7 ms·

Show HN: Proxino -- Monitor and Debug your JavaScript

105 points by unignorant 14y ago

RoboTeddy 14y ago
More and more of the world is occurring in browsers in javascript, so this problem is important! I'm going to try it out.
ryanstout 14y ago
exceptionhub.com is also good and gives nice stack traces.
joshstrange 14y ago
I tried to test this out but even on localhost it kept throwing: status: "That domain isn't registered..." And I don't really feel like paying $10 to TEST if the tool really works, let alone if I want to use it. Working demo please.
- unignorant 14y ago
  Did you set the API key? You should be able to test on localhost with a free account. I'm happy to help over email if you like (ethan@proxino.com).
manuelflara 14y ago
Hmmm. Didn't this launch like a year ago? I remember emailing them about some questions I had a couple times and never got a reply, I assumed they shut down. Too bad since during this time a few competitors have come up: Sentry, ExceptionHub, etc
- unignorant 14y ago
  This is a new product (made by one of the same people) with the same (old) name. It does have some functionality in common with the old product.
aristidesfl 14y ago
How does this compare with http://errorception.com/ http://errorception.com/ ?
- lucajona 14y ago
  I've only played with both for a few days, but to summarise: Proxino's UI is drastically nicer, whereas errorception has been around longer and is more reliable. Proxino is still in beta, so I wouldn't use it for mission-critical websites yet. But Proxino seems to be fixing problems and iterating quickly.
nodesocket 14y ago
Who made your demo video? It is quite good.
- unignorant 14y ago
  Thank you :) It was an in-house production.
  - reustle 14y ago
    Literally.
  - chmike 14y ago
    I'm curious how much effort it needed. The images where beautiful and professional. Excellent work. The voice was lacking some testosterone, but it's a detail. I'm sorry about the critics on the technical aspect of your app. There are indeed some true JS hackers around. I hope you get over it and collect all the good ideas to enhance your product. I'm no JS hacker and I wasted allot of time trying to figure out why m app wasn't doing what I expected it to do. There is a problem there that needs a solution. As you see hackers have their own tricks to get around this problem. Collecting them and offering them in one plug and play product would be very usefull for all the people out there who aren't hackers.
septerr 14y ago
@unignorant are you the dude in the demo video? I haven't met a more modle-esque JS developer.
- unignorant 14y ago
  Yes, I am.
  - septerr 14y ago
    Awesome~
dwynings 14y ago
The only pimple on this beautifully designed site is the lack of a favicon =)
noinput 14y ago
Looking forward to trying it out, but the fact 'localhost' is not changeable is tough since nothing I build is direct on 'localhost'. typically it's site.dev or a local version of the site.com hostname, sometimes with a port to better simulate the real project. any chance you can add the option to change the 'localhost' on the fly in your console?
- unignorant 14y ago
  Good point... I will likely fix this.
  - noinput 14y ago
    fantastic, thanks for the quick reply. best of luck with the launch!
bdr 14y ago
There are already services (like Sentry) that track errors well. I want a service that focuses on the non-error logging part. I typically develop my JS with a lot of console.log calls. Let's say a hundred at page load, and more for each user action, and when there's new data coming down from the server. I'm trying to fix a bug that my friend is having on my new project, but I can't reproduce it locally. I want to see those console logs from her sessions. There's no tool that's designed for this right now. For example, most analytics platforms send an HTTP request on every event. I'm already using this wrapper http://paulirish.com/2009/log-a-lightweight-wrapper-for-consolelog/ http://paulirish.com/2009/log-a-lightweight-wrapper-for-cons..., which wraps console.log and keeps a history client-side. That would be a good starting point. Just push that history up to the server, up to once a second or so. I should be able to filter by user and browser window session, and ideally other features of the client or log contents, but really the user+browser session are the most important. Does a good solution exist?
- ricardobeat 14y ago
  Not feasible for most apps, but if you already have a websocket open, just stream the logs back to the server. Be prepared to store massive amounts of data even for a few hundred clients.
- sim0n 14y ago
