Log In Log

Tips & Tricks

	Log in Log is extremely user friendly.  Its intuitive interface can be used by anyone, 
with virtually no technical knowledge of any sort, (except how to use MS Windows & a mouse). 
However, there are various possibilities, built into the program, which are not immediately 
transparent.  In this file can be found the details of how to use Log In Log to achieve 
various effects, that may not be obvious to the user. It also answers many frequently asked 
questions about the use of Log In Log.


Not Using Trumpet.

Q	I use a different TCP manager to Trumpet. Is there any way, I can still use Log In 
Log?

A	If you are using a TCP Manager, other than Trumpet, you can still use Log In Log. You 
will have to create an icon as detailed in the item above (Trumpet Hangs Line). You must also 
create an icon to log on with. The properties will be exactly the same as the log off icon, 
except that the '/e' should be replaced by '/s'.(no quotes). A double-click on this latter 
icon immediately a connexion is made, will manually start Log In Log.  As explained above, 
logging off should be accompanied by a double-click on the log-off icon. If you are not using 
Trumpet then the Disconnect button will not appear in the alarm message, when it comes up, but, 
otherwise, it will function exactly the same as if you were using Trumpet.


Multi-user application.

Q 	Different people use my machine for connexion at different times, and they pay 
different rates & have different preferences.  Also, they need to use their own personal log 
files.  How can I manage this?

A	This is how to use Log In Log to create seperate configurations and/or log-files for 
different users on a system. Copy login.cmd to a new name. Using the Set Configuration dialogue, 
create a configuration for the new user. Designate a log file name for the new user. Save 
the configuration to a new name. Apply the Set Scripts function to the new login file. When the 
user dials in, he should select Dialer from Trumpet Winsock's menu. Then he should select 
Other from the sub menu. Selecting the .cmd file for his name from the browser, displayed will 
take the user into the net using his own configuration & log his calls to his own .log file. 
N.B. It is not necessary to create more than one bye.cmd file. A seperate icon can be created 
for the new user, by adding his/her configuration file path & name to the end of the exe file 
name (after a space) in the properties dialogue, (invoked from the File Menu).  Icons for the 
various functions of Log In Log can be created, also, for each user, using the Command-line 
possibilities. (See Help, accessible from the main screen, for full info. on this).

Trumpet Hangs Line.

Q	Trumpet sometimes hangs up my line, without me calling the bye.cmd script. Then the 
session log shows this session as '....not logged off properly' and ignores the time spent on 
line.  What can I do about this?

A	If the TCP Manager or the 'phone company should hang your line, without permission, 
which sometimes happens, here's how to make certain you are logged off correctly.
	If you are using the Log In Log alarm or/and are displaying the Log In Log watch then 
there will be an icon on your desktop, named 'Log In Log Timer', looking like a pendulum clock.
A double-click on this icon will initiate a logoff sequence.
Alternatively, make a new icon in Program Manager, in the group of your choice, probably the 
same one as you keep Trumpet and other Internet applications. In the Program Manager Properties 
dialogue, which can be invoked from the File menu, name the icon something like 'Emergency 
Log-Off' or 'Manually Go Offline' & give it an appropriate icon. In the Command Line box, fill 
in the path of Log In Log and then, after a single space. type the path & name of the 
configuration file. Follow this with a single space and then '/e' (without the quotes). e.g. :- 
	
	c:\loginlog\loginlog.exe d:\joesfiles\joe.cfg /e
	
	Each time your line is cut without invoking Log In Log via Trumpet's bye.cmd, a 
double-click on this icon will allow you to log off normally, before continuing or leaving 
Windows. 
	
The log book.

Q	Why is a corner of the log-book label, bent over?

A	Clicking on the bent corner of the logbook label has the same effect as the History 
button.

Manually Editing a Log File

Q 	One of my log files became corrupted somehow, because it stops calculating statistics 
properly and after opening it in Notepad, I can't figure out what's wrong with it.  How is 
this file constructed?

A	Log In Log should handle your log-files automatically, and there should be no problems 
with them, provided a new one is created, before the old one is too large.  However, if there 
is ever a need to manually edit a log file, here are the rules of their construction.  They 
won't work, properly if they break these rules, in any way.
(In the following, the expression '......' represents a variable, and single qotation marks 
are added for reading clarity, only.)
	
	i) The header consist of three inert lines of text, each separated by a blank line 
(six lines in all).
	ii) Each entry must have 'Session started at......' line, with or without a preceding 
'Title = ' line.
	iii) Each 'Session started at....' is followed by, either a 'Session not logged 
off....' line or a 'Session ended at......' line.
	iv) If the latter, the session entry must be followed by a 'Time online = .....' line 
and a 'Total costs = .......', line with an optional 'Phone Costs = ......' and 'Additional 
costs = ......' lines, preceding it, if both of these apply.
	v) All this may be followed by an optional 'Comments = ......' line.
	vi) Each entry must be followed by a blank line.
	vii) If the last entry is 'Session starts on......', this is because the last login 
was aborted or is still in progress. In this case the file must end at the start of the line 
following this entry.
	viii) If the last non-blank line is 'Total Costs = .......' or 'Comments = ......', 
then this line must be followed by a blank line and the file must end at the beginning of the 
next line to this.
	ix) All session entries must be chronologically sequential.

