This is the reader that uses the 2022 protocol specification.
For the legacy parser see the Consortium Parser page that uses the previous data specification.
Table of Contents:
Setup
The reader needs to be pointed at the correct database and have the correct authentication (user Id and password) information to make the right connections. To do this use
File menu - Preferences.
Import / Synch Ridings, Parties, Candidates
The menu item - File - Synchronize Database will connect to the election data server and pull in the riding, party and candidate data. Then it compares it to what is in the selected Elector Database and makes updates and adds missing records as appropriate.
Inserts missing ridings
Inserts missing parties
Inserts missing candidates
Updates candidate ballot order / id values
based on riding, party and candidate last name
Deletes any candidates found in the Elector database that are not in the Consortium data feed.
Running
When you have started the reader displays
The database it’s connected to and the election name and date that it is processing
in the bottom status bar:
the number of reports in the Queue to be processed
the last report it processed and the time it processed it at
if the reader is up-to-date or not
Logs
The logs always start with the version number of the application when it launched.
Info: Consortium Reader for Elector Launched - Version 1.0.1.0
When you start the reader it generates a log like:
1/22/2025 17:10:00 Info: Started reading the datafeed
1/22/2025 17:10:00 Info: SELECT ID, cnd_ridingID, cnd_datafeedID FROM elc_candidates WHERE cnd_date = '2025-01-21' AND cnd_datafeedID IS NOT NULL
1/22/2025 17:10:00 Info: {"recordType":"begin","beginServerTime":"2025-01-22T17:10:00-0500","electionName":"2025 Federal General Election","beginOptions":{"heartbeat":true,"latestOnly":false,"startAt":1}}
When you stop the reader it generates a log like:
1/22/2025 10:10:06 Info: Stopped reading datafeed
Heartbeat
You may see heartbeat messages logged and these just help to indicate that the parser is still able to receive updates from the server.
1/22/2025 16:25:24 Info: {"recordType":"heartbeat","heartbeatTime":"2025-01-22T16:25:24-0500"}
Final Reports
Each time a riding gets its final report (when total polls = polls reporting) it logs the record with its riding number.
Final report for 2 with 77 of 77 polls...
1/22/2025 16:24:55 Info: {
"ballotOrderVotes": [
631,
7250,
8227,
19467
],
"dataSourceId": "E",
"isAdvancePollCountingComplete": 0,
"isAllCountingComplete": 1,
"leadingParties": [
"LIB"
],
"numPolls": 77,
"numPollsFinishedReporting": 77,
"recordType": "vote",
"voteDistrictId": 2,
"voteRecordId": 184,
"voteRecordTime": "2025-01-21 13:05:22"
}
Dropped Connections
If the application loses it’s connection to the server you may see entries like this:
1/22/2025 9:54:55 Exception: ReadBuffer(): Unable to read data from the transport connection: The connection was closed.
1/22/2025 9:54:55 Info: ReadBuffer(): done
1/22/2025 9:55:54 Info: ReadBuffer not running. Restarting.
1/22/2025 9:55:55 Info: {"recordType":"begin","beginServerTime":"2025-01-22T09:55:55-0500","electionName":"2025 Federal General Election","beginOptions":{"heartbeat":false,"latestOnly":false,"startAt":3431}}
1/22/2025 9:56:55 Exception: ReadBuffer(): Unable to read data from the transport connection: The connection was closed.
1/22/2025 9:56:55 Info: ReadBuffer(): done
1/22/2025 9:57:55 Info: ReadBuffer not running. Restarting.
1/22/2025 9:57:55 Info: {"recordType":"begin","beginServerTime":"2025-01-22T09:57:55-0500","electionName":"2025 Federal General Election","beginOptions":{"heartbeat":false,"latestOnly":false,"startAt":3431}}
...
1/22/2025 10:00:55 Exception: ReadBuffer(): Unable to read data from the transport connection: The connection was closed.
1/22/2025 10:00:55 Info: ReadBuffer(): done
1/22/2025 10:01:55 Info: ReadBuffer not running. Restarting.
1/22/2025 10:01:55 Info: ReadBuffer(): done
Debug Logging
For greater details in the logs - turn on the Debug Logging option in the menu
Help menu
Diagnostics
Debug Logging
If there is a checkmark beside it then it is enabled.
Debug Logging Messages
When Debug is enabled, it reports each record as it processes it. That way if it has an error in the processing or stops working you can know what it was doing when that happened. Example:
1/22/2025 16:24:54 Debug: [3,{"ballotOrderVotes":[27,22,381,372],"dataSourceId":"E","isAdvancePollCountingComplete":0,"isAllCountingComplete":0,"leadingParties":["NDP"],"numPolls":60,"numPollsFinishedReporting":2,"recordType":"vote","voteDistrictId":6,"voteRecordId":3,"voteRecordTime":"2025-01-21 13:02:11"}]
1/22/2025 16:24:54 Debug: Processing record: 3
Exceptions
If you see exception type messages in the log - this indicates an unexpected error in processing. The example below happened when the part of the consortium server processes had crashed:
1/22/2025 10:09:07 Exception: bgWorkerReadBuffer_DoWork(): Unexpected character encountered while parsing value: <. Path '', line 0, position 0. 1/22/2025 10:09:07 Exception: <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN"> 1/22/2025 10:09:08 Exception: <html><head> 1/22/2025 10:09:09 Exception: <title>502 Proxy Error</title> 1/22/2025 10:09:10 Exception: </head><body> 1/22/2025 10:09:11 Exception: <h1>Proxy Error</h1> 1/22/2025 10:09:12 Exception: <p>The proxy server received an invalid 1/22/2025 10:09:13 Exception: response from an upstream server.<br /> 1/22/2025 10:09:14 Exception: The proxy server could not handle the request <em><a href="/results/elections/9/votes">GET /results/elections/9/votes</a></em>.<p> 1/22/2025 10:09:15 Exception: Reason: <strong>Error reading from remote server</strong></p></p> 1/22/2025 10:09:16 Exception: <hr> 1/22/2025 10:09:17 Exception: <address>Apache Server at test2.mediaelections.ca Port 80</address> 1/22/2025 10:09:18 Exception: </body></html>