How to post logs so that people can actually read them.

karbon · Feb 24, 2005

I've seen a lot of logs posted that wer unreadable because they were posted as plain text. Even if you try and "format" the log into columns using tabs or spaces, all but one space will be deleted. Only one whitespace character is allowed between two text items. You COULD use multiple "non-breaking space" items between HTML tags, but I have a better way:

You first start with a log. I'll be using this one as an example. Different loggers output their data in different formats, but the most common seems to be CSV (comma separated value) files, where each data column is separated by a comma, and data in the next row down is separated by a newline.
Note: DSMLink will output this file type by going to File > Export, then selecting is as either .txt or .csv from the drop-down box at the bottom of the dialog (both are CSV, the only difference is file extension). With other loggers I can only say go to their respective forum or FAQ sites and find out how to export the data to text or csv files.

If you post a log like this in the forums, it'll look exactly like it does in the link above (like crap). It needs some "meat" in between the values so that they'll be in their corresponding columns. There are a couple ways of doing this depending on the software installed on your machine. The best ways I can think of to do this are either either Excel or Dreamweaver. Most everyone has Excel, and the process is easy, but I prefer to have Dreamweaver to build the tables for me. I'll illustrate both.

For Excel:
First of all, if your data file is a .csv file, you can simply use Excel to open it up and it'll automatically fill in the columns for you. If you viewed your file in Notepad or Wordpad and know it's comma separated like the example above, you can rename the file extension to .csv and THEN open it in Excel. If you can't see the file extension, it's because you don't have it enabled. Here's how you show file extensions.
If your data is not seperated by commas, then don't fret. There is a way of getting Excel to recognize any data file with other delineators (such as spaces, dashes, semicolons, etc.) Go to the Data drop-down, select "Export External Data" and then click "Import Data". Find your log file and click Open. The first window that comes up shows you a few options. "Delimited should be selected, Start import at row: 1, File origin: 437 (these should all be defaults), then click Next. This window allows you to select what characters separate the fields. As soon as you input the correct one, it'll automatically build the tables in the preview below. Now just click Finish, and insert it into the current worksheet. Now it should show you all the data in nice neat columns. You may drag the column widths around until you're happy. When you're done, select the File menu and select "Save as Web Page, then save it. Now it's ready to be shipped to the forums. Skip to the section under "For Dreamweaver".

For Dreamweaver:
Open up a new, blank web page, and select the "Insert" menu, click on "Table Objects", and then click on "Import Tabular Data". Select the data file with the "Browse" button, then select the Delimiter. If it's comma separated, select comma, otherwise pick one of the others. If the delimiter the data file uses is not in the list, sorry because you're going to have to use Excel to import the file. Leave the Table width to "Fit to Data". Experiment with cell paddig and cell spacing to find out what you think looks best. I usually use a cell padding of 1 or 2. For "Format top Row", I like to make it bold. Border selects the border width. 1 is fine. Now you're ready to get the data into the forums.

So you've got your tables filled with data, what now? Well it's easy. If you're in Dreamweaver, go to the "View" menu and select "Code". Now you're looking at the code for the table. If you used Excel, go to the file you made as a web page, and right click on it. Go to "Open With >" and select notepad/wordpad. All you have to do is select everything from <table ...> to </table> and copy it (CTRL+C). If it's a very large lof file, you may have to copy and paste in several chunks as it may cut off some of it if you try and paste the whole thing. Now on the window type [ C O D E ] (without the spaces), and paste the table, then type [ / C O D E ] (without the spaces) at the end. If you preview your post, you should see something like this:

Code:

