Log Files

The VolanoChat server uses the text formatting capabilities of Java 1.1 to allow you to define your own formats for the text, numbers, dates and times in all of the server log files. This section explains how to modify the formats of the following server log files:

the server access log (defined by the log.access property),
the public room access log (defined by the log.public property),
the private room access log (defined by the log.private property),
the error log (defined by the log.error property), and
the support log (defined by the log.support property).

For the applet worksheets on this page to work, you'll need a browser with Java 1.1 support, such as Netscape Communicator 4.0 or later, Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later, and Sun HotJava Browser.

Server access log

The server access log is formatted from the following message patterns:

format.date

defines the format of the date field.

format.access.agent

defines the format of the information about the client browser's Java environment:

{0} the Java vendor,
{1} the Java version,
{2} the Java class version,
{3} the operating system name,
{4} the operating system version,
{5} the operating system's hardware architecture, and
{6} the Java vendor's Web address.

format.access.extra

defines the format of the extra information that can be added to the log entry:

{0} the duration of the connection, in seconds,
{1} the host name of the computer where the Web page originated,
{2} the host name of the computer where the VolanoChat applet originated,
{3} the number of connections in the server when this connection ended,
{4} the number of public rooms in the server when this connection ended,
{5} the number of private rooms in the server when this connection ended, and
{6} the host name of the computer which closed this connection by kicking or banning the visitor, or "-" if this connection was not kicked or banned.

format.access

defines the overall format of the access log entry:

{0} the host name or IP address of the visitor's computer,
{1} the date and time this connection ended, formatted by the format.date pattern above,
{2} the URL where the VolanoChat applet originated,
{3} the version string of the VolanoChat applet,
{4} the HTTP status code explaining why this connection ended,
{5} the number of bytes transferred on the chat connection,
{6} the URL of the referring Web page,
{7} the string formatted by the format.access.agent pattern above, and
{8} the string formatted by the format.access.extra pattern above.

The default access format pattern is assembled as shown below. This format is the NCSA Extended Common Log Format that can be analyzed by any Web log statistical program, such as Analog and Web Trends.

 {0} - - {1} "GET {2} HTTP/{3}" {4,number,0} {5,number,0} "{6}" "{7}" {8}
          ^                                                       ^    ^
          |                                                       |    |
format.date                                     format.access.agent    |
                                                     format.access.extra

The applet worksheet below lets you try out different access log format patterns right on this Web page. The patterns are filled with sample data to give you an idea what a corresponding log entry will look like. Just modify the format fields and press the Enter key.

For example, remove the "z" from the format.date pattern and press the Enter key. You'll see the time zone removed from the formatted date. Change the "MMM" in the date to "mm" and you'll see the date's abbreviated month changed into the month's numeric representation. For a shorter time stamp, try "M/d/y hh:mm:ss a". The other patterns may be modified in a similar fashion.

Applet 4.1: Server access log format worksheet.

See the section at the end of this page for information about all the possible date, time, and number formatting symbols.

Public access log

The public room access log is formatted from the following message patterns:

format.date

defines the format of the date field.

format.public

defines the overall public room access log entry:

{0} the date and time the person left the public chat room, formatted by the format.date pattern above,
{1} the duration of time spent in the public room, in seconds,
{2} the name of the public room,
{3} the name of the visitor,
{4} the host name or IP address of the visitor's computer.

The applet worksheet below lets you try out different public room access format patterns right on this Web page.

Applet 4.2: Public room access log format worksheet.

Private access log

The private room access log is formatted from the following message patterns:

format.date

defines the format of the date field.

format.private

defines the overall private room access log entry:

{0} the date and time the private chat session ended, formatted by the format.date pattern above,
{1} the duration of the private chat session, in seconds,
{2} the name of the public room from which this private chat session was created,
{3} the name of the initiator of this private chat session,
{4} the host name or IP address of the initiator's computer,
{5} the name of the responder to this private chat session,
{6} the host name or IP address of the responder's computer.

The applet worksheet below lets you try out different private room access format patterns right on this Web page.

Applet 4.3: Private room access log format worksheet.

Error log

All potential errors are written to the file defined by the log.error server property. The format of each error is determined by the value of the server.verbose property. With the verbose error logging disabled, errors are written one per line with a time stamp as a prefix, shown on two lines below:

[Sun May 03 11:45:22 PDT 1998] Error reading from 192.168.0.2.
  (java.net.SocketException: Connection reset by peer)

With the verbose error logging enabled, each error message is followed by the Java stack trace showing where the error originated in the VolanoChat server or Java virtual machine, as shown below:

[Sun May 03 11:45:57 PDT 1998] Error reading from 192.168.0.2.
java.net.SocketException: Connection reset by peer
        at java.net.SocketInputStream.read(Compiled Code)
        at java.io.BufferedInputStream.fill(Compiled Code)
        at java.io.BufferedInputStream.read(Compiled Code)
        at java.io.DataInputStream.readUnsignedShort(Compiled Code)
        at java.io.DataInputStream.readUTF(Compiled Code)
        at COM.volano.net.Connection.read(Compiled Code)
        at COM.volano.net.Connection.run(Compiled Code)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Compiled Code)

Support log

The support log contains information about your VolanoChat license and Java virtual machine required for support. An example is shown below:

server.version     = Version 2.1.x
server.properties  = C:\home\vchat2.1.x\properties.txt
server.license     = VolanoChatPro - 5 connection limit
server.expiration  = null
server.host        = red (192.168.0.2)
server.port        = 8000
java.vendor        = Sun Microsystems Inc.
java.vendor.url    = http://www.sun.com/
java.version       = 1.1.7
java.class.version = 45.3
java.compiler      = symcjit
os.name            = Windows NT
os.version         = 4.0
os.arch            = x86
user.language      = en
user.region        = US
file.encoding      = Cp1252
file.encoding.pkg  = sun.io

Please include the contents of this file when sending your questions or problems to Volano's support address.

Further information

Further information about message formatting patterns can be found in the Internationalization Tutorial chapter of the The Java Tutorial. For a complete list of all the date and time formatting symbols you can use, see the tables under Time Format Syntax and Examples Using the US Locale in the java.text.SimpleDateFormat Java class definition.

Check HTML

Table of Contents