About command groups

Command groups support a detailed type of logging that can be useful for the understanding the performance of a Helix Core client, such as P4V.

Overview

A single user action in P4V might result in multiple commands appearing the Helix Core Server structured log. If you want to analyze this process, command groups are useful because they indicate the beginning and ending of the set of server commands that resulted from a single user action in P4V.

To learn more, see Using structured logging in Helix Core Server Administrator Guide.

For example, clicking Submit in the Submit Changelist dialog for one file might result in the following set of commands in the server's structure log, with bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit as the identifier:

0.55,1694447120,509959000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 509959000,9335,35895515CB3A747E95971826797997DE,localhost:8888,1,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-submit,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,--parallel=0:-f:submitunchanged:-i,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit

0.55,1694447120,654935000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 654935000,9335,A9460966935E18123DBE330951553C2D,localhost:8888,2,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-changes,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-s:submitted:-l:-m:100,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit

1.55,1694447120,662061000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 662061000,9335,A9460966935E18123DBE330951553C2D,localhost:8888,2,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-changes,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-s:submitted:-l:-m:100,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit

2.56,1694447120,663997000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 663997000,9335,A9460966935E18123DBE330951553C2D,localhost:8888,2,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-changes,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-s:submitted:-l:-m:100,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit,.006s,,0,0,.000s

0.55,1694447120,668107000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 668107000,9336,EF2E1FA6E2486827D088F8484E1FC7F2,localhost:8888,1,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-change,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-o,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit

0.55,1694447120,673646000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 673646000,9337,FBA6392E54C05156458547D1453B5BC9,localhost:8888,1,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-changes,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-f:-s:pending:-l:-m:100:-u:user1:-c:user1-8888-mac,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit

1.55,1694447120,682548000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 682548000,9337,FBA6392E54C05156458547D1453B5BC9,localhost:8888,1,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-changes,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-f:-s:pending:-l:-m:100:-u:user1:-c:user1-8888-mac,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit

2.56,1694447120,682959000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 682959000,9336,EF2E1FA6E2486827D088F8484E1FC7F2,localhost:8888,1,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-change,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-o,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit,.009s,,0,0,.000s

2.56,1694447120,684730000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 684730000,9337,FBA6392E54C05156458547D1453B5BC9,localhost:8888,1,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-changes,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-f:-s:pending:-l:-m:100:-u:user1:-c:user1-8888-mac,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit,.006s,,0,0,.000s

0.55,1694447120,685638000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 685638000,9336,6689EAA117A93A04329E9906B43CF77B,localhost:8888,2,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-fstat,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-Olhp:-Rco:-e:default://user1-8888-mac/...,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit

0.55,1694447120,694397000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 694397000,9335,8D0082C402EF05DC15615B5F57A6AD55,localhost:8888,3,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-fstat,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-m1:-Olhp:-Rco:-e:default://user1-8888-mac/...,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit

0.55,1694447120,694235000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 694235000,9337,92345086E31EF35263C8B2618A6F27B9,localhost:8888,2,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-change,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-o,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit

2.56,1694447120,699123000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 699123000,9335,8D0082C402EF05DC15615B5F57A6AD55,localhost:8888,3,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-fstat,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-m1:-Olhp:-Rco:-e:default://user1-8888-mac/...,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit,.003s,,0,0,.000s

2.56,1694447120,698930000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 698930000,9336,6689EAA117A93A04329E9906B43CF77B,localhost:8888,2,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-fstat,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-Olhp:-Rco:-e:default://user1-8888-mac/...,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit,.005s,,0,0,.000s

2.56,1694447120,700577000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 700577000,9337,92345086E31EF35263C8B2618A6F27B9,localhost:8888,2,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-change,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-o,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit,.004s,,0,0,.000s

0.55,1694447120,703181000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 703181000,9337,15C9D55DC1818425D79ABB75F2748535,localhost:8888,3,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-change,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-o,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit

2.56,1694447120,711023000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 711023000,9337,15C9D55DC1818425D79ABB75F2748535,localhost:8888,3,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-change,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-o,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit,.005s,,0,0,.000s

0.55,1694447120,717028000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 717028000,9337,B8128A32A98F263754F618BBAD0E0789,localhost:8888,4,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-fstat,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-Olhp:-Rco:-e:default://user1-8888-mac/...,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit

2.56,1694447120,721975000,2023/09/11 08:45:20 721975000,9337,B8128A32A98F263754F618BBAD0E0789,localhost:8888,4,user1,user1-8888-mac,user-fstat,127.0.0.1,Helix P4V/MACOSX12U/2023.3/2485176,v94,-Olhp:-Rco:-e:default://user1-8888-mac/...,bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit,.003s,,0,0,.000s

Tip

It is also possible to configure the P4V log to show the multiple server commands that occur because of a single user action.

For example, clicking Submit in the Submit dialog for one file might result in the following set of commands being written to the P4V log with bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit as the identifier for the "begin" and "end" of the command group and ca578/submit as the shortened form within the command group:

dece6080 08:45:20.488 CommandGroup begin: bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit
6b283000 08:45:20.489 running p4 -ztag submit
dece6080 08:45:20.491 [0x11b41f120] ca578/submit submit --parallel=0 -f submitunchanged -i
dece6080 08:45:20.658 [0x10d553fc0] ca578/submit changes -s submitted -l -m 100
dece6080 08:45:20.658 [0x10d5dd090] ca578/submit change -o
dece6080 08:45:20.658 [0x10d5e6640] ca578/submit changes -f -s pending -l -m 100 -u user1 -c user1-8888-mac
dece6080 08:45:20.685 [0x10c84e3f0] ca578/submit fstat -Olhp -Rco -e default //user1-8888-mac/...
dece6080 08:45:20.694 [0x10d5dd090] ca578/submit change -o
dece6080 08:45:20.694 [0x10d5edd00] ca578/submit fstat -m1 -Olhp -Rco -e default //user1-8888-mac/...
dece6080 08:45:20.703 [0x10e80a610] ca578/submit change -o
dece6080 08:45:20.716 [0x10e908dc0] ca578/submit fstat -Olhp -Rco -e default //user1-8888-mac/...
dece6080 08:45:20.775 CommandGroup end: bb56bb8f-3b23-4a98-bbac-320226eca578/submit

For more information, see the Perforce Knowledgebase article, Enabling Command Group Output in the P4V Log.

Prerequisites

The Helix Core Server that P4V connects to must be at 2022.2 or later to support a command group identifier that clients can use to tie multiple events to a single action for improved traceability. See the Helix Core Server Administrator Guide on Protocol for server and clients by release.

Reference: user actions that trigger command group ids

The list of command-group ids and the user action in P4V that initiates each command-group.

Command Group ID	User Action
auto-resolve
custom-sync
get-resolve-list
integrate
integrate-preview
interactive-resolve
open-reconcile-window
open-submit-window
reconcile
revert
revert-unchanged
save-form
submit