Hiding the Watch

Q	The Log In Log Watch blocks my view of the internet applications I am using, but the 
information it displays is useful, so I don't want to switch it off.  What can I do?

A	There are two possibilities.  You could double-click on the logbook icon, that appears 
in the top left corner of the watch window. This will toggle the always-on-top state of the 
window on and off. When it is off, the window can be hidden behind other windows.  This option 
can be set also in the configuration Set Timers dialogue. The second possibility is to 
double-click on the watch icon, middle right of the window. This will reduce the Watch window 
to a special icon, accompanied by a label displaying, in short form, the time online & costs.
This 'mini-watch' can be moved around the screen by drag & drop, or returned to full-size by 
means of a double-click, and, when logging off, it will remember where it was and which state 
it was in for the next log in.

Server allows Free Hours

Q 	My internet service provider only charges, after I have used up a certain amount of 
hours in a month/day.  How can I take this into account?

A	The program does not handle this common system of charging for time online, but it 
wouldn't take too much mental arithmetic to deduct anything, up to those hours, from the 
statistics, the program generates. Get statistics from the start of the monthly/daily payment 
period to the end. Deduct the number of free hours from the time online and, if it's greater than 
zero, deduct the number of free hours, multiplied by the hourly charge, from the total costs. 
If it's above zero, you will have to deduct the number of hours online, multiplied by the 
hourly charge, from the total costs.  You could even (carefully) manually edit the log file to 
reflect this, so that the statistics will reflect the true situation more adequately.

Q	In my country, the phone rates/server account charges don't work in the way Log In Log 
assumes.  What can I do to use Log In Log?

A	Some suggestions for some currently unsupported charge systems are given below. Perhaps 
you can use some of the ideas given for a get-around in your country.  If you have problems you 
can always contact the author directly by e-mail explaining your problem carefully, and I will 
try to make a future version of Log In Log reflect your phone company/server acount charging 
system. 

Note for Belgian users:

	Log In Log can only handle 2 different phone-price rates.  For Belgian residents, I 
suggest the following: 
	a) Black rates are off-peak (don't forget to include weekends). Yellow rates are peak 
rates.
	b) Fill in 360 and 720 respectively for the off-peak and peak seconds-per-phone-unit.
	c) Try not to log in during red periods. It's cheaper that way :-) 
	d) If you must use the red rate, manually edit the log file, regularily, adjusting the 
phone costs to reflect any hours spent in the red zone, which you can see from the session start 
& end times.
	e) If so inclined, some resident of Belgian could write a little program to 
automatically read in session start & finish times, work out how many hours are spent in the red 
zone and adjust the total-costs and phone-costs (if different to total-costs).
I hope this helps some.

Note for U.K. Users.

	The new pricing system for B.T. users, makes Log In Log a little more difficult to use, 
in its current form. Because the new rates are continuously incremental (by time not 'phone 
unit), it would be necessary to put the rates in the 'Time-based Rates dialogue.  However, the 
current version of Log In Log only allows for a single rate, and BT allow 3 rates. Two, actually, 
but different rates, completely, on a weekend.  The way to use Log In Log in the UK until a 
future version, handling multiple continuously incremental rates, is complete, I suggest the 
following. 
	1) Copy the file 'login.cmd', in the Trumpet directory to files with the same names as 
the above but the extension '.cmd' 
	2) Open Log In Log and press the 'Config' button. Create three separate configuration 
files called e.g 'weekends.cfg', 'peakrate.cfg' & 'offpeak.cfg', using the Create a 
Configuration dialogue. The name of the log file in each should be the same, but the rates 
should be set differently, according to the appropriate rates for the given filename. 
	3) One by one, load the three configuration files and, using the Set Scripts dialogue, 
set the script of the appropriate '.cmd' file.
	4) When using Trumpet, instead of using Dial-Login from the menu, use Dial-Other & 
select the appropriate login script for the time of day.
	5) This get-around method does not take into account crossing the boundary between rate 
zones, which would necessitate some hand editing of the log file, but as an interim measure 
until I can reprogram to handle the new BT system, it should be adequate.
	6) Setting the phone rates (unit costs) to zero will disable the phone cost increment 
sound effect, but then you wouldn't like it to sound every second anyway. 

Note for Italian Users.
	In Italy they have 'an infamous thing that goes by the name of TUT (Tariffa Urbana a 
Tempo - Time-based Local Rate) that applies to local phone calls, and splits the daytime into at 
least five different shifts on weekdays, four on Saturdays, three on Sundays.' I cannot program 
to take account of these maniacal systems.  Sorry, amici, you'll have to rise up and force more 
change on your system & those who constructed & maintain it. In the meantime, there are ways of 
still using Log In Log. The best idea, submitted, wins a free registration.