<table border="1" cellpadding="3">
  <tr>
    <td><b>Timestamp (us)</b></td>
    <td><b>RPM (rpm)</b></td>
    <td><b>AirFlow (gm/sec)</b></td>
    <td><b>FrontO2 (v)</b></td>
    <td><b>A/F Ratio (: 1)</b></td>
    <td><b>Knock (deg)</b></td>
    <td><b>Timing (deg)</b></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>0</td>
    <td>3551</td>
    <td>28.4</td>
    <td>0.20</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>31.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>46780</td>
    <td>3551</td>
    <td>28.6</td>
    <td>0.12</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>31.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>93860</td>
    <td>3558</td>
    <td>28.4</td>
    <td>0.25</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>31.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>141324</td>
    <td>3558</td>
    <td>28.7</td>
    <td>0.78</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>31.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>188744</td>
    <td>3561</td>
    <td>28.7</td>
    <td>0.80</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>31.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>236212</td>
    <td>3565</td>
    <td>28.9</td>
    <td>0.76</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>31.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>283596</td>
    <td>3565</td>
    <td>28.9</td>
    <td>0.61</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>31.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>331080</td>
    <td>3571</td>
    <td>29.0</td>
    <td>0.29</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>31.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>379112</td>
    <td>3571</td>
    <td>29.0</td>
    <td>0.25</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>31.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>425876</td>
    <td>3578</td>
    <td>29.1</td>
    <td>0.16</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>31.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>473296</td>
    <td>3578</td>
    <td>29.1</td>
    <td>0.57</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>31.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>521688</td>
    <td>3582</td>
    <td>29.1</td>
    <td>0.80</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>31.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>568148</td>
    <td>3585</td>
    <td>29.1</td>
    <td>0.80</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>31.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>615568</td>
    <td>3592</td>
    <td>29.4</td>
    <td>0.76</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>31.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>663824</td>
    <td>3592</td>
    <td>29.4</td>
    <td>0.71</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>31.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>710432</td>
    <td>3599</td>
    <td>29.5</td>
    <td>0.53</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>31.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>757856</td>
    <td>3595</td>
    <td>29.7</td>
    <td>0.55</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>31.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>805580</td>
    <td>3606</td>
    <td>30.2</td>
    <td>0.16</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>30.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>852704</td>
    <td>3606</td>
    <td>30.4</td>
    <td>0.10</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>30.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>900132</td>
    <td>3613</td>
    <td>31.2</td>
    <td>0.10</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>30.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>947552</td>
    <td>3609</td>
    <td>32.5</td>
    <td>0.41</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>30.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>994988</td>
    <td>3623</td>
    <td>35.4</td>
    <td>0.61</td>
    <td>17.84</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>29.0</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>1042416</td>
    <td>3641</td>
    <td>39.7</td>
    <td>0.20</td>
    <td>17.59</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>26.2</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>1089828</td>
    <td>3644</td>
    <td>46.6</td>
    <td>0.67</td>
    <td>17.92</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>25.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>1137248</td>
    <td>3641</td>
    <td>50.7</td>
    <td>0.84</td>
    <td>14.60</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>23.0</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>1184680</td>
    <td>3644</td>
    <td>54.4</td>
    <td>0.92</td>
    <td>14.83</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>20.2</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>1232096</td>
    <td>3662</td>
    <td>57.7</td>
    <td>0.94</td>
    <td>14.49</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>19.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>1279532</td>
    <td>3666</td>
    <td>59.8</td>
    <td>0.94</td>
    <td>14.33</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>18.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>1326976</td>
    <td>3659</td>
    <td>62.0</td>
    <td>0.96</td>
    <td>18.00</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>18.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>1374576</td>
    <td>3695</td>
    <td>64.9</td>
    <td>0.96</td>
    <td>14.15</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>17.0</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>1421824</td>
    <td>3669</td>
    <td>67.2</td>
    <td>0.96</td>
    <td>14.15</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>16.0</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>1469252</td>
    <td>3728</td>
    <td>69.8</td>
    <td>0.96</td>
    <td>13.84</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>13.1</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>1516792</td>
    <td>3713</td>
    <td>71.3</td>
    <td>0.96</td>
    <td>13.77</td>
    <td>0.0</td>
    <td>14.2</td>
  </tr>
</table>

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