The raw `navigator.userAgent` string. |
+
+### browser_url_vars
+
+The page URL parameters as one row per parameter, so a SAS program can read a parameter by name rather than parse the `url` string:
+
+| Column | Description |
+|---|---|
+| `name` | The URL parameter name. |
+| `value` | The URL parameter value. |
+
+Parameters from both the search string and the hash query string (Angular routes carry them after the `#`) are included; on a name collision the search string value wins. The table is sent only when the page URL has at least one parameter.
+
+The values in both tables are supplied by the client, so treat them as diagnostics hints rather than a security boundary.
+
+To see the tables, run any of the services above with debug on. The debug value depends on the path: `&_debug=131` on the Compute API and SAS 9, or `&_debug=128` on the Viya web (JES) path with `runAsTask` enabled - which is what the frontend sends there, so turning debug on in the app is enough. Either value makes the session initialisation write the tables to the job log:
+
+```
+NOTE: MPEINIT: work.browser_url_vars:
+name=embed value=va
+NOTE: MPEINIT: work.browser_info:
+url=... referrer=... timezone=Europe/Berlin tz_offset=-120 locale=en-GB
+dc_version=7.15.0 adapter_version=4.19.0 browser=Chrome browser_version=120.0
+platform=Linux user_agent=...
+```
+
+A service called directly (for instance from a URL, or by a script), or by an older frontend, has no `work.browser_info` - the log then records that fact instead.
+
+### Reading the tables from a hook
+
+A [hook script](macros.md) is `%include`d into the running service, so it shares the service's WORK library and can read the tables directly. Take an embedded editor opened at:
+
+```
+https://datacontroller.io/#/editor/SASHELP.CLASS?labels=true&embed=va
+```
+
+`browser_url_vars` then holds a row per parameter - `labels=true` and `embed=va` - so a hook can pick up either by name:
+
+```sas
+%let labels=N;
+%let embed=N;
+
+%if %sysfunc(exist(work.browser_url_vars)) %then %do;
+  proc sql noprint;
+    select value into :labels
+    from work.browser_url_vars
+    where name = 'labels';
+    select value into :embed
+    from work.browser_url_vars
+    where name = 'embed';
+  quit;
+%end;
+```
+
+To branch on what the client reports:
+
+```sas
+%if %sysfunc(exist(work.browser_info)) %then %do;
+  data _null_;
+    set work.browser_info;
+    call symputx('dc_timezone', timezone);
+    call symputx('dc_locale', locale);
+  run;
+%end;
+```
+
+!!! warning
+    Guard with `%sysfunc(exist())` before reading. A service called directly, or by a frontend older than this feature, has no `work.browser_info` at all, so an unguarded `set` or `select` fails the job.