arsperl 1.3 released

[Jeff M. <jcm...@sm...>]

1.3 Notes
---------

We've added some features for performance analysis. In particular, 
we've added the "profiling" feature to ARSperl. Now, when you call
ars_Login() it initializes a profiling variable that will track
the number of queries your script makes against the server. You
can then access this information using the ars_GetProfileInfo() call.

We send this information to syslog() automatically at the end of
each script and then process the syslog file later on to keep stats
on our API scripts. In this fashion, we can quickly determine which
scripts are triggered the most, and which make the most queries. We
can then concentrate out optimization efforts on those particular
API scripts.

In addition, a few new functions were added (GetFilter, GetCharMenu and
GetServerStatistics). The first two are used by the WhoUsesIt.pl 
utility. This utility (found in the "examples" directory) is handy for
locating which filter or menu is referencing a particular file, or 
seeing exactly what filters a particular schema uses.. etc. This 
cuts down the amount of time it takes to figure out a poorly documented
system (what? poor documentation? not us!! :)

The GetServerStatistics function was added to provide a simpler method
for checking server health. I might provide a server analysis tool 
built around this function in a future release. 

Joel added a cache to the internal GetField routine. This should cut
down on the number of queries made by some of the functions like
GetFieldTable and such.

jeff


ARSperl:

http://smurfland.cit.buffalo.edu/ARSperl/index.html

check out the two utilities included in the package (doc is available 
on the web page):

	DumpSetup.pl (will work with 1.22 installations)
		archive your server definitions using RCS nightly (via cron)

	WhoUsesIt.pl (requires 1.3)
		track down menu files, process files, see what active links
		a schema uses.. etc.