The reason this thread is in existence is because Messenger Plus! is
not working in a logical way.
The whole point of computer software is to make out lives/tasks easier, quicker and more logical, so we can easily understand it.
The date format of the file/folder naming was just unwittingly coded in the wrong format in the first place... creating this mess. These slip-ups happen all the time, and are a fact of life, but it's a simple job of making a few changes to correct it and getting nearer to perfection... The Goal of any programmer surely?
Log files, by definition, are all about archiving data with respect to when it happened in time. All this is recorded chronologically and sequentially.
The reason for recording logs is to make the date available for reexamining at a later date. So it's wise to store this date in a logical and useful format.
With instant messaging, we're in the business of talking to people, so splitting up the log files one for each person (email address in this case) is an extremely logical thing to do. So having a folder per email address is good.
Splitting it up into Month folders with a log file per email address has got it's applications, but is more rarely needed i reckon.
After that, you'd want to then store log files within that folder with chronological file names, so that they naturally sort that way by default.
I gather there might be performance issues with having an individual log file per conversation, so that's why they are currently stored in monthly files.
This is where MP falls over and is illogical. Having all the Decembers grouped together is of no use at all.... The log files must flow chronologically by default.
If i need to find something in the logs, i almost certainly know who the conversation was with... now i just need to remember when abouts the conversation took place and look in the corresponding month file... After looking in a couple, around the guessed time, you should find what you were looking for. Sorted!
But at the moment, we open up the persons folder and all the month files are clumped together, nothing is chronologically ordered... There's probably several years worth of date that has been backed up, copied over a few times, so that file creation/modification dates are not what they should be and it confuses and annoys the yell out of you and you throw the monitor out of the window
... Or start writing comments on the forums!
The ISO date format is just 100% logical and a wonderful thing.
Here's the ISO's website describing the Standard:
The ISO solution to a long-standing source of confusion
To suggest that some people will find this format strange is true but that is an extremely weak statement... Someone who might be 'not very computer-literate' will look at this might think "ooh, it's a bit different... Ah, here what I'm looking for" That confusion will last fractions of a second before the natural order of data helps them find what they are looking for. It's simple & logical, so it's easily and quickly learnt. So this is a non-issue.
So sensible defaults I'd guess would be this:
code:
...\My Chat Logs\fred.bloggs@hotmail.com\2007-12 (December).ple
A path/filename format like this should be 100% logical and useful for almost all the users of Messenger Plus! Those that have specific needs that require it in other formats can then go off into the registry and tweak away.
Messenger Plus! should work logically out-of-the-box. So let's fix it so that from this point onwards, it works correctly.
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