ftp.wwiv.com/ftp.wwiv.com.zip/ftp.wwiv.com/pub/BBS/BBSRPT12.ZIP/BBSREPT.DOC

Text File | 1994-12-14 | 17KB | 411 lines

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                               BBSREPT v1.1

                         An RA 2.xx Reporting Utility




                                USER MANUAL

             Software and documentation written by Bob Zumbrunnen
                     Copyright (C) 1994 by PC-HELP, Inc.
                            All rights reserved



*** What Is It?

BBS Reporter is an RA 2.xx log file processing program.

It reads your log files and produces the following files:

  * BBS Activity Table  | Shows usage information for your whole system and
                        | for each node.
                        |
  * BBS Usage Graph     | Graphically shows phone line utilization for each
                        | node.
                        |
  * Games Activity Table| Shows usage information for any Type 15 exits you
                        | specify.
                        |
  * Games Problem Report| Shows what games are either not being used or may
    **Registered Only** | have a problem.

  * Chat Request Log    | CHATRQST.RPT shows the names all everyone who
                        | paged you for chat during the reporting period
                        | and the reasons they gave.


All files except the Games Problem Report and Chat Request Log are produced
in both ANSI and ASCII flavors.

*** Environments

As far as I know, BBS Reporter only works with RA 2.0 and above.  It *probably*
works with other versions of RA, and there's a chance it'll work with other
BBSes.  I won't know until people send me sample log files from other boards
so I can tweak the program to support them.

BBS Reporter has been tested in all versions of MS-DOS from 5.00 to 6.22, and
has also been tested in OS/2 and NDOS.  It *should* work in Windoze.

Of course, it works in the most important environment for RA SysOps; DESQview.

*** Why Was It Written?

I run a small multi-node BBS system and found myself faced with two problems:

     1.   My log files are often too large to view using QEDIT in a DESQview
          window.

     2.   Deciding when to add more lines is a guessing game, at best.

BBS Reporter was originally nothing more than a log file trimmer.  I wrote it
to keep no more than a specified number of days' activities in the log files
for easier viewing.

It wasn't too long before I had it doing different things with the data in
the log files.  After all, it had to read every line to do the trimming; might
as well have it do something useful with the information.

From this grew a table reporting, for each node, such things as total time used
for the specified number of days, number of calls per day per node and for the
whole system, average amount of time each user spends on-line, and, most
importantly, the percent of the time each node has a caller on it.  This is
important for me because whatever percent of the time the last node is in use
represents the percent of time per day when a caller will get a busy signal.
If the last node is seeing 25% usage, that means there are 6 hours out of the
day when callers are likely to be getting busy signals, and it's time for more
lines.

As happens with nearly anything I touch, one thing led to another, and a little
throw-away utility started sprouting bells and whistles like crazy!  The end
result, thus far, is a program that makes a very useful table, and an extremely
pretty (I think <grin>) graph that provides useful information to the SysOp and
can also be interesting to the users.


*** How Do I Set It Up?

1.   Put BBSREPT in the directory your RA log files are in, or put it in its own
     directory and copy RA's log files to it.  It doesn't care what directory it's
     in.

2.   If this is your first installation, rename the included SAMPLE.CFG to
     BBSREPT.CFG.  If this is not your first installation, check the enclosed
     SAMPLE.CFG and/or the WHATSNEW file to see what changes should be made
     to BBSREPT.CFG.

3.   Edit BBSREPT.CFG.  The config file is documented internally.  It's
     patterned after Windoze's .INI files, so it's easy to revise.  It doesn't
     care what order the choices are in, so long as the spelling is correct.
     If you make a mistake, BBS Reporter will tell you so.

4.   Run BBSREPT.

That's about all there is to it.  Most of what you'll need to know is covered
in the CFG file.  If you need more information about BBSREPT.CFG, it's
covered later in this document.

*** What Restrictions Are There?

1.   It currently only supports RA log files, though I'll make it work with
     *any* board's log files if I can get copies of sample log files to work
     with.

2.   It expects the log files to be named RA*.LOG, where "*" represents the
     node number.  If you have a one-node system, it reads RA1.LOG.  If you
     have a 20-line system, it reads from RA1.LOG to RA20.LOG.  I plan to
     remove this limitation in the future, but if you currently call your
     log files something else, such as BBS1.LOG, just have your maintenance
     rename the logs (REN BBS1.LOG RA1.LOG) before it runs BBS Reporter, and
     name them back (REN RA1.LOG BBS1.LOG) afterwards.

