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docs(troubleshooting): document the browser_info / browser_url_vars support diagnostics #9

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allan merged 5 commits from docs/support-diagnostics into main 2026-09-27 20:51:21 +00:00
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@@ -141,3 +141,96 @@ 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.
## 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.