These notes will deal with the three common databases that can be analysed with Daisy Lite Plus or larger :-

• Comma Separated or CSV files are the simplest form of data that can be processed by Daisy.  More...

• Microsoft Excel workbooks can be opened and analysed without modification or preparation.  More...

• Web Site Log Files can be opened and analysed directly.  More...

Exercise - Open CSV File

Run Daisy and open one of the CSV files supplied with the program using Open Database in the File menu.

Use View All Records or View First 20 Records to examine the data.

See Section 4.4 of the Daisy Manual for more details.

Open CSV File

The opening of these databases are illustrated in the dialog box shown below. (Shown is the augmented dialog for Daisy Lite Plus.)

Note :-

1. How the type of file; comma separated or tab separated, is chosen using the option buttons. In this dialog the comma separated have been selected.

2. The check box for a file with multiline fields.

3. The second check box, which sets if any carriage returns or line feeds are to be changed to backslashes.

4. The maximum number of records can be specified if required.

   Restrict this value if you are reading a very large database and you are just testing!

5. The maximum width in characters of an individual field can be any integer between 10 and 32,000.

   This value should be restricted to a suitable value, as setting it too large in some cases, will slow down reading of the database.

Open Excel Workbook

It is very much a typical Excel workbook, containing two worksheets; 'SoftwareTest' and 'NewmarketWinners'.

Note the layout of the data in the worksheet.

Daisy has a range of options for decoding where the field names are stored in the workbook. In this example, one of the standard forms is used, with them in row 9 and the data starting in 11. This form also allows comments in the first few rows of the worksheet.

After selecting the database, Daisy will automatically locate the field names, if any, in the worksheet, but as the worksheets are as varied as people, you can always have the option of checking everything manually.

Here the 'SoftwareTest' worksheet has been selected.

Note the options, which are similar to those for CSV files.

More details are given under Link to Excel and in Section 9 - Daisy and Microsoft Excel of the Daisy Manual.

Open Web Site Log File

The format of the Web Site Log File can vary and this should be set in the first frame.

Use the Test Format button to read the Web Site Log File and check the settings used.

Note :-

1. Any format settings will be automatically adjusted as necessary on using Test Format.

2. Use View to check the Web Log Site File is read correctly.

3. All settings are remembered between runs of Daisy.

The second frame sets how the Web Site Log File will be decoded and presented for analysis.

Encode sets if RemoteHost is made anonymous during the analysis, the various Splits determine if Date, Request and Browser are expanded into sub-fields and Add Previous adds extra fields, which detail previous pages and sessions.

Note :-

1. Encode generates names such as H-1, H-2 etc.

2. Split 'Date' splits the field Date into Date, Time and GMT.

3. Split 'Request' splits the field Request into Req (GET, HEAD etc.), Path, File, Type (graphic, html etc.) and HTTP.

4. Split 'Browser' splits the field Browser into Type, OS (Windows '95, Windows '98 etc.) and Name (Netscape, IE4 etc.).

5. Add Previous adds fields that define previous pages, the sequence of pages and session information.

6. The Session Timeout determines the length of time in seconds that must elapse between entries in the file, for the session to be deemed to have ended.

7. The Sequence Length sets how many pages are tracked in a sequence.

More details are given in Section 10 - Daisy and Web Site Log Files of the Daisy Manual.