Multipurpose Log Filter: Progress
Some minor improvements
I couldn't resist improving MPLF (now version 1.1.1) and JUpdater (now version 0.3.1) a bit, so I did. The changes are not crucial, but they do improve the experience with the programs.
MPLF's parsing has been vastly improved. It still works like before but it's now a lot faster, it doesn't lock the main thread and it now shows the result as it's filtering. This is especially good for large logs (>5MB) as it's not fun waiting 10ish seconds every time one makes a minor modification to a rule. The file list is now also sorted alphabetically to make it easier to find the filter that one is looking for (especially when one has 20+ filters).
The modification to JUpdater now removes files that are no longer needed at synchronization, instead of leaving it up to the administrator to do it manually.
I have started populating the filter archive, EQ2 now has about 11 filters. I can only make filters if I have log examples, so you have to contact me with a sample log if you want me to make filters for a specific program. It shouldn't be too hard for me to get a hold of an EQ log as well, so I will probably be populating that category next.
Version 1.1 released
Version 1.1 of the Multipurpose Log Filter is now complete and available from both the download page and from the version updater inside the program.
The major change is the inclusion of the online filter archive into the program. One can now directly access the archive from within the program and download filters from the online archive. The program's interface features the same functionality as the website's, so one can also upload filters and suggest modifications to existing filters.
On another note: new versions of the form and admin panel generators have been uploaded. The admin panel generator had some bugs fixed and the form generator had some additional fields added.
The current plan: I will try to populate the filter archive with whatever I can come up with during the next few days. When that is done I will do a minor upgrade to JUpdater. After that I really ought to start a new project, the current thing I have in mind is a 2D Java remake of Magnetic Gliders (3D was never important to that game anyway).
Online filter archive
I have begun on the online filter archive, which is one of the things on my todo list concerning improvements to MPLF. There are three major parts to the archive:
- The backing library, table architecture and moderation system.
- A web interface.
- An XML-RPC interface for the program to use.
The first and second items are finished, the web archive is currently accessible through the web interface at http://www.lokorin.com/mplf/archive.php. The interface is not yet amongst the MPLF project's links, but it will be there as soon as the program has support for it.
The archive is quite empty at the moment, I will however populate as I get suggestions about what filters I should populate it with. Also please note that the user interaction is a big part of the archive's design, users can submit their own filters to it via the archive's main page and they can also suggest changes to existing filters.
The moderation system is separated from the site's administration system so I can allow interested users to moderate the archive. If you are interested then please contact me.
So next up is the XML-RPC interface so that users can download and upload filters directly from MPLF. I will post another update when that is complete.
Testing finished, v1.0 released
Multipurpose Log Filter has now been fully tested and version 1.0 has been released. The new version can be downloaded from the download section or via "Miscellaneous->Search for update" in the program's menu if you have 0.91+ installed. The major changes made during the tests were improvements to the regular expression generator. It should now be a lot faster and more resource efficient. Also it can now handle all tests I throw at it, which impresses me.
It is still a pretty "dumb" algorithm which does find a regular expression that matches exactly what one enters, but not necessarily other things that one wants it to match. Take the following as an example. I enter the following into the generator:
(1104776665)[Mon Jan 03 19:24:25 2005] [Anonymous] Scalz (Iksar) Zone: Scale Yard (1104776665)[Mon Jan 03 19:24:25 2005] [27 Assassin] Kilahri (Dark Elf) Zone: Nektulos Forest (1104776665)[Mon Jan 03 19:24:25 2005] [26 Warlock] Lokorin (Ratonga) (LFG) Zone: Nektulos Forest
And it returns:
\(1104776665\)\[Mon Jan 03 19:24:25 2005\] \[.*? \(.*?\) Zone:
While the produced expression might be correct, it wont match any other /who result as the pattern is time stamp specific. The pattern that one really wanted was probably something like the following (the pattern with the time stamp removed):
.*?\[.*? \(.*?\) Zone:
This means that the user might still have to understand regular expressions in order to get the wanted result, but hopefully the generator will at least help a bit.
I still can't come up with another project to work on so I will keep improving MPLF. This is my current to do list for coming releases.
- A more intelligent generator.
- Web based filter archive.
- The option of using multiple filters and interlacing the result.
Suggestions about other things that I should fix or add are welcome via the contact me page. Project suggestions are also welcome.
And so the testing begins
I have made some smaller adjustments to the Multipurpose Log Filter (the current version is 0.91).
- The path of the config file has been changed to $HOME/.mplf/conf.xml .
- The default filter dir now also resides in $HOME/.mplf .
- The config editor inside the program should now work a bit better.
- The Up/Down buttons for the rule list now use graphical arrows instead of the texts 'Up' and 'Down'.
- The regexp generator has been improved, it still needs more testing before I can begin to trust it though.
- The JUpdater implementation in the program is now working as it should.
As a byproduct, JUpdater has also been improved (the current version is 0.3).
- The update states sent to the listener should now be accurate.
- Empty files and directories will now be ignored by the server's JAR parser.
- The system's temporary directory will now be used for the temporary data instead of the currently used directory.
Indeed there has not been a lot of changed during the recent week. Instead I have spent most of the week installing/upgrading and finetuning the newly released Fedora Core 4. I especially like that they included a native version of Eclipse. Most things are the way I want them now, so I will spend most of the time testing and tinkering on MPLF. Hopefully I will get a 1.0 release done soon.