Files

Capture Settings are set-up separately for each capture channels. Once these settings have been specified, OK or Apply should be clicked. This tab specifies Capture Log file names.

Allows Main and Alternate Capture Log Directories to be specified, in which capture log files be created. The Alternate Directory may be left blank if backup logs on a second disk drive or network share are not required. Clicking the icon at the end of directory edit box displays a Browse for Folder dialog allowing a drive and directory to be selected. If a new directory should be created, just enter it and it will be done automatically. It is not possible to save Capture Settings unless a test file can be created and written to the Main Capture Log Directory, and to the Alternate if specified. If network shares are used, a LAN Logon may need to be set-up in Common Settings, LAN/Misc.

Note that ComCap will exceptionally save Capture Logs and Information Logs in the program directory, if the normal directories are unavailable or are not specified during start-up.

Specifies how often a new Capture Log file should be opened. Note that each separate channel uses separate files (unless Common Logs are specified), and may have different settings.

Daily	A new capture log is opened once a day, which is at the New Log Time, see below. If the log is opened at midnight, the file name need only contain a date mask otherwise it needs the time of day as well.
Hourly	A new capture log is opened each hour, on the hour. This could be used with a custom name mask of '"capture-"yyyymmdd-hh".txt"' so the file name contains hours only, and no minutes.
Multiple Per Day	Multiple new capture logs are opened each day, according to Logs Per Day, starting at the New Log Time, see below.
Weekly (Monday)	A new capture log is opened once a week, on Monday, starting at the New Log Time, see below.
Monthly	A new capture log is opened once a month, at midnight on the first day of the month.
Every x Minutes	A new capture log is opened after the time period specified in New Log Every (see below), perhaps every 30 minutes. Typically used for high traffic situations. The difference from Multiple Per Day is that a new log is opened each time capture starts, and then periodically.
Inactivity Period	A new capture log is opened each time the old log is closed due to the ‘Inactivity delay before closing capture log’ specified in Capture Logging expires. This setting is typically used for capturing batch information, such as printed reports.
Fixed File Name	Always used the same fixed file name for the capture log, beware the log may be get very large unless purged by another application.
Each New Page	A new capture log is opened at the end of each page, when a form feed control character is received. This setting is typically used for capturing batch information, such as printed reports.

For the New Log Interval Daily, specifies at what time of day the new log is created, defaulting to 00:00:00 for midnight. If the time is set to anything other than midnight, the ‘Log Name Format’ must include provision for the time of day in the file name.

For New Log Interval: Every x Minutes, specifies how often a new log file should be opened, defaulting to every 60 minutes. Note that new log files are only created when new capture data arrives, so there will not be any empty files during quiet periods. Logs are always opened on the exact minute.

For New Log Interval Multiple Per Day, specifies how many new log file should be opened each day, starting at the New Log Time. Four logs per day with a new time of 00:00 would create new logs every six hours at 00:00, 06:00, 12:00 and 18:00; three logs starting at 06:00 would create new logs at 06:00, 14:00 and 22:00; seven logs per day from 00:00 would create new logs every 206 minutes, at 03:26, 06:52, 10:18, etc. The minimum Logs Per Day is two, maximum is 12, for lower or higher use the Hourly or Daily settings.

Ticking this option avoids empty capture logs remaining on disk, after they are closed and a new log opened. Note this only applies to the main capture log, not the alternate.

Specifies whether the file name format used for log file is standard or is customised by the user.

Named

This format uses the channel name, then the date and time, ie the mask is name-yyyymmdd-hhmmss.txt, so for Channel Name Cdrs com3, the log name format would be:

d:\logs\cdrs com3-20061005-152014.txt

Custom

For a Custom log Name Mask of "phonelogs-"yyyy-mmm".txt", the log name format would be: d:\logs\phonelogs-2006-oct.txt

Classic

This is the format used by ComCap v3, for serial port channels it’s capture followed by the port number, then the date and time, ie the mask is captureX-yyyymmdd-hhmmss.txt, for network channels it’s network following by the Channel Id: d:\logs\capture3-20061005-152059.txt

The Custom Name Format allows a Custom Log Name Mask may be created. This is done using mask characters that specify how the log date and optional time are formatted in the file name. Be very careful creating the file mask, it must include sufficient date and time masks to ensure a unique file name is created to match how often new logs are opened, so a daily log must have the day, an hourly log the time. The mask is validated to ensure that it includes yy or yyyy mask characters for year.

Date and time elements are creating using characters strings from the following table:

c	Date and time using the Windows default settings.
d	Day as a number without a leading zero (1-31).
dd	Day as a number with a leading zero (01-31).
ddd	Day as an abbreviation (Sun-Sat).
dddd	Day as a full name (Sunday-Saturday).
ddddd	Date using the short Windows default setting.
dddddd	Date using the long Windows default setting.
m	Month as a number without a leading zero (1-12).
mm	Month as a number with a leading zero (01-12).
mmm	Month as an abbreviation (Jan-Dec).
mmmm	Month as a full name (January-December).
yy	Year as a two-digit number (00-99).
yyyy	Year as a four-digit number (0000-9999).
h	Hour without a leading zero (0-23).
hh	Hour with a leading zero (00-23).
n	Minute without a leading zero (0-59).
nn	Minute with a leading zero (00-59).
s	Second without a leading zero (0-59).
ss	Second with a leading zero (00-59).
zzz	Milliseconds with leading zeroes (000 to 999)
t	Time using the short Windows default setting.
tt	Time using the long Windows default setting
am/pm	The am/pm specifier can use lower, upper, or mixed case.
a/p	The a/p specifier can use lower, upper, or mixed case.
/	Date separator character.
:	Time separator character.

Any text to appear in the file name should be within single (') or double quotes ("). Note that a directory path may be included within the mask, so new directories are created each day or month. The mask must not include the leading back slash. The following table shows several mask examples.

Mask – quotes are needed	Resulting File Name
"capture-"yyyymmdd".txt"	capture-20060828.txt
"capture2-"yyyymmdd"-"hhnnss".txt"	capture2-20060828-145404.txt
yyyy”-“mmm”-“dd".log"	2006-Aug-28.log
ddd” “d” “mmmm”.txt”	Wednesday 28 August.txt
“cdr-“dd/mm/yy".log"	cdr-28/08/06.log
"month-"mm"\info1-"yyyymmdd".txt"	month-09\info1-20060929.txt
"info1-"yyyymm"\"dd".txt"	info1-200609\29.txt
"info1-"yyyymm"\"yyymmdd".txt"	info1-200609\20060929.txt

As the Custom Log Name Mask is typed, the resulting file name appears dynamically. When capturing data from multiple channels, note the file names must be unique if the capture logs are saved in the same directory. It is not possible to add the channel number or name using mask characters so it must be added as text, ie 1 or 2, etc.