How do we define stop entry format in logging config?

English mAirList 6.x
1

In the 6.1 (and earlier) series of mAirList one could define start and stop log entry formats via the config tool. We exploited this and built an importer that parses log data and posts it to our traffic database. Fundamental to that import is knowing that a complete “advertisement” was played.

6.3 seems to have changed the way that logging entries are defined. By default, only start entries are logged. Consequently, all our advertisements are being flagged as unplayed. To recover, I’m working on a hack to mine the missing information from the system log. This is not sustainable as it requires a manual process.

There are new checkboxes on the logging config’s filter property page that enable/disable start and stop log entries. When our 6.1 config was migrated, the stop entry was disabled. When I re-enabled it, start and stop entries were logged but it’s not possible to tell (other than by inference) which is which (i.e. other than timestamps, the start and stop entries for each item are identical.

In 6.1 (and earlier) it was possible to independently define the format of the start and stop entries. In 6.3 there is a single line format.

How should I configure the logging to restore the previous behaviour?

Is it possible to place the broadcast duration token (%e) in the format string? Previously that token was only available on the stop entry. Our traffic system uses this information to determine whether we’ve met our contractural obligations to our commercial sponsors.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Cameron

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Sorry if the upgrade broke your configuration. The new filter setting was already introduced in 6.2 over a year ago, in order to provide start/stop options for all kind of logging (also HTTP etc.), not just files as in previous versions. We plan to introduce “on incoming stream title” (for relayed streams) as a third option in the future.

When you want to do both start logging and stop logging to the same destination/file, the idea is two add two separate interfaces to the logging section. (You can easily to duplicate the existing one with Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V.)

The “config migration” is merely an ini file copying routine, and it is not smart enough to analyze your config and look for cases like this.

I apologize for any inconvenience this is causing you. We should have pointed the change out more clearly in the change log.

Regarding the %e parameter, it should just work as before (only for stop logging, obviously; when using during start, the value you see will be 0).

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Thanks for that insight Torben. It had not occurred to me to define two file logger instances to handle OnStart and OnStop events. That we can do so is a testament to the flexibility of your platform.

After reading through Uli’s Logging Variables reference in the wiki and changing our configuration to use the OnStop event I was able greatly simplify the Perl script that pushes mAirList as-played data into our traffic system.

This turned out to be an all-round win.

Cameron

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