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1988-03-12
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Professional Analyzer
for RBBS-PC
Version 16.1A
(C) Copyright 1987, 1988, RBBS-PC of Fargo
(C) Copyright 1984-1986, Lee Nelson and Jerry Sanders
Table of Contents
Description of Product...................................... 1
Why Do You Need the Professional Analyzer?.................. 1
Starting Out................................................ 1
Bringing up ProAna.......................................... 1
The Main Menu............................................... 2
Configuration............................................... 2
Analyzing the Callers File.................................. 3
Making a Report............................................. 4
Site Selected Statistics.................................... 5
Analyzing the Messages File................................. 6
Analyzing the Users File.................................... 6
The PROSTATE.TBL File....................................... 7
The User Editor............................................. 7
You Found a Problem?........................................ 8
Limited Warranty............................................ 8
Distribution................................................ 8
Appendix A: Automated Reports............................... 9
Appendix B: Revision History................................ 10
i
Description of Product
The Professional Analyzer (ProAna) is a tool used to give
access to important and interesting statistics when running a
bulletin board. Information such as when the most people call
during the day, how many people use the ASCII protocol, and
trivial things such as how many people read your bulletin on
Software Piracy are included in the reports.
Why Do You Need the Professional Analyzer?
Well, of course if you don't run a RBBS-PC bulletin board I
can't give you any reasons, but if you do.... ProAna is a
productivity tool. Let's say you run a BBS for your company and
you need to know how many out-of-state users you have. Well,
with ProAna you'd simply hit F4 at the main menu and, surprise!
You would receive a complete breakdown of how many users you
have from each state. Or if you are a SYSOP who is
contemplating purchasing a 2400 bps modem, and you have
borrowed one from a friend for a week and put it on-line. After
that week, you can use the Callers File analyzer to see how many
people actually used the 2400 bps, and then make your decision
based on that. Another case would be if you were a SYSOP Beta
testing a new version of RBBS-PC that has some minor fixes when
suddenly RBBS starts trashing every user who answers a
questionairre. (Of course with RBBS this would NEVER happen!)
Luckily, you caught the bug after only one user got trashed, but
now that user's defaults are all messed up. Well, with ProAna
you can edit almost every field and reset everything to normal.
As you can see, the possibilities for ProAna are limitless!
Starting Out
ProAna is very easy to install. All you have to do is copy
all of your working files to ANY directory of your Hard Disk and
run it. The files required are PROANA.EXE, the main program,
PROCALL.EXE, the callers file analyzer, PROSTATE.TBL, the table
that includes states and common abbreviations, and PROCALL.CTL,
the file that includes special site-selected statistics. (This
file is optional.) If you would like to run ProAna from another
directory, say when you are in "C:\RBBS" and you would like to
run ProAna in "C:\RBBS\PROANA", you must use the SET environment
command to tell ProAna where to find it's files. This could be
accomplished by the following command:
Sat 06-30-87 13:51:44.05 C:\RBBS
C>set PROANA=C:\RBBS\PROANA
and then you would enter the command to start ProAna. But more
on that next!
Bringing up ProAna
To bring up ProAna you enter the command:
1
Sat 06-30-87 14:10:44.05 C:\RBBS
C>proana #
where '#' is the number of the node that you wish to analyze or
edit. '#' must be a valid integer from 1 through 36. If '#' is
not included, or is invalid, ProAna will assume node #1 for
convenience. Once you have started ProAna, you will see an
introductory screen that can be cleared by pressing any key. If
this is the first time running ProAna on a particular node, you
will not get the introductory screen until you have configured
ProAna.
The Main Menu
After you have brought up ProAna, if you have run it before,
you will be given a Main Menu to choose from. The options
available are:
F1 - Configuration
F2 - Analyze Callers file
F3 - Analyze Messages file
F4 - Analyze Users file
F5 - Edit Users file
ESC - Quit to DOS
You can select any option by pressing the related function
key. (E.g. F1 will select the Configuration sub-program.) If
you HAVEN'T run ProAna before, you will be given a message
saying that ProAna is creating the necessary CONFIG files, and
you will then be presented with a configuration screen, which is
described next.
Configuration
Before you can use ProAna, you must tell it some things.
First, you need to let it know what type of monitor you are
using. The default choice is "M" for monochrome, and if that is
correct, you should press the down arrow to continue. (2 on the
numeric keypad.) If you are using a color card and color
monitor, you should first change that value to a "C", and then
DO NOT press the down arrow. ProAna will advance you to the
next field automatically.
After you have specified your monitor type, you must specify
the name of your RBBS Callers file as specified in Config
parameter #85. This may be any fully qualified path name up to
26 characters long.
