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Get rid of folders in chat logs - Printable Version

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+----- Thread: Get rid of folders in chat logs (/showthread.php?tid=65970)

Get rid of folders in chat logs by silvernino on 09-08-2006 at 02:54 PM

Since installing Windows Messenger LIve and Messenger Plus Live, Messenger Plus is storing my chats using the email address as the folder and a new file for each month.

I want just one file per contact. No folders, no monthly archives. I had this set up in Messenger Plus 3.x. How do I configure the new client that way?


RE: Get rid of folders in chat logs by RaceProUK on 09-08-2006 at 03:43 PM

[Image: attachment.php?pid=726380]
;)


RE: Get rid of folders in chat logs by silvernino on 09-08-2006 at 03:48 PM

I know about that dialog box. That is what I have now.  By checking that it does the follwoing:

1) creates a folder with the email name
2) saves one month of chats. at the end of the month, it creates a new file called "September 2006.txt" for each folder.

I have over two dozen files now for just August and Septmeber. I'll have hundreds in a few months.

I want 1 file per contact, and the file name to be their email. No folders. No archives by month. Just like Messenger Plus 3.x allowed.


RE: Get rid of folders in chat logs by CookieRevised on 09-08-2006 at 04:15 PM

Set the options as shown by RaceProUK. After that you need to alter the registry...

By the use of a registry key you can change the name of the archive folder to your likings...

eg: the folder 2006-07 is produced by defining yyyy'-'MM.

The key is:
HKCU\Software\Patchou\Messenger Plus! Live\you@email.com\Preferences\LogsDateDirFormat

Although not yet documented, the format is similar to how the ArchiveFileDateFmt registry key behaved in Plus!3. So you might wanna base your format on the documentation for Plus!3 for now: http://old.msgplus.net/help_registry.php#datetags

quote:
Date Tags
To add normal text, use single quotes. Example: "dd'/'MM" will produce "18/10".
    * d - Day of month as digits with no leading zero for single-digit days.
    * dd - Day of month as digits with leading zero for single-digit days.
    * ddd - Day of week as a three-letter abbreviation.
    * dddd - Day of week as its full name.
    * M - Month as digits with no leading zero for single-digit months.
    * MM - Month as digits with leading zero for single-digit months.
    * MMM - Month as a three-letter abbreviation.
    * MMMM - Month as its full name.
    * yy - Year as last two digits, but with leading zero for years less than 10.
    * yyyy - Year represented by full four digits.
btw, such tags are used in Windows and in many programs btw, so they are kind of 'universal'.

Thus, this indeed also suggests you do not need to specify a date per-say; you can just use a text between single quotes to archive everything into a single subdirectory. Or you can even define the current directory as the archive folder if you define LogsDateDirFormat as:    '.'

Note: there is a very good reason why chats are archived (per month). Chats can become extremely big and the bigger they are the slower everything will get. So be advised that putting everything into the same folder/file is not a wise idea to do actually.



PS: this has been asked for and answered a few times on the forums already. Always search first before you post something ;)
RE: Get rid of folders in chat logs by silvernino on 09-08-2006 at 04:20 PM

Thanks. I'll look at this.

Are you saying there is no way to not archive though? I have chat logs over 1.2MB in size going back to 2001 and there is no slowness - at least there wasn't in 3.x.  I don't care about the new viewer at all. I didn't even know it existed until today when trying to fix this. I use TextPad to search my logs and having dozens of files makes this a tedious process, and having subfolders is also a pain.  I cannot imagine if my logs dating back to 2001 were split into monthly files. THat would be one huge mess of non-useful data. Or rather, hundreds of small messes of non-useful data. :(


RE: Get rid of folders in chat logs by CookieRevised on 09-08-2006 at 05:45 PM

I'm saying you can edit the archive folder name so that the folder will always be the same as the current log folder:

quote:
Originally posted by CookieRevised
Thus, this indeed also suggests you do not need to specify a date per-say; you can just use a text between single quotes to archive everything into a single subdirectory. Or you can even define the current directory as the archive folder if you define LogsDateDirFormat as:    '.'


quote:
Originally posted by silvernino
I have chat logs over 1.2MB in size going back to 2001 and there is no slowness - at least there wasn't in 3.x.
logs in Plus! Live are waaay bigger than before due to the XML format and all the saved images (if you log in XML/HTML).

Also, logs are written to more frequently than it used to be, again adding to the "slowness".

This hasn't got anything todo with the new viewer as that will only load the log once and be done with it. It is the creation and constant updating of logs which will make things relativly slower.
RE: Get rid of folders in chat logs by silvernino on 09-08-2006 at 11:03 PM

Well, my logs aren't any bigger. I don't log events and I don't log HTML, so this is a significant feature loss for me by having these multiple files.

I'll hvae to figure out a way to periodically concatonate these with my Plus 3.x files. THis is ridiculious.


RE: Get rid of folders in chat logs by CookieRevised on 09-09-2006 at 03:21 AM

quote:
Originally posted by silvernino
Well, my logs aren't any bigger. I don't log events and I don't log HTML, so this is a significant feature loss for me by having these multiple files.

I'll hvae to figure out a way to periodically concatonate these with my Plus 3.x files. THis is ridiculious.
I already said how you can do what you want (twice)...

EDIT:
CookieRevised's reply to Get rid of folders in chat logs
CookieRevised's reply to Get rid of folders in chat logs
RE: Get rid of folders in chat logs by silvernino on 09-09-2006 at 12:58 PM

then I must be really missing it. I don't see how to archive all chat logs into a single file per contact and no archivals at all. I'll go back through the thread for the third time and see if I can find that info.

Thanks.


Ok. Sort of have it figured out.

1) Change the logging method to by date.
2) add the registry key mentioned above as a String value - HKCU\Software\Patchou\Messenger Plus! Live\you@email.com\Preferences\LogsDateDirFormat
3) Change the value of it to '.' (single quote, period, single quote)

Now the problem is all of my logs are being saved as username@domainname.com (2) instead of username@domainname.com

Any way to get it to stop the (2) business? I suspecte there is something in the file it sees it doesn't like, like the Messenger Plus header format from years ago at the top? Anything I can put in the first line of my files so it quits this duplication?