3.   It assumes a day is from midnight to midnight.  What this means is that
     you should run it in an event just a few minutes before midnight.  Make
     sure you run it far enough away from midnight so it can *finish* running
     before midnight.

4.   Until you register it, you must have "Registration_Name" and
     "Registration_BBS" set to "NOT REGISTERED", or it won't run.

*** BBSREPT.CFG

This is the file that drives it all.  It is internally documented, and most
parts of it should be easy to understand, but in case you're having trouble,
or just like to RTFM, here it is in detail:

----------------------------->cut here<---------------------------
Number_of_Days=10
Last_node=7
Overwrite=True
Progress_Display=Baton
Output_Name=BBSREPT
Graph_File=BBSGRAPH
Game_File=BBSGAMES
BBSREPT_Log_Mode=None
Registration_Name=NOT REGISTERED
Registration_BBS=NOT REGISTERED

[Game Errorlevels]
115 Land of Gorr
113 Draw Poker
112 Video Poker
111 Terra Firma
109 Legend of the Red Dragon
108 Metal Knights
107 Saratoga Speedway
106 Land of Devastation
105 The Pit
104 BBS Golf
103 Golf Solitaire
102 WhoDunIt
101 Stackem
100 Yankees and Rednecks
99 Planets
98 EZSlots
97 MC Bowl
96 BBS Bowl
94 Amazing Memory
93 Box Poker
92 Draw Poker
91 Great White
92 In Between
89 Idiots Delight
88 Kings Last
87 Match Two
86 On The Edge
85 Press Your Luck
84 Puzzle
83 Quote Fall
82 Solitree
81 Two-Card
80 Trapper
79 Treasure
78 Yacht
46 Subscription Door
43 Operation Overkill
24 Barons
23 Casino
21 Galactic Warzone

----------------------------->cut here<---------------------------

I've deleted the comment lines that are in the sample CFG file.  First, a
few general rules about this file:

1.  Any line starting with ";" (without quotes) is considered a comment.

2.  All text must start in the first position of the line.

3.  The CFG file is treated as two parts: General config info, and Games info.

4.  The Games Errorlevels section must be the last part of the CFG file.

5.  BBS Reporter doesn't care about the order of the general config items,
    but make sure the spelling is correct.

6.  All items in the general config area are *required*.  The program won't
    run if one or more of them are missing.  It'll tell you which ones it's
    having trouble with.

Here's an explanation for each line.

Number_Of_Days        This serves three purposes.  First, it's the reporting
                      period used in the output files.  If you put 10 here,
                      it will only report on the most recent 10 days'
                      activities.  Second, it is used for averaging
                      calculations such as callers per day.  Third, if you
                      tell BBS Reporter to trim your log files (by specifying
                      Overwrite=True), this is the number of days that will
                      be kept in them.  Any number is a valid value here.

Last_Node             Basically, you use this to tell BBS Reporter how many
                      lines your BBS has.  If you tell it 7, it will stop
                      processing once it's finished the 7th node.  Any number
                      is a valid value here.

Overwrite             Tells BBS Reporter whether or not to overwrite your
                      existing log files.  For the Log File Trimming option
                      to work, you must specify True here.  Valid values are
                      True and False.

Progress_Display      Valid values are Baton, Bar, and Percent.  When BBS
                      Reporter is running, it uses the specified method to
                      show that it's running (as opposed to locked up) and,
                      in the case of Bar and Percent, keep you informed as
                      to how far through the processing it is.

Output_Name           The path and filename you want BBS Reporter to use for
                      the BBS Activity Table.  Don't specify the extension!
                      BBS Reporter creates ANSI and ASCII files and names
                      them accordingly.

Graph_File            The path and filename you want BBS Reporter to use for
                      the Usage Graph.  Don't specify the extension!  BBS
                      Reporter creates ANSI and ASCII files and names them
                      accordingly.

Game_File             Optional.  If you would like BBS Reporter to create
                      a table showing number of times each game is played
                      and how much time is being spent playing them, enter
                      a path and filename (no extension) here.  If this line
                      is commented out (with a ";"), or missing, BBS Reporter
                      ignore the Games Errorlevels section.

BBSREPT_Log_Mode      Valid values are None, Summary, and Debug.  Defines
                      whether or not BBSREPT.LOG will be created, and, if so,
                      how it will be used.  Usually, you'll want None here to
                      speed up processing.  Summary will make BBSREPT.LOG
                      contain the name of each user who called, when they
                      called, when they logged off, and how much time they
                      used.  Debug mode can create a file several times
                      larger than your log files, so don't use it unless you
                      NEED to.  It logs information that is helpful for me
                      if I need to troubleshoot your setup.

