Filters

You can define filters to fine-tune the results returned by FlashStats 2005.  For example, you can choose to only include requests for a certain web page, or exclude requests which come from a certain web site.  In addition, FlashStats uses an innovative drag and drop interface to let you easily drill down into existing results with a minimum of typing.

Overview of filters

Filters must be defined before you press the Create reports! button to have FlashStats analyze the log files and generate reports.  Add new filters or edit or delete existing filters on the Filters tab of the New report view.  After you have run reports, FlashStats adds each filter to the Filter Library.  You can switch to the Filter Library view at any time to retrieve any previously-used filter and use it in another report run.

A filter consists of a number of possible tests.  There are a limited number of specific tests that you can use.  The types of tests available in beta 9 are:

1. Client IP address or host name
2. Authenticated user name
3. User agent
4. User agent category
5. URL
6. File name
7. Directory
8. Content type
9. Query string parameter
10. Result code
11. Referring page
12. Originating referrer
13. Entry page
14. Exit page

Additional test types (such as Search Engine) will be made available in the next beta.

A sample filter

Here is an example of a filter:

Here is an explanation of the important parts of this filter:

1. The filter has been named "User downloads".  This is an easy-to-read description which is shown in other areas of FlashStats.  You do not have to assign a name to each filter, but it can help you to remember what each one does.  (You can also use the Comments field to make notes to yourself if desired.)

2. This is an Include filter.  When FlashStats reads the web site's log files it will only include requests which match this filter's tests.  (You can also define Exclude filters; FlashStats will exclude requests which match the exclude filter's tests.)

3. This filter will perform two tests.  Both tests must match in order for the filter to take effect.

4. The first test is User agent category. FlashStats will check to see if the user agent (Glossary) which made the request is a Browser.  In other words, FlashStats will only care about requests coming from browsers rather than from other types of user agents (such as search engines or HTML validators).

5. The second test is URL.  FlashStats will only include each request if it is for a file within the /download folder.  Note that trailing asterisk, which means to match any remaining text, so this will match any file within the /download/ folder (or a subfolder).

6. Since both tests must match, the effect of this filter is that FlashStats will only include requests which were made a browser for a file whose URL begins with /download/.

Here are some sample requests and whether they would be included or excluded based upon this filter:

Note: GoogleBot is the name of the "spider" used by Google when they crawl the Web to index your pages.

Using multiple filters

You can use multiple filters when running FlashStats.  FlashStats will apply each filter against each request in order to decide whether to include the request.

Each request will be included if it matches at least one Include filter and does not match any Exclude filters.

As you define multiple filters, FlashStats will provide a description of how the filters will interact. Look for the text in the box labelled Combined effect of filters on the Filters tab.

Unintended effects of filters

FlashStats will try to make sure that you only define useful filters, but it is possible to define a filter which has unintended effects.  For example, if you create an Include filter which only includes requests to a file or directory which doesn't exist on your web site, then your reports will have no data in them.

Likewise, be careful when defining multiple filters.  For example, if you define an Include filter which only includes requests if made by a search engine, and then also make an Exclude filter which matches requests made by a search engine, then no hits will be counted and your reports will be empty.

Defining filters via drag and drop

In addition to manually creating filters, FlashStats 2005 lets you easily define filters using drag and drop.

When FlashStats creates reports, most entries will have a small filter icon to the left of the value.  For example:

Notice the little filter icon: .  You can drag and drop this icon to anywhere on the FlashStats window, and FlashStats will create a new filter using the value to the right of the filter icon.

Using the sample report shown above, if you were to drag the filter icon from the first row, then FlashStats would create a filter which would test for requests to /images/logo1.gif.

When you drag and drop a filter icon onto the FlashStats window, FlashStats will create a new filter.  However, if you are currently editing a filter, then FlashStats will add an appropriate test for the dropped value to the filter that you are editing.

When you use this drag and drop interface to create new filters, be sure to provide a name for the filter and choose whether you want it to be an Include or Exclude filter.