  In the Proxino video, I believe it said you can log arbitrary messages which can then be accessed via the web backend. You could probably just make a wrapper for console.log which both pushes the message to Proxino and logs it in the console.
  - bdr 14y ago
    Yes, I saw that. I'm hoping Proxino will add more structure to that data and ways to interact with it.
- nealerickson 14y ago
  Personally, I use Loggr (http://loggr.net http://loggr.net) for tracking errors and events. You can tag your events however you want so it is really easy to track user sessions and so on.
leandono 14y ago
Question: The service has a workaround about the errors with the message "Script Error." in scripts hosted on externals domains (for example, a CDN)?
cheeaun 14y ago
Seriously, the beacon/tracker JS requires the whole jQuery (1.7.1)? https://www.proxino.com/p.js https://www.proxino.com/p.js
- ricardobeat 14y ago
  Wow. jQuery is 80% or more of the whole file. It could be loaded asynchronously, and completely avoided if it's already loaded (which is very likely). Worst of all, it uses exactly one function, jQuery.ajax, which could be replaced with a `new Image; image.src = message` call or a 10 line XHR wrapper.
- lucasjans 14y ago
  And they are not even using a common CDN. Ouch.
- unignorant 14y ago
  Yes, fixing this is high on my todo list. I chose to launch first anyway. You know, MVP and all that ;)
lucasjans 14y ago
I think you could better communicate potential objections and overcome them with your copy/video. One I have is, how's this going to impact performance? Also, once I sign up for the free trial, I'm presented with an account screen but not really told what to do next. Sure, I figured it out, but I think it should be more welcoming. Good luck! I may use this.
- lucasjans 14y ago
  One more suggestion, don't send emails from noreply@proxino.com. Especially considering that your registration email comes from here, and is sent to potential customers who may have a quick question before buying. noreply@ says you don't want to talk to me. Make is easy to answer questions and help people. Utilize a tool like Zendesk, if needed.
  - unignorant 14y ago
    Great suggestion. Thanks!
ricardobeat 14y ago
For hackers: window.onerror = function(m, f, l){ var err = JSON.encode({ message:m, file:f, line:l }) (new Image).src = '/errors?e='+err } For Google Analytics users: window.onerror = function(m, f, l){ var err = [f, l, m].join(' : ') _gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Errors', 'App', err, null, true]) } Analytics will allow you to filter by OS, browser, and all the other environment data it already captures. And nice graphs as a bonus :)
- ars 14y ago
  Why wrap everything in json? Then you'll just have to decode it on the other end. Just use url parameters, it's what they are for: (new Image).src = '/errors?m='+encodeURIComponent(m)+ '&f='+encodeURIComponent(f)+'&l='+encodeURIComponent(l); This way it also works on browsers that don't have native JSON (old IE mainly, but also firefox before 3.5). And those are also exactly the browsers where you are likely to get errors since you are probably not testing using them.
  - ricardobeat 14y ago
    Currently it's usually easier to decode JSON than to parse a query string. Modify to taste. You don't need to encode the strings, the browser will do that for src.
    - ars 14y ago
      > Currently it's usually easier to decode JSON than to parse a query string. I don't see how that could be when you anyway have to parse the query string to get the e parameter. It costs nothing extra to get additional parameters. > You don't need to encode the strings, the browser will do that for src. Not in my testing - if the error message includes an & it will appear to the webserver as a new url parameter. And actually that's a bug in your JSON version as well - you need to encode it before sending it.
      - ricardobeat 14y ago
thepumpkin1979 14y ago
I really like the landing page and the video. I'm not sure how the product itself can be better than window.onerror+Google Analytics though.
MarxGames 14y ago
doesn't work with mobile browsers(most of them) that don't support window.onerror
c-oreills 14y ago
Does this handle cross domain errors? We're currently doing this in house but some of our script errors are very nondescript as some of our JS is hosted on another domain.
delambo 14y ago
How does this work with minified/obfuscated production code? Some of the other comments suggest that proxino is listening to and logs on 'window.onerror'. If that is the case, I don't think you can get stack traces in all browsers, and the line number for a minified file will alway be 1.

