WWWStat4Mac. The ideal companion to httpd4Mac,WebStar, or a UNIX or PC Webserver.
"One of the most feature packed log analysers available on the internet today"

WWWStat4Mac FAQ's

• I've copied the file from my UNIX/PC server to my Macintosh but when WWWStat4Mac processes it I just get an empty file!
  You need to convert it to a Macintosh file. WWWStat4Mac expects each line of the log to be terminated with a carridge return character 'CR'. In the counting phase it counts the number of CR's and uses them to work out how many lines to process. When a file has been created on another platform such as a UNIX box or a PC then the end of line character is slightly different. On a UNIX machine the end of line character is a line feed 'LF'. On a PC the end of line is denoted by both a 'CR' and a 'LF'. After you have copied the file onto you Macintosh you need to do a simple conversion from LF or CR/LF to CR's. To make this process simpler there are several utilties available. My favourite is called 'CRLF' and was written by Natsu Sakimura. For your convenience I have a copy on my server for you to download.

• When I process a common format log file WWWStat4Mac reports that there are errors in the file. When I look in the log I find Line Too Long Errors or Line Too Short Errors!
  WWWStat4Mac expects there to be a certain amount of information on each line before it can try and process it.
  Here is an example line from a common log format log.

  sodium.ch.man.ac.uk. - - [15/Sep/1995:13:19:37 +0100] "GET /wwwstat4mac/ HTTP/1.0"  200  3026

  Note that there are 10 entities.
  1. The host name.
  2. Dashes here . (The remote logname of the user.)IGNORED BY WWWStat4Mac.
  3. Dashes here . (The username as which the user has authenticated himself.) IGNORED BY WWWStat4Mac.
  4. Date and time
  5. Time zone.
  6. Method eg. GET or POST
  7. Requested URL eg. /wwwstat4mac/
  8. Current protocal eg. HTTP/1.0
  9. Result code .
  10. Bytes transfered .
  
  WWWStat4Mac expects there to be at least the first six items on the line. Then depending on what the sixth item is it then need three or four more items. If WWWStat4Mac is reporting errors it most likely that that particular line doesn't correspond to the correct format. In most cases the number of errors will be a VERY small percentage of the total. If you find that there are lines that WWWStat4Mac is flagging as containing errors then you should look carefully at the lines to try and determine why an error has been reported. In most cases it is obvious. A very common fault that can cause WWWStat4Mac to report an error is if the requested URL contains a SPACE. This leads WWWStat4Mac to process the first part of the URL and then the second part as the protocol. Then it gets to the end and finds that there is still more information that it hasn't processed, so it flags an error.

• My internet service provider supplies me with logs but I get then a week at a time. Can I combine them all to get my stats on a monthly and yearly basis?
  Yes there is no problem with this. All you need to do is create a cumulative log file from each of your weekly logs. The easiest way to do this is to use a program designed to add files together. One that comes to mind is a Shareware program by Michael O'Rourke called 'Unity'. For your convenience I have a copy on my server for you to download.

• What is SIVC. How does it help me?
  SIVC (pronounced civic) stands for Simple Internet Version Control and is a wonderful creation from Chris Johnson at the University of Texas. What SIVC does, is tell you when a new version of WWWStat4Mac has been released, and then gives you an option to easily download the new version at the click of a button. It does this by periodically contacting my SIVC server, which knows the latest version of WWWStat4Mac, as well as the homepage and the directory where it's located. When WWWStat4Mac contacts the SIVC server, it also allows me to keep an accurate account of the number of people who are using it. There is also a facility for you to check the current version information too. It will contact the server, and then display a dialog similar to the one below:
  
  

  Clicking on the "Download" button downloads the latest version for you and the "Product Information" button opens the WWWStat4Mac homepage. Both these features requires you to have Internet Config 1.1 installed on your computer. This is needed so it can find out what Web Broswer and FTP Client you prefer to use.

  It's important to note that SIVC doesn't send me any private information about you. I never see your email address, name, type of computer, or what other software you might be using. The only thing my SIVC server receives WWWStat4Mac is the time of first access, and the domain name of the machine on which WWWStat4Mac is running. It uses the domain name to keep an accurate account of how many people are using it. If you still feel uncomfortable about using SIVC, or you don't want the extra TCP activity, you can disable it by unchecking the checkbox in the Internet Control Preferences Dialog.

• I have been trying to get the traffic statistics working but the dates always come out wrong!
  This is a known problem with WWWStat4Mac, caused in part by the use of 'built-in' Mac ToolBox routines for the conversion of strings to dates and times. The problem arises when the operating system expects the string to be in one format and WWWStat4Mac presents it in another. This problem is most acute for users in Japan where the operating system can use Kanji-Talk to represent the time in Japanese characters. When this happens the built-in routines are unable to correctly convert the western strings into meaningful numbers.
  Currently the only workaround to this problem is to set your clock to display the date/time using the U.S date/time format.
  Version 1.4.2 and later of WWWStat4Mac address this problem and no longer depend on the built-in routines. The new routines are also faster.
  

|Intro | Quick Start | General Info | Registration | History | Reference | FAQ's. | Customise | Download | Thanks |

This file last modified on 14-Oct-96 at 11:42 pm by Peter Hardman.