TABLE OF CONTENTS Log Parser Version 2.2 includes extensive functionality that allows administrators to extract and examine data from a wide range of input sources, but its use as a stand-alone tool is sometimes limited. In this chapter, we ll demonstrate ways you can extend the Log Parser s capabilities to handle additional input formats, and methods by which you can make Log Parser s default capabilities more accessible to non-administrators. In addition, we ll examine ways to incorporate Log Parser as a core component within scripts that provide powerful business solutions.
One of the key extensibility features introduced in Log Parser 2.2 is the new COM input format, which enables developers to write COM plug-ins or input processors that allow Log Parser to extract input from new input formats. Written as COM objects, these input processors can be used through both the Log Parser command-line application and the scriptable Log Parser COM components.
Log Parser input processors expose records to the Log Parser engine. Each of these records consists of one or more fields defined by the input processor itself. It is the responsibility of the input processor author to determine how data will be extracted from an input source and mapped into the fields to create a record.
All custom input processors follow the same general methodology to extract data from an input source and expose it to the Log Parser engine as a series of records. First, the input processor opens the specified input source so...