105 points by unignorant 14y ago

More and more of the world is occurring in browsers in javascript, so this problem is important! I'm going to try it out.

ryanstout 14y ago

exceptionhub.com is also good and gives nice stack traces.

joshstrange 14y ago

I tried to test this out but even on localhost it kept throwing: status: "That domain isn't registered..." And I don't really feel like paying $10 to TEST if the tool really works, let alone if I want to use it. Working demo please.

unignorant 14y ago
Did you set the API key? You should be able to test on localhost with a free account. I'm happy to help over email if you like (ethan@proxino.com).

manuelflara 14y ago

Hmmm. Didn't this launch like a year ago? I remember emailing them about some questions I had a couple times and never got a reply, I assumed they shut down. Too bad since during this time a few competitors have come up: Sentry, ExceptionHub, etc

unignorant 14y ago
This is a new product (made by one of the same people) with the same (old) name. It does have some functionality in common with the old product.

aristidesfl 14y ago

How does this compare with http://errorception.com/ http://errorception.com/ ?

lucajona 14y ago
I've only played with both for a few days, but to summarise: Proxino's UI is drastically nicer, whereas errorception has been around longer and is more reliable. Proxino is still in beta, so I wouldn't use it for mission-critical websites yet. But Proxino seems to be fixing problems and iterating quickly.

nodesocket 14y ago

Who made your demo video? It is quite good.

unignorant 14y ago
Thank you :) It was an in-house production.
- reustle 14y ago
  Literally.
- chmike 14y ago
  I'm curious how much effort it needed. The images where beautiful and professional. Excellent work. The voice was lacking some testosterone, but it's a detail. I'm sorry about the critics on the technical aspect of your app. There are indeed some true JS hackers around. I hope you get over it and collect all the good ideas to enhance your product. I'm no JS hacker and I wasted allot of time trying to figure out why m app wasn't doing what I expected it to do. There is a problem there that needs a solution. As you see hackers have their own tricks to get around this problem. Collecting them and offering them in one plug and play product would be very usefull for all the people out there who aren't hackers.

septerr 14y ago

@unignorant are you the dude in the demo video? I haven't met a more modle-esque JS developer.

unignorant 14y ago
Yes, I am.
- septerr 14y ago
  Awesome~

dwynings 14y ago

The only pimple on this beautifully designed site is the lack of a favicon =)

noinput 14y ago

Looking forward to trying it out, but the fact 'localhost' is not changeable is tough since nothing I build is direct on 'localhost'. typically it's site.dev or a local version of the site.com hostname, sometimes with a port to better simulate the real project. any chance you can add the option to change the 'localhost' on the fly in your console?

unignorant 14y ago
Good point... I will likely fix this.
- noinput 14y ago
  fantastic, thanks for the quick reply. best of luck with the launch!

bdr 14y ago

There are already services (like Sentry) that track errors well. I want a service that focuses on the non-error logging part. I typically develop my JS with a lot of console.log calls. Let's say a hundred at page load, and more for each user action, and when there's new data coming down from the server. I'm trying to fix a bug that my friend is having on my new project, but I can't reproduce it locally. I want to see those console logs from her sessions. There's no tool that's designed for this right now. For example, most analytics platforms send an HTTP request on every event. I'm already using this wrapper http://paulirish.com/2009/log-a-lightweight-wrapper-for-consolelog/ http://paulirish.com/2009/log-a-lightweight-wrapper-for-cons..., which wraps console.log and keeps a history client-side. That would be a good starting point. Just push that history up to the server, up to once a second or so. I should be able to filter by user and browser window session, and ideally other features of the client or log contents, but really the user+browser session are the most important. Does a good solution exist?

