--------------------------------------------------------------------------- ACTVIEW PCB 2.33 (c) PCBoard Activity Log Viewer/Analyzer Copyright (c) 1993 by Greg Wilson All Rights Reserved 01/01/93 Author: Greg Wilson --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Purpose ------- Actview was written out of my own need for a tool to assist with reading the activity log of my BBS. The task of viewing the log with a file viewer was taking too long and I found myself rushing through the process, missing many important events such as invalid password attempts, carrier drops, new users, etc.. Actview was originally written for Wildcat BBS's but after the fantastic response I received from Sysops, I decided to write a version for PCBoard as well! Instructions ------------ For a quick look at what Actview has to offer, copy ACTVIEW.EXE to the directory containing your CALLER file(s) and run it. If you have more than one node or use a different naming convention, you will have to build a file named ACTVIEW.CFG (see below). The program will display the last recorded day's activity in a one line per call format with the critical information shown. At the top of the screen, the range of dates in the log is displayed along with the date of the information being displayed. For other functions available (and there are many!), press ALT-M for the menu. Most are self explanatory. If you do not like menus, you can use the built in key functions (press F1 for a list). For more information, see below. Key Function ------------------------------------------------------------------------ F1 - Displays the help window. F2 - Swaps to another node's log. Directories to your different logs must be entered in a file named ACTVIEW.CFG (see below). F3 - Displays the following activity: * Invalid logon attempts. * Invalid Passwords. * BBS errors To return to the normal display, hit escape. F4 - Displays totals for the currently displayed date. F5 - Displays new users for the displayed day. To return to the normal display, hit escape. F6 - Allows jumping directly to any date in the activity log. F7 - Jumps to the previous day's activity. F8 - Jumps to the next day's activity. F9 - Displays all calls of a specified user. The program will prompt for user name, beginning date, and ending date of search. The name will default to the highlighted call. The dates will default to the beginning and end of the activity log. Actview will scan the log finding all matching calls and then display the calls in the usual one line per call format. To view totals for the user, hit F4. To return to the normal display, hit Escape. To abort the search, press the space bar. F10/ ALT-X / ESC - Quit Actview. ALT-F - Display the ACTVIEW.FLG file (see below) ALT-L - Toggles local calls. Local calls will not be displayed or included in the daily counts. ALT-S - Allows the entire activity log to be searched for a given string (such as filename, Message#, ..etc.). Here are some ways I use this feature: * Search for all activity related to a particular file. * Search for all activity related to a bulletin or door. * Find all users that still use XMODEM. * See who is using QMAIL. * See who has exceeded their time limit. * ...etc.! ALT-D - View all downloads for the day. ALT-U - View all uploads for the day. ALT-O - Sort calls. Actview will display a menu of 7 different sort types. ALT-V - View all activity logs for all nodes. Every log in the ACTVIEW.CFG file is scanned for the currently displayed date and the calls are loaded. This is a major time saver! A typical Actview session would go something like: * Type ACTVIEW (if multinode, use parameter VIRTUAL to load all nodes) * Hit F3; if any errors are displayed, view the detail. * Hit F5; view new users. * Hit ALT-U to see what was uploaded. * Hit ALT-D to see what was downloaded. * Hit ESC to go back to viewing all calls. * Scroll though the summary looking for uploads, msgs, carrier drops and pages viewing the detail of these activities if desired. An average review takes me about 3 minutes compared to 30 minutes before I had ACTVIEW! User Defined Flags ------------------ Actview allows sysops to define flags to indicate that a certain activity has occurred during a call. These one character flags are displayed on the initial call summary screen and are defined in the file ACTVIEW.FLG. This has many uses including: * Flag all users that download a certain file * Flag all users that use a certain door * Flag all users that drop carrier * Flag all users that join a certain conference * .. etc. A flag is a single character to be displayed in the flag column on the summary screen. Up to 5 flags can be displayed for a single call. If more than 5 flags are found, the last flag will be then character "*". In the ACTVIEW.FLG file, the first column contains the flag character to be displayed. The string to turn on the flag is enclosed in quotes on the same line as the flag character. Example: If an additional flag was desired to show any activity related to the file "ACTVIEW.ZIP", ACTVIEW.FLG would be updated as follows (remember that the flag characters must be in column 1): C "CARRIER LOST" C "LINK LOST" N "NEW EXTUSER" A "ACCESS DENIED" P "PASSWORD FAILURE" S "ATTEMPTED TO LOGON AS" V "ACTVIEW.ZIP" *** Note: Case is ignored *** See the file ACTVIEW.FLG for more examples. The initial flags for dropping carrier, errors, new users, and exceeding download ratio are