Abracadabra Automating Analog And Report Magic

Analog may be the most popular Web stats analyzer in the world, but it isn't the most intuitive program for Windows users to automate. These step-by-step instructions will get the program working on your server, like magic.

For the sake of brevity, I'll assume that you can download and install Analog and Report Magic. If you can't do that, you probably shouldn't be writing scheduled batch files anyway.

Step 1: Your Analog CFG file

There is nothing magical about setting up a good CFG file for Analog. Since CFG files are roughly the same for each platform, I won't waste your time here. Instead, I'll provide you with a few useful links:

1. Analog documentation — which tells you how to create a CFG file.
2. The RixWeb CFG file creator — which will create a CFG file for you.
3. This example CFG file — which you can use for inspiration

When creating your CFG file, there are just a couple of things to keep in mind. First, that you'll be overriding the LOGFILE setting when the program is run. And, second, that you only need to output a .DAT file if you're going to run Report Magic.

Report Magic is a tool that makes Analog reports look prettier. Like Analog, its free, so there is no reason not to use it.

Step 2: Your Report Magic INI file

Report Magic INI files need to know where to find your DAT file and where to write the HTML files for the Web Stats report. In this case, here are the relevant links:

1. Report Magic Settings Documentation - where you can read about creating an INI file.
2. This example INI file which you can use for inspiration.

Report Magic can dynamically create file names that include date information. You'll probably want different INI files for monthly and yearly reports. It's not uncommon to have multiple Report Magic INI files for a single Analog CFG file.

Step 3: Your Manual Batch File

If you're setting up Analog or Report Magic for the first time, you'll want to create a batch file that generates historical reports - those for previous month/years that you'll want to view statistics for.

The manual batch file needs to include two lines for each report generated. The first is the Analog command. The command above specifies: 1) the location of analog.exe; 2) the log files to be included in the report; and 3) the .CFG file to be executed. For example:

call c:\analog\analog.exe c:\LogFiles\W3SVC9\ex0203*.log +g"c:\stats\config\my.cfg" -G

The second line for each report is the Report Magic command. This command specifies: 1) the location of the rmagic.exe; and 2) the location of the .INI file. For example:

call c:\analog\rmagic.exe c:\stats\config\my.ini

This example generates monthly reports for 2002.

Step 4: The Automated Batch File

The automated batch file takes the same format as a manual batch file. However, at the beginning of the batch file you must first fetch the current month/year:

@ echo off
set yy%date:~12,2%
set mm=%date:~4,2%

Then, use the same commands, replacing the appropriate portion of the log file name:

call c:\analog\analog.exe c:\LogFiles\W3SVC9\ex%yy%%mm%*.log +g"c:\stats\config\my.cfg" -G

call c:\analog\rmagic.exe c:\stats\config\my.ini

This example generates a monthly Web stats report.

Step 5: Use Windows Task Scheduler

Using Windows Task Scheduler, specify a time when you want the batch file to run. For detailed instruction, visit the Analog web site

Ta da! You're automatically generating Analog web stats report.