Logging for 'Dummy' users

jdtoronto has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Esteemed Monks,

I now have around 600 users of one programme I have written. In computer savvy terms they range from a few highly intelligent users to the vast bulk of basic Windows users who can barely navigate around their machines. It is the latter who casue me the most support hassles. Some time back I added a "debugging window" to the product, and this has proved helpful in assisting users. But onyl if I can have a support hound on the phone with them and they can read back the information accurately.

I am contemplating adding an "email-in-troublshooting-log" capability. Have the user run the programme, and after the problem occurrs, select a menu option and email a copy of the log to my support crew.

Has anybody done this? Any sugestions as to a logging module to use? All suggestions and comments welcome.

jdtoronto

Comment on Logging for 'Dummy' users

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Re: Logging for 'Dummy' users by rinceWind (Monsignor) on Jan 23, 2006 at 17:51 UTC
Check out Log::Log4Perl which probably does more than you need. -- Oh Lord, won’t you burn me a Knoppix CD ? My friends all rate Windows, I must disagree. Your powers of persuasion will set them all free, So oh Lord, won’t you burn me a Knoppix CD ? (Missquoting Janis Joplin)	[reply]
Re^2: Logging for 'Dummy' users by jdtoronto (Prior) on Jan 23, 2006 at 18:18 UTC
It does a lot more than I think I need right now, but whilst it looks big and pretty complex, it may be the right answer! jdtoronto	[reply]
Re^3: Logging for 'Dummy' users by Aristotle (Chancellor) on Jan 24, 2006 at 17:53 UTC
I second that recommendation. Log::Log4Perl is awesome. Makeshifts last the longest.	[reply]
Re: Logging for 'Dummy' users by skx (Parson) on Jan 23, 2006 at 18:50 UTC
Yes I do that in one of my projects. Although I don't do exactly what you suggest, (logging), as my application is browser based I have a link called "Report Bug". This takes the user to a HTML form where they can enter their support request/bug report, and there are several text-fields which are automatically filled with details of their environment, their perl version, etc. This is then mailed to me using a secure formmail-type script. In my case this works really nicely, since the report contains many interesting details of their installation. In your setup that might not be appropriate, but my software is a miniture HTTP server, which users interact with via their browsers so the solution is ideal. Steve --	[reply]