Logs and alerts
Cashback Tracker → Logs is what the plugin ran into while working in the background: a network that would not answer, a postback it turned away, an order it could not place.
Most days it has nothing you need to read. That is the normal state of this screen.
The four levels
Errors
Something did not happen that should have. Money or data is affected.
Warnings
Something went wrong and the plugin carried on. Worth reading, rarely urgent.
Activity
A record of what happened. Nothing is wrong.
Debug
Detail for diagnosing a problem. Off by default.
Click a level to filter. The counts beside each one always describe the table underneath, so if you search first, they narrow with it.
Finding one entry among thousands
The search box matches anywhere in the entry. Every message from a network starts with the network's name, so typing Awin finds everything Awin has ever reported — failures, refreshes and orders alike. Combine it with a level to narrow further.
Reading an entry
A failed network call reads like this:
Awin: Could not download orders. The network said:
401 Unauthorized
Three parts, always in the same order: which network, what the plugin was trying to do, and what the far end actually said. The last part is the one to act on. 401 and 403 mean the credentials are wrong or expired; 404 means the thing being asked for is gone; a timeout means the network was slow or down, and will usually right itself.
An entry about an order names both id numbers, and labels which is which:
A new order was recorded. Order #429. Network: Awin. Shop: example.com. Network reference: 88123 (A-7). Member #4. Status: Pending.
Order #429 is the id on your Orders screen — paste it into the search there. Network reference is the network's own numbering, which is what you quote if you have to ask them about it.
Entries you are most likely to see
Could not download orders / Could not read the shop list
Check the network's credentials under Networks. This is an expired key nine times out of ten.
Could not obtain an access token
The same cause, one step earlier. Nothing can be read from that network until it is fixed.
A postback …
A network told you about a sale and it was turned away. See Postbacks — the detail is on the network's own screen.
An order arrived for shop X, which is not in your shop catalog yet
Harmless; the order was kept. Refresh that network's shops to fill in the details.
An order arrived for a member who no longer exists
The member was deleted after buying. Nothing can be done for that order.
No exchange rate for X
The cashback was not recorded. It is retried on the order's next status change; if it keeps failing, set a manual rate under Settings → General.
Shop refresh did not start: the network is switched off
Expected, if you switched it off.
Copy for support
Copy for support shows the entries currently on screen as plain text, oldest first, so they read as a sequence of events.
It shows them before copying anything, on purpose: log entries name members, shops and order references. Read what you are about to send.
Filter to the problem first — pick Errors, or search for the network's name — so what you send is the relevant part rather than a thousand lines of routine activity.
How long entries are kept
Settings → General → The plugin log.
Keep in the log
Everything except debug detail is the default. The other option adds debug entries, which are verbose and only worth switching on while chasing a specific problem.
Keep the log for (days)
60 by default. Older entries are deleted once a day. 0 keeps everything.
The newest 20,000 entries are kept whatever you set, so the table cannot grow without bound even on 0.
Clear the log on the Logs screen empties it completely — including entries the current filter is hiding. Nothing else is affected: orders, balances and payouts are stored separately. It is for after you have fixed something and want a clean slate.
Alerts by email
Settings → Emails → Emails to you.
Email me about decides what reaches you the moment it happens, rather than waiting for the summary email:
Errors only — the default
Errors and warnings
Nothing
Alerts go to Send alerts to, the same address as the summary.
When to use which
The summary email is the routine channel — what happened, and what is waiting on you. Read it weekly.
Alerts are for things you would want to know about tonight rather than on Monday.
The log is where you go once you know something is wrong and need the detail.
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