ricardobeat 14y ago
Not feasible for most apps, but if you already have a websocket open, just stream the logs back to the server. Be prepared to store massive amounts of data even for a few hundred clients.
sim0n 14y ago
In the Proxino video, I believe it said you can log arbitrary messages which can then be accessed via the web backend. You could probably just make a wrapper for console.log which both pushes the message to Proxino and logs it in the console.
- bdr 14y ago
  Yes, I saw that. I'm hoping Proxino will add more structure to that data and ways to interact with it.
nealerickson 14y ago
Personally, I use Loggr (http://loggr.net http://loggr.net) for tracking errors and events. You can tag your events however you want so it is really easy to track user sessions and so on.

leandono 14y ago

Question: The service has a workaround about the errors with the message "Script Error." in scripts hosted on externals domains (for example, a CDN)?

cheeaun 14y ago

Seriously, the beacon/tracker JS requires the whole jQuery (1.7.1)? https://www.proxino.com/p.js https://www.proxino.com/p.js

ricardobeat 14y ago
Wow. jQuery is 80% or more of the whole file. It could be loaded asynchronously, and completely avoided if it's already loaded (which is very likely). Worst of all, it uses exactly one function, jQuery.ajax, which could be replaced with a `new Image; image.src = message` call or a 10 line XHR wrapper.
lucasjans 14y ago
And they are not even using a common CDN. Ouch.
unignorant 14y ago
Yes, fixing this is high on my todo list. I chose to launch first anyway. You know, MVP and all that ;)

lucasjans 14y ago

I think you could better communicate potential objections and overcome them with your copy/video. One I have is, how's this going to impact performance? Also, once I sign up for the free trial, I'm presented with an account screen but not really told what to do next. Sure, I figured it out, but I think it should be more welcoming. Good luck! I may use this.

lucasjans 14y ago
One more suggestion, don't send emails from noreply@proxino.com. Especially considering that your registration email comes from here, and is sent to potential customers who may have a quick question before buying. noreply@ says you don't want to talk to me. Make is easy to answer questions and help people. Utilize a tool like Zendesk, if needed.
- unignorant 14y ago
  Great suggestion. Thanks!

ricardobeat 14y ago

For hackers: window.onerror = function(m, f, l){ var err = JSON.encode({ message:m, file:f, line:l }) (new Image).src = '/errors?e='+err } For Google Analytics users: window.onerror = function(m, f, l){ var err = [f, l, m].join(' : ') _gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Errors', 'App', err, null, true]) } Analytics will allow you to filter by OS, browser, and all the other environment data it already captures. And nice graphs as a bonus :)

ars 14y ago
Why wrap everything in json? Then you'll just have to decode it on the other end. Just use url parameters, it's what they are for: (new Image).src = '/errors?m='+encodeURIComponent(m)+ '&f='+encodeURIComponent(f)+'&l='+encodeURIComponent(l); This way it also works on browsers that don't have native JSON (old IE mainly, but also firefox before 3.5). And those are also exactly the browsers where you are likely to get errors since you are probably not testing using them.
- ricardobeat 14y ago
  Currently it's usually easier to decode JSON than to parse a query string. Modify to taste. You don't need to encode the strings, the browser will do that for src.
  - ars 14y ago
    > Currently it's usually easier to decode JSON than to parse a query string. I don't see how that could be when you anyway have to parse the query string to get the e parameter. It costs nothing extra to get additional parameters. > You don't need to encode the strings, the browser will do that for src. Not in my testing - if the error message includes an & it will appear to the webserver as a new url parameter. And actually that's a bug in your JSON version as well - you need to encode it before sending it.
    - ricardobeat 14y ago

thepumpkin1979 14y ago

I really like the landing page and the video. I'm not sure how the product itself can be better than window.onerror+Google Analytics though.

MarxGames 14y ago

doesn't work with mobile browsers(most of them) that don't support window.onerror

c-oreills 14y ago

Does this handle cross domain errors? We're currently doing this in house but some of our script errors are very nondescript as some of our JS is hosted on another domain.

delambo 14y ago

How does this work with minified/obfuscated production code? Some of the other comments suggest that proxino is listening to and logs on 'window.onerror'. If that is the case, I don't think you can get stack traces in all browsers, and the line number for a minified file will alway be 1.