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<chapter>
  <header>
    <copyright>
      <year>2002</year><year>2010</year>
      <holder>Ericsson AB. All Rights Reserved.</holder>
    </copyright>
    <legalnotice>
      The contents of this file are subject to the Erlang Public License,
      Version 1.1, (the "License"); you may not use this file except in
      compliance with the License. You should have received a copy of the
      Erlang Public License along with this software. If not, it can be
      retrieved online at http://www.erlang.org/.

      Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
      basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See
      the License for the specific language governing rights and limitations
      under the License.

    </legalnotice>

    <title>Introduction</title>
    <prepared>H&aring;kan Mattsson</prepared>
    <responsible>H&aring;kan Mattsson</responsible>
    <docno></docno>
    <approved>H&aring;kan Mattsson</approved>
    <checked></checked>
    <date></date>
    <rev>%VSN%</rev>
    <file>et_intro.xml</file>
  </header>

  <p>The <c>Event Tracer (ET)</c> uses the built-in trace mechanism in
  Erlang and provides tools for collection and graphical viewing of
  trace data.</p>

  <p>The viewed trace data is normally collected from Erlang trace
  ports or files.</p>

  <section>
    <title>Scope and Purpose</title>'
    
    <p>This manual describes the <c>Event Tracer (ET)</c> application,
    as a component of the Erlang/Open Telecom Platform development
    environment. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the
    Erlang Development Environment, which is described in a separate
    User's Guide.</p>
  </section>

  <section>
    <title>Prerequisites</title>

    <p>The following prerequisites is required for understanding the
    material in the <c>Event Tracer (ET)</c> User's Guide:</p>

    <list type="bulleted">
      <item>
        <p>familiarity with the Erlang system and Erlang programming
        in general and the especially the art of Erlang tracing.</p>
      </item>
    </list>

    <p>The application requires Erlang/OTP release R13BB or later. If
    you use the old <c>GS</c> based GUI it does suffice with R7B.</p>

  </section>

  <section>
    <title>About This Manual</title>

    <p>In addition to this introductory chapter, the <c>Event
    Tracers</c> User's Guide contains the following chapters:</p>

    <list type="bulleted">
      <item>
        <p>Chapter 2: "Tutorial" provides a walk-through of the
        various parts of the application. The tutorial is based on
        <c>Jayson Vantuyl's</c> article
        <c>http://souja.net/2009/04/making-sense-of-erlangs-event-tracer.html</c>.</p>
      </item>

      <item>
        <p>Chapter 3: "Description" describes the architecture and typical
        usage of the application.</p>
      </item>

      <item>
        <p>Chapter 4: "Advanced examples" gives some usage examples</p>
      </item>
    </list>

  </section>

  <section>
    <title>Where to Find More Information</title>

    <p>Refer to the following documentation for more information about
    <c>Event Tracer (ET)</c> and about the Erlang/OTP development system:</p>

    <list type="bulleted">
      <item>
        <p>the Reference Manual of the <c>Event Tracer (ET)</c>.</p>
      </item>

      <item>
        <p>documentation of basic tracing in <c>erlang:trace/4</c> and
        <c>erlang:trace_pattern/3</c> and then the utilities derived
        from these: <c>dbg</c>, <c>observer</c>, <c>invisio</c> and
        <c>et</c>.</p>
      </item>

      <item>
        <p>Programming Erlang: Software for a Concurrent World by Joe
        Armstrong; ISBN: 978-1-93435-600-5</p>
      </item>
    </list>
  </section>
</chapter>