Then after you enter the Callers file path and name, you must
advance to the next field and enter the RBBS Messages file name.
This is the same file that is described in parameter #81 of
Config.
2
The next field is the name of RBBS's Users file. This should
be the same as the file specified in parameter #82 of Config.
Following the Users file name, is the name of the ".DEF" file
that RBBS uses. This will be "RBBSxPC.DEF" where 'x' is
node-number or a '-' for non-multiple node operations, by
default in RBBS. Otherwise, if you use a special name for the
".DEF" file, you must specify that.
Next is the name of the file that ProCall (the call
analyzation program) uses when you O)utput a report. This can
be any name, including the name of the bulletin where the SYSOP
keeps his RBBS stats. Following this, are the names of the
dates between which ProAna will analyze in the Callers file.
These must be numeric, and the default is the whole file, by
specifying dates which are out of range.
Finally, the last two fields, are the names of the files where
the user file report and messages file report will be outputted.
Once you are finished, if everything correct, hit the {ESC}
key, and respond "Y" to the question "Save Configuration File
<Y/N>?".
As you can see when the screen comes up, there are defaults,
and if those suit your particular configuration by chance, you
may just press {ESC} and save it.
Analyzing the CALLERS file
One of the most important functions of ProAna is the
analyzation of the callers file. This provides a vast source of
information, commonly displayed in two or more methods. To
analyze the callers file, you must, from the Main Menu, push the
"F2" key which starts the seperate analyzation program. It will
take a little while for it to get loaded, depending on your
particular configuration.
First, after having selected "F2" and ProCall (the name of the
call analyzation program) having been loaded, you will see a
display similiar to this:
3
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| Buffer Size Date: Time: |
| 128 06-30-1987 14:15:34 |
| / \/ |
| 1 2 |
| |
| |
| Control Strings Records 1st Logon Last Logon |
| 4 1858 5_ 06-27-87 06-30-87 _6 |
| / /1800 \ 12:48 PM 12:22 AM / |
| 3 4 \ 7 |
| 8 Start Date/ \End Date |
| 01-01-1980 12-31-1999 |
+---------------------------------------------------------+
1) Buffer Size for CALLERS file
2) Current Date & Time
3) Number of strings in PROCALL.CTL file
4) Number of records in CALLERS file
5) Time & Date of 1st logon in CALLERS file
6) Time & Date of last logon in CALLERS file
7) Start & End date of range to analyze
8) Number of records left to search in
increments of 100.
NOTE: After ProCall is finished reading the CALLERS file, it
will begin sorting. A note will be displayed in front of #8 to
that effect.
Once the loading process is finished, ProCall will then
display a menu of options that you may display. First, you can
return to this menu at any time by pressing "F1". Second, you
can look at the numbers and totals for all the stats by
selecting "F2", or you can go right into it by pressing "+".
There are several pages of these, and to navigate them you
must use the "+" and "-" keys. On the right while displaying
the stats, you will see a list of downloaded files, which can be
navigated by using the "PgDn" or "3" on the numeric keypad,
"PgUp" or "9" on the numeric keypad, "Home" or "7", "End" or
"1", and can be sorted by count by pressing "s".
After the stats come the graphs. The first graph can be
displayed by either pressing "F3" or by paging past the end of
the stats. (You can page through the whole report by pressing
"+" and "-".) This graph is a breakdown of the number of calls
per hour. This is one of the most important graphs, as it tells
when the bulletin board is being used the most.
Next comes the graph of calls by "SPEED/BIT/CHANGE", which can
be displayed directly by the "F4" key. This graph is also
important as it shows how many people are utilizing each bps
rate from 300 up to 9600. Also displayed is the number of calls
at 7-bit and the number of calls at 8-bit, and lastly, the
4
number of changes from 300 to 450 bps, shown as "C450".
Then comes two graphs that are tied together. There wasn't
enough room on the first, so it had to be split up into two.
The title isn't different, and to get to the second one you have
to page forward. You can access this one directly by the "F5"
key. These graphs show the number of uploads and downloads done
with each protocol, compared to the total.
Finally, the last two graphs are graphs showing the same as
the above, but just simplified into showing one graph for
uploads and one for downloads.
Outputting a Report
Another excellent feature of ProCall is the ability to put all
these statistics into an easy-to-read, comprehensive report.
This report can be formatted for RBBS, the screen, or printing.
To output a report, you must, after ProCall is loaded, press
"o" at any time while displaying graphs, or the Main Menu.
(This is as shown on the last couple lines of the display. As
you've probably discovered by now, the last few lines of the
display usually have a brief summary of the options available.)
After you select "o" you will be prompted for the type of format
you want it outputted for. You can select "s" for "SCREEN",
which works well with text readers such as Vernon Buerg's "List"
program, or you can select "p" for "PRINTER", which will format
it 66 lines/page, and adds extra things here and there.
