ComCap v4
Data Capture Utility

ComCap Features

• Capture from up to 40 serial RS232 COM ports, TCP/IP Server, TCP/IP Client and UDP/IP network protocols simultaneously, with suitable hardware. Many network appliances output log information, typically using the UDP/IP 'syslog' protocol, and as telephone switches become network aware (VoIP) they are offering network logging instead of the serial port.
  
• Capture from serial device servers that ‘convert’ serial port data to network protocols, from Lantronix, Lavalink, RE Smith and Tysso eCov for instance, easing data capture distances.
  
• Captured data is optionally shown in scrolling windows as it arrives, and earlier data can be viewed as well. Coloured tabs indicate which channels have started capturing data and which are stopped.
  
• Capture files may be in separate directories for each capture port and new files may be created daily or multiple per day (at specified times), weekly (Monday), monthly, hourly, every few minutes, after an inactivity period, when a new page character is received, or a fixed file name may be used. Multiple channels may optionally capture data into a common file, to reduce the number of separate log files.
  
• Capture file names (and optionally paths) are automatically generated, with a file name format customised with date and time in various ways, numeric or alphabetic.
  
• Capture data may be written to a database, such as Microsoft SQL Server or MySQL. Data formats may be created to identify fields within each line of data, as fixed width columns, character separated columns (CSV) or variable named columns. ComCap examines the SQL tables or stored procedures for column names and types, and allows mapping of which field of data is written to which SQL column. ComCap protects data that can not be immediately written to the database due to network problems, and will write it once the database becomes available again.
  
• ComCap can echo captured data directly to serial communications ports or parallel ports to drive printers, or echo to the network using UDP/IP (syslog), TCP/IP Server or TCP/IP Client protocols.  Network echo can be used to allow capture of the same data to a maximum of five PCs simultaneously for redundancy or for remote capture with one PC near the data source echoing data to a centralised location.
  
• ComCap displays the status of the serial port CTS, DSR and DCD lines, and if a TCP/IP connection is established is connected, and flashes when data is received.
  
• ComCap has options to safeguard captured data, closing the log after each line to force it to write to disk, or after an inactivity period or periodically every few seconds or minutes.
  
• A separate information log file is maintained showing when capture starts and stops and other ComCap events, it will log capture status hourly with the number of lines received from each port or stream and to which logs it is being written. The information log may be sent to a remote PC using network protocols, perhaps to another copy of ComCap, to ease central monitoring of remote capture.
  
• A sound file may be played when each new line of data is captured (with a minimum gap between sounds, in case of frequent data).
  
• Raw data may be captured unchanged from the COM port or network stream, or the data may be cleaned up with non-printing characters removed and trailing spaces removed.
  
• When capture is started or stopped, command strings may be optionally transmitted and periodically repeated, perhaps to trigger a remote appliance to start or stop.
  
• Captured lines may have text added at the start or end, that can include escape sequences to add a serial number (of specified length), date and time in various formats, PC name, local or remote IP address.
  
• A comment may be added manually to any capture channel, using a pop-up dialog, this is intended to assist in documenting batch captures, perhaps from laboratory instruments.
  
• Alerts for problems are presented in a pop-up window and may be sent by email and by SMS to mobile telephones, using either a GSM modem or SMS internet gateway.
  
• Data loss checking, to detect if other windows applications caused ComCap to possibly lose data. An alert may be triggered if new data is not captured after a period, configurable by time and day of week, or if the PC appears to hang for a short period.
  
• For redundancy, ComCap will capture logs on two different disk drives at the same time, and continue logging if one of the disk drives is lost, the drives may be across a network with remote logon details specified. ComCap makes multiple attempts to open files, in case of conflict problems such as backup and protects data until it can be written to the capture file. If disk space runs low, ComCap will send an alert.
  
• ComCap is usually run as a Windows service that starts immediately the PC starts without needing a user to log-on. There is also a system tray application which can configure, monitor and control the service displaying data currently being captured, but which will also capture data if the service is not used.
  
• ComCap is supported on Windows 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista. The minimum recommended PC is a Pentium III with 128 Mbytes of memory. ComCap is normally run with a higher priority than other windows applications, to ensure stable data capture, although a dedicated PC is recommended for valuable information. ComCap v3 is recommended for those still using Windows 98, ME and NT4, but Microsoft has ceased all support for them.
• There are two editions of ComCap version 4:
  

• ComCap v4 Standard edition is limited to three simultaneous serial or network channels and does NOT support database or data filtering
• ComCap v4 Unlimited edition has no channel restriction and adds database and data filtering support
   

The main benefits of upgrading from ComCap v3 to v4 are as follows:

• Capture of TCP/IP Client, TCP/IP Server and UDP/IP network protocols
  
• Increase from 30 to 40 maximum capture channels
  
• Transmit commands on start and stop capture
  
• Improved line ending and restart capture
  
• Redundancy writing to two different log disk drives
  
• Better error handling for log file errors
  
• Higher program priority to avoid data loss
  
• New multiple logs per day capture interval
  
• More flexible text addition to capture data
  
• Capture direct to a SQL database
  
• Better printing options, bypassing Windows print queue
  
• Echo captured data, using serial or network protocols
  
• View data captured by the service version
  
• Control service version from tray version
  
• Configuration data in files rather than the registry
  
• Alerts by email and SMS to mobile telephones
  
• Main window does not show unused serial ports
• View full and old logs in new larger window

ComCap Background