Registration_Name     Your name, only if the program is registered.  If it's
                      not, this must say NOT REGISTERED.  Anything else and
                      the program won't run.

Registration_BBS      Your board's name if it's registered.  If not, it must
                      say NOT REGISTERED.

[Game Errorlevels]    If Game_File is used, BBS Reporter will read this section
                      to determine which errorlevels in your log files indicate
                      door games being used, and their names.  Because it looks
                      for an errorlevel, only Type 15 menu entries are
                      supported.  Personally, I'm a huge fan of Type 15s
                      because, among other reasons, I can use environment
                      variables to greatly simplify setting up doors.

                      Each entry in this section must conform to the style
                      used in the example (errorlevel, 1 space, door name).
                      They do not need to be in any particular order.  I only
                      have them in reverse order because I pasted them from
                      my BBS.BAT

                      At this time, up to 50 entries can be made here.  If
                      you want more, let me know, and I'll add support for
                      whatever number suits everybody.

                      Note that the order you enter the errorlevels is ignored.
                      BBS Reporter sorts them in descending order based on the
                      number of times they were executed.


*** What If It Doesn't Work?

If you're having trouble with the program bombing, I can usually fix it real
quick-like.  Just set the BBSREPT_Log_Mode to DEBUG, run it, and send me your
log files and BBSREPT.LOG.

You can also call our BBS at [phone], or send us Netmail at 1:280/31.
You can call us voice at [phone], but it's likely we won't be able to
help you much until we have BBSREPT.LOG.  One more alternative is Fax at
[phone].


*** What Additions To BBSREPT Are Planned?

1.  Produce a detailed report of such items as average daily downloads,
    number of calls per day at various baud rates, etc.

2.  User-definable thresholds for reporting excess usage (time for more lines).

3.  Take mailer usage into account.

4.  Pre-processing backups. (You can do this in your bat file now, though.)

5.  Support for many more BBS types.


Warranty:

           This program is covered by PC-HELP's "50/50" warranty.  If it
           breaks your computer, you own both pieces.  If your LOG files
           become unreadable garbage, restore from your backup.  If you don't
           have backups, do what I do: break your computer.

Registration:

          BBS Reporter is shareware.  If you're even reading this, you must
          be a SysOp, so you know full well what shareware is.

          Everything but the Games Trouble Report works without registering,
          but the words "NOT REGISTERED" and "UNREGISTERED" are printed on
          the tables and graphs created by BBS Reporter.

          You are required to register this program if you continue to use it
          after a period of 30 days.

          The cost of registration is $5.00, and covers all future versions of
          BBS Reporter.  This is a paltry sum, but it's really not like I've
          written a Lotus clone or something.  It's a nifty util for SysOps and
          nothing more.  I don't expect to get rich from it, but it'd be nice
          to have several people like my program enough to give me money for it. <grin>


Upgrades:

     The latest version is always available by Freqing BBSREPT from 1:280/31.


How To Register:

You have 3 options for registering BBSREPT:

1.   Send $5 (check or money order recommended) to:

               PC-HELP
               BBSREPT Registration
               PO Box 617
               Belton, MO  64012

2.   Call our BBS at [phone] and use option 4 of the Options menu.  To do
     this, you'll need Visa or MasterCard.

3.   Send us Private, Direct, Net-Mail at FidoNet 1:280/31 with your name as it
     appears on your credit card, your credit card number, and expiration date.

IMPORTANT NOTE!  BE SURE TO GIVE US YOUR FIDONET ADDRESS, BBS PHONE NUMBER, OR
POSTAL MAILING ADDRESS SO WE CAN SEND YOU YOUR KEY FILE!!!  All registrations are
processed within 24 hours of receipt.  Also, we need your name exactly as it will
appear on your screens, so we can make your key file.

Acknowledgements:

          My thanks go out to John Hutton (1:280/66) for helping me
          debug the program (including helping field a nasty curve
          thrown at it by NDOS) and Brad Stiles (1:280/119) for
          suggesting the "INI-style" config file.  Thanks also to
          Clayton Hill (1:280/29) for some especially tenacious
          debugging.

Alpha/Beta Team:

          Bob Zumbrunnen (1:280/31)
          John Hutton    (1:280/66)
          Brad Stiles    (1:280/119)
          Clayton Hill   (1:280/29)



Bob Zumbrunnen
PC-HELP, Inc.
PO Box 617
Belton, MO  64012
FN 1:280/31