Re: [WWdevel] more logging

[Michael G. <ga...@ma...>]

Hi,

Here is some data about the current logging facilities in WeBWorK2.   
It is taken from global.conf.dist with a few annotations comparing
the facilities with WW1.9

######################################################################## 
########
# Logs
######################################################################## 
########

# FIXME: take logs out of %webworkFiles/%courseFiles and give them  
their own
# top-level hash.

> Fixing this would also allow us to consolidate the writeLog and  
> writeCourseLog subroutines.  Currently the only difference
> is where in the course environment they search for the path to the  
> log file.

# Logs data about how long it takes to process problems. (Do not  
confuse this
# with the /other/ timing log which can be set by WeBWorK::Timing and  
is used
# for benchmarking system performance in general. At some point, this  
timing
# mechanism will be deprecated in favor of the WeBWorK::Timing  
mechanism.)
$webworkFiles{logs}{timing}         = "$webworkDirs{logs}/timing.log";
>    - this is total time taken for any given response.  I find this  
> helpful in moderating day to day
> performance of our local servers.  It is also possible to obtain  
> more detailed timing data
> -- but it is now housed in the Debug.pm module, not Timing.pm.  I  
> don't think it is necessary
> for production installations.  The timing log fills up fast and  
> should be rotated.
# Logs courses created via the web-based Course Administration module.
$webworkFiles{logs}{hosted_courses} = "$webworkDirs{logs}/ 
hosted_courses.log";

> this is only used in the Admin course, and keeps a record of  
> courses created and deleted on the server.

# The transaction log contains data from each recorded answer  
submission. This
# is useful if the database becomes corrupted.
$webworkFiles{logs}{transaction}    = "$courseDirs{logs}/ 
transaction.log";
> This records all of the data provided by a student when they answer  
> a problem. It is updated using the
Utils::writeLog(ce, "transaction" ... ) subroutine.
> It is roughly  equivalent to
> the Global::log_info logging facility in WW1.9 which "captured  
> every key stroke" of the student and store its data in
> the file, usually named access_log.  What it actually saved was the  
> entire url query string, including any hidden data.
>
> There is one important difference in that Global::log_info was  
> called on most scripts, including instructor scripts, while
> the transaction log is only updated when answering a WeBWorK  
> problem. The WW1.9 log contains instructor house keeping
> actions as  well as student actions.

# The answer log stores a history of all users' submitted answers.
$courseFiles{logs}{answer_log}      = "$courseDirs{logs}/answer_log";

> This is a separate log that records the students' answer history.   
> it duplicates some information in the transaction log. It was
> created at a different time and for a different purpose than the  
> transaction.log.  It might be useful to consolidate some of the
> code involved in these two logs.  It also would be worth  
> considering placing this data directly in the sql database.  The  
> upside, particularly for student answers, is that it would become  
> easier to search for certain types of student mistakes using sql  
> queries.  On the downside this might interfere with performance.

> The format for storing the data in both answer_log and in  
> transaction log is somewhat ad hoc.  If we continue to store the  
> data in a file then storing the data in an xml format would  
> facilitate being able to manipulate the data later using  
> standardized tools.  We might store the data in a file, but  
> periodically extract it and store it in an sql database for  
> research purposes.


# Log logins.
$courseFiles{logs}{login_log}       = "$courseDirs{logs}/login.log";

> This merely records each time a student logs in to webwork.


Take care,

Mike

#################

On Aug 27, 2005, at 6:49 PM, John Jones wrote:

> Webwork 1 had a fuller logging procedure, where basically every  
> click was logged.  I found that useful since I sometimes had to  
> figure out what a teacher had done (in addition to answering  
> questions about what students did).
>
> The webwork 2 logging framework made it easy to replicate this: one  
> line in global.conf to define the log file, and then one (long)  
> line in ContentGenerator to call the writeCourseLog to record the  
> url and the cgi parameters.  So, this raised a couple of questions:
> would we want this facility in the main webwork?
> if so, should it be more refined (so individual modules can give  
> more finely tuned log entries)?
> Thoughts?
>
> John
>