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26 Session Inspector (Troubleshooting Tool)

26 Session Inspector (Troubleshooting Tool)

Introduction

Session Inspector is an insightful and user-friendly tool designed for examining and understanding session details on the iSell booking platform. A session essentially acts as the digital footprint of any search or booking interaction between iSell and its third-party suppliers.

Here's how it works and why it's valuable:

What is a Session?

  • Definition: A session is an XML/API-based record that captures the communication between iSell and external suppliers. It includes details like:

    • Errors during searches or bookings.

    • Price changes or discrepancies returned by suppliers.

  • Purpose: It aids in troubleshooting, identifying issues, or verifying data in real-time, even without advanced coding skills.

Key Features of Session Inspector

  1. Automatic Session Creation:

    • A new session is created every time you start a new search with an empty basket.

  2. Session Lifespan:

    • Traveltek Dublin Environment: Sessions expire 1 hour after inactivity.

    • Traveltek London Environment: Sessions expire after 14 days.

  3. Ease of Use:

    • You don’t need coding expertise to navigate or make use of the session data.

    • It simplifies the process of analyzing the interaction flow and pinpointing any supplier-related issues.

Why Use Session Inspector?

  • Error Identification: Detect and resolve errors during a search or booking.

  • Transparency: Monitor supplier interactions for pricing or availability changes.

  • Efficiency: Quickly access session details to assist with troubleshooting.

With Session Inspector, even non-technical users can maintain smooth and reliable booking processes, ensuring greater accuracy and trust in the iSell platform.


Request an account

Request credentials to access the session inspector tool here 

Please note that multi factor authentication is required via DUO and we recommend downloading the DUO app for the best experience. 

Once you have an account, visit https://custinspector.traveltek.net


Navigating Session Inspector

Once logged in, you will reach this page:


You can enter either a session key or a booking reference as search criteria, and can choose to sort the returned messages by Name or Date Created.

The session key can be found in the URL for the journey that you want to inspect, for example:
http://tradeonlinehelp.site.traveltek.net/fusion/displayflights.pl?sessionkey=EB1F0C90-59B7j41F3-AD8C-FD1C99D9AB60&resultkey=740025819

The section of the URL after sessionkey= and before &resultkey is the session key.

To look up bookings, enter the HM Booking Reference which can be found inside the portfolio near the top of the Overview tab (not available for suppliers to view):


For each message in the session, View and Raw View links are provided. These are used to survey the message information in order to resolve any issues. 

View presents a structured version of the message which is easier to read.

Raw View presents the message as it was sent. This is the version that you might send to a third-party supplier who requires a machine-readable version of the message

Use Cases for Session Inspector

The two most common scenarios that Session Inspector is used to obtain information about are results not returning as expected from a third-party supplier, and bookings that have failed to confirm with a third-party supplier.

For results not returning, you can look for the supplier name and the search_ response. In most cases, a supplier not returning is caused by logins being incorrect, or the supplier not having results to return for the search criteria used (mapping issues and sold out stock are examples of two common causes). 

The information you need to review can vary per supplier but is usually similar to engine-search-result:

SupplierName-search-request_0

SupplierName-search-result_0

SupplierName-search-request_0

SupplierName-search-result_0

You would be most likely to find the information needed in the two items in bold. There may be accompanying text messages, for example, 'text' => 'Invalid userid specified.' These provide clues as to how the error can be resolved.

Some suppliers may have a separate authorisation stage, for example:

SupplierName-02-search-request_0

SupplierName-02-search-response_0

SupplierName-auth-request_0

SupplierName-auth-response_0

In this case, the authorisation response is useful for checking login issues, and the search_response is useful for seeing why results have not returned (for example, a message saying no results, or sold out).

To investigate failed bookings in general you would look for messages in book-response, confirm-response or validate-response in some cases.

For information about requests sent from Traveltek, see SupplierName-search-request entries for the session.