Finally, you can select "r" for "RBBS" which will output a
report based on a screen length of 23, and usually works well
with RBBS. It is rather flaky, though, depending on where you
start showing it, and this is because of RBBS. For example if
you selected "N)ew bulletins" and it displayed it in the
context, the page stops would be different then selecting "6"
from the bulletin menu, and that would be different then
selecting "b;6" from the main menu of RBBS. New with 15.1C you
can also include ANSI color in your RBBS reports, too!
After you have specified the format for the report, ProCall
will begin writing the report to disk and issue a message to
that effect.
When you are finished with ProCall, you can press {ESC} to
return to the Main Menu of ProAna.
Site Selected Satistics
Occasionally, some SYSOPs will add their own messages that go
into the CALLERS log. Never fear, ProCall has made provisions
for these special statistics! An optional file you can have in
your ProAna directory/disk, is a file by the name of
"PROCALL.CTL", which contains control strings to search for, and
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strings to be displayed on the Site Selected Satistics page of
ProCall's stats. The format of this file is:
"<SEARCH_STRING>","<DISPLAY_STRING>"
where <SEARCH_STRING> is the string to search on in the CALLERS
file, and <DISPLAY_STRING> is the string to be displayed on the
screen. You can have up to 19 site-selected statistics, the
search string can be up to 20 characters long, and the displayed
string can be no longer than 25 characters long. This file must
be created using an ASCII editor, and must contain the double
quotation marks ('"') and the commas. (',')
Analyzing the Messages File
The MESSAGES file analyzation routine can be reached by
pressing "F3" from the Main Menu of ProAna. It will take only a
few seconds to load, depending on the size of your MESSAGES
file. After loading, press "o" to output a report, if wanted.
This is one of the easiest routines to execute in the whole
package, as there are no prompts, almost no waits, and only one
screen. So, the documentation for this one will be brief. The
routine will display various information concerning RBBS's
MESSAGES file, including how many nodes are sharing it, the
number of killed messages, the number of active messages, the
number of kill protected messages, the number of receiver
protected messages, the number of password protected messages,
the average number of records required by each message, and the
list goes on and on.
Some of the more confusing numbers are the statistics on the
right column of the screen. When ProAna says "Record Number",
it means "Record Number"! The "Record Number" is the actual
record number where RBBS gets the certain statistic.
To exit this subroutine, like the others, press {ESC} and you
will be returned to ProAna's Main Menu.
Analyzing the User File
To analyze RBBS's USERS file, press "F4" from ProAna's Main
Menu. As with the MESSAGES file analyzer, this routine is
fairly simple, and takes a few seconds to load. After it is
loaded, the list of states described later on will be shown on
the display, and ProAna will start analyzing the USERS file.
The lower box on the screen shows ProAna's progress, including
the number of users found, and the number not found.
Once completed, ProAna will ask you if you want an exception
list. If you respond "y", you will be asked whether you want it
outputted to the screen, a file, or the printer. If you specify
screen, ProAna will begin listing the names and city/states of
the users not found on the screen. If you choose the printer,
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the listing will be output on the printer, and if you choose a
file, ProAna will output the statistics to the file specified in
the ninth field of ProAna's configuration page. Once complete,
it will ask if you want another exception list, and if you
specify "y" for yes, it will allow you to output it somewhere
else.
The PROSTATE.TBL File
Required by ProAna's user analyzation routine is a file called
"PROSTATE.TBL" which must exist in the same drive/directory as
ProAna. This file can have up to 60 entries in the following
format.
ST/LONG STATE NAME/CITY/CITY/CITY...etc.
where "ST" is the 2-character abbreviation for the
state/country/providence, "LONG STATE NAME" is the full name of
the state, and "CITY" is any number of cities in the state. The
only required field is "ST", which is displayed on the screen
and searched for. The other fields are used to cut down on the
number of exceptions because occasionally users specify a city,
and no state, or a long name for a state...etc. These fields
all must be in CAPITAL LETTERS.
The User Editor
One of the most convenient features of ProAna is the ability
to edit almost all of the fields in the user record. This would
be handy if, for example, a user moved. The SYSOP could then
start the user editor by pressing "F5" from the Main Menu, and
change the user's city, state, and individuation (if needed).
The keys used in the User Editor are similiar to the keys in the
configuration editor, with the following exceptions. "Home" is
used mainly to verify the subscription dates on the second page,
but will also change the color (from green to cyan if on a color
display) of the fields on the second page. "PgDn" is used to
get to the second page from the first, and "PgUp" is used to
return to the first page.