already set up. Multi Node Features ------------------- For multi-node operation, create a file named ACTVIEW.CFG with the directories and filenames in the following format: (in column 1) C:\PCB\CALLER1 C:\PCB\CALLER2 C:\PCB\CALLER3 C:\PCB\CALLER4 The entire path *and* filename must be specified in each line. NOTE: ACTVIEW.CFG must be in the same directory as ACTVIEW.EXE This feature may also be useful for single node sysops that maintain backup copies of their logs under other names and/or directories and still want to access them via Actview. Actview parameters ------------------ ACTVIEW mm/dd/yy NOLocal ERRors NEW NODE=x MONO SNOW BIOS mm/dd/yy - Go directly to mm/dd/yy HELP - Display help screen NOLocal - Do not show local calls (ALT-L toggles) ERRors - Show logon errors for the day (F3 toggles) NEW - Show new users only (F5 toggles) NODE=x - Go to node x. ACTVIEW.CFG must be present. MONO - Force monochrome attributes NOMOUSE - Turn Off Mouse support (speeds up entry and exit). SNOW - Turn on snow checking during screen writes VIRT - View all nodes at once. BIOS - Use bios screen writes. This option is not necessary when running Actview under Desqview because checks for Desqview are made and direct screen writes are remapped accordingly. BIOS writes are much slower than the normal direct screen writes and should not be used. LARGE - Use large jump values during searches. This parameter is normally not needed unless some of the calls in the activity logs exceed 100 lines (usually netmail hubs). If Actview sometimes hangs, try this parameter. It is not the size of the actual activity log file but the size of the individual calls within the log. >> This parameter should no longer be needed << 25 - Set 25 line mode 43 - Set 43 line mode (EGA) 50 - Set 50 line mode (VGA) Requirements and Limits ----------------------- * ACTVIEW is Desqview aware. No extra parameters are needed for Desqview as Actview detects DV automatically. Memory requirements: 220k (Multi node see note) Max nodes in ACTVIEW.CFG: 100 Max flags: 100 Max number of displayed calls is now only limited by the available memory. The max number is displayed in the help window. This is also the max number of hits when searching (ALT-S or F9). If the search finds more than the available number of displayed calls, a message will be displayed and the search will be halted. Multi-node note: If your BBS receives a lot of calls each day, more memory will be needed to view the calls. With 200k, only about 400 calls per day are allowed to be viewed at once. The max number of calls is displayed in the help window. * Actview opens the CALLER files in shared READ ONLY mode. *No* writes are made to any files. Liability --------- Actview has been tested on multiple machines using many different configurations and no problems have occurred. However, if a problem does arise due to Actview, I cannot be held responsible. Use at your own risk. Distribution and Registration ----------------------------- Actview may be freely distributed only as the following unaltered files: ACTVIEW.EXE ACTVIEW.FLG ACTVIEW.DOC ACTVIEW.HIS READ.ME REGISTER.DOC ACTVIEW is not free. You must register after the 30-day evaluation time period. ACTVIEW is a Shareware product. It is distributed through public access channels so that perspective buyers can have the opportunity to evaluate the product before making a decision to buy. If you decide to use this software, then you are under both legal and moral obligation to register it with the author. But if you decide not to use it after evaluating the software, you are under no obligation. It is fully protected by State, Federal and International copyright laws. If you continue to use ACTVIEW after the 30-day evaluation time period you must register it. Registration Fee : $25 US Why Register? -------------------------------------------------------------------- * All opening and closing screens are removed! * Registered users have access to the Actview support BBS is granted! * All Actview reports can be downloaded from the support BBS! * All future updates are free! To register ACTVIEW, complete in the order form (REGISTER.DOC) and mail along with your check or money order payable to "Greg Wilson" to: Greg Wilson 1252 Fordham Drive #101 Glendale Heights, Il 60139 BBS: 708-752-4303 лллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллл * Credit Card Orders (VISA/MC/Discover/Amex) * лллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллл Visa/MC/Amex/Discover (via the Public Software Library): 1-800-2424-PSL or 713-524-6394 FAX: 1-713-524-6398 CIS Email: 71355,470 Product #10408 Credit card Price is $25 + $3 handling THESE NUMBERS ARE FOR ORDERS ONLY! Do not call these numbers for technical support! All orders are relayed back to me the same day the order is made. The registered version can be shipped, uploaded or downloaded from my BBS or via CompuServe. лллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллллл Contacting the Author --------------------- I can be reached for comments, questions, suggestions, complaints, etc., at the following EMAIL boxes: My BBS (SYSOP) - mail checked daily Salt Air (GREG WILSON) - Main Conference Only Daily CompuServe (76547,3106) - mail checked daily EXEC-PC (GREGORY WILSON) - mail checked daily Channel 1 (GREG WILSON) - mail checked daily PC-Ohio (GREG WILSON) - mail checked daily Executive Network (GREG WILSON) - mail checked daily -end-