ConverTastictm

Where are Your Conversions REALLY Coming From?

The Manage Window Help Page

A busy website will produce zillions of log entries, which can be very time-consuming to manage if you don't do a little bit of planning. While ConverTastic uses the well-respected, open-source SQLite database engine and can handle very large databases, you probably don't want to throw all of your logs into one huge database file.

The Manage window is where you create database files into which you will import your raw server logs.

You might want to create one database file for each month's worth of logs. It depends on many factors such as how fast your computer is, how you like to back-up your files, how much web traffic you have, how many server-log lines you will filter out, etc.

You might not have all the answers when you first begin, so it is a good idea to save your raw server-log files in case you want to re-import them in the future. You may want to use different filters, or make larger or smaller database files.

  1. Use the "Make New" button to create a new, empty database file. Each database file can be located anywhere on your system or network.
  2. Set the dates for the period which you expect to be importing data by clicking to the right of where it says: "Start Date:" and "End Date:". These dates can be changed at any time, so you don't have to get them right the first time. They are only used to set the defaults on the Search window.
  3. You might want to type something into the Notes box such as which filters you used, etc.

The list at the upper-left will show all the database files that ConverTastic knows about. Clicking on a database file will show all the log files that have been imported into it in the lower list.

If you make a mistake and import the wrong log file on the Import window, you can come back here and remove that data with the "Remove Log Entries" button.

To change the location of a database file, select it in the upper list, and then click the "De-List File" button. That will remove it from the list. Then, go back to your desktop and move the database file to the new location. To add it back to ConverTastic, just drag-and-drop the file from your desktop onto the list.

No database file will appear on the Import or Search windows until you create one here.