The only fields that aren't editable in the user editor are
the "NAME" and "LAST DATE & TIME ON" fields. ("LAST DATE & TIME
ON" will be editable in the next version.)
You can change the fields to just about anything you want to,
within the realm of reality. For example, you can't set the
page length to "hg" or the subscription date to "22-40-1943".
One note: The fields in bright white on a color display are NOT
editable.
The individuation field is the 19 bytes that were formerly
used for "Machine Type" on older versions of RBBS-PC starting at
position 87 and extending to 105 in the user record.
7
You Found a Problem?
If something is not working as documented, or ProAna will not
work in your particular configuration, I'd like to hear about
it! You can call me voice in the evenings between 4:00 pm, and
9:00 pm CST, or call one of the BBSs listed below and leave me
mail. I'm not guaranteeing anything, just saying that I'll try
to do what I can.
Limited Warranty
These programs are provided "as is", without any warranty of
any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not
limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness
for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and
performance of these programs is with you. I do not warrant
that the functions contained in these programs will suit your
needs or that the operation of these programs will be
uninteruppted or error free.
Distribution
Please distribute this program at User Groups, and your
favorite bulletin boards.
If you use this program, and would like more of it's kind,
please consider sending a small contribution of $20 to one of
the following address. The price of this program has been kept
to such a low fee because of the understanding of the time,
effort, and financial sacrifice that have gone into a BBS.
Please send all registrations to:
Professional Analyzer
c/o RBBS-PC of Fargo
P.O. Box 9121
Fargo, ND 58107
There are many benefits involved if you register, including:
- RBBS-PC support on the author's bulletin
board. 24 Hrs, 7 days a week.
- Optionally, you can contribute via MC or VISA
through one of the RBBSs.
- You will receive notice every time a new
version of ProAna is available.
You can contact me on one of the following RBBS systems in ND &
IL:
Fargo IBM PC Users Group RBBS RBBS-PC of Chicago
(701) 293-3934 - 150mb (312) 352-1035 - 290mb
James A. Grettum, Sysop Loren D. Jones, Sysop
8
The Satellite RBBS
(701) 293-3934
Andrew Hoag, Sysop
Voice: (701) 232-3811
4:00 - 9:00 pm C.S.T.
The latest version of ProAna will always be available on these
boards, and I will try to keep the latest on Jon Martin's, Tom
Mack's, and Ken Goosens's.
Thank you for your support! Happy analyzing!
Andrew J. Hoag - Author & Sysop
Appendix A: Automated Reports
A feature added in version 15.1C of ProAna is the ability to
automatically produce reports from the command line. You can
produce a report from ProCall only, OR you can produce a global
reports analyzing the callers file, messages file, and users
file.
The syntax for producing a report is quite simple. Basically
it is as follows:
C>proana <node> <type> <start_date> <end_date> <output_fmt>
Where:
<node> The node number your wish to analyze for. ProAna
will use the correct PROANA.CFx file.
<type> The type of report you wish to output. Either
"-g" for a G)lobal report, or "-o" for O)nly
the callers file analyzation.
<start_date> The ProCall START DATE for outputting the
report. The dates should be strictly numeric
using no hyphens or slashes.
<end_date> The ProCall END DATE for outputting the report.
As above, no "-" or "/" should be included.
<output_fmt> The format the the ProCall report will take.
This is in the form of an option:
/RA = RBBS ANSI Color format
/R = RBBS format
/P = Formatted for output to a printer
/S = Easy to view with such programs as
"LIST" by Vern Buerg.
An example command line would then be:
9
C>proana 1 -o 010180 123199 /R
Which would output only the Callers file analyzation in RBBS
format using the default filename set up on the Configuration
procedures.
From this, a very handy batch file could be made:
C>copy con:prorept.bat
echo off
echo Produces a complete ProAna report for node 3!
proana 3 -g 010180 123199 /S
copy prouser.rpt+promess.rpt+procall.rpt proana.rpt
del prouser.rpt
del promess.rpt
del procall.rpt
type proana.rpt | more
echo on
^Z^Z
1 file(s) copied
Appendix B: Revision History
15.1B-01 - First shareware release of ProAna. (07-07-87)
"Rel. 2.2" Was a temporary "bug fixing" release which
corrected problems with 9600 bps and other
minor errors. (07-16-87)
15.1C-01 - Released corresponding with RBBS 15.1C, and
includes such features as automated reports,
and color reports. Also fixes a few bugs
found in previous versions. (11-15-87)
16.1A-01 - Again released on the same date as RBBS-PC
16.1A, and includes full support of RBBS-PC
16.1A's features. Bugs were fixed, and the
user file editor now uses the PASSWRDS file
to determine subscription length. (03-20-88)
10
