How to install Fast Logs

Fast Logs can be used to display and manage all manner of logs, notices and updates in a small or confined space on your website.
Auto-pagination (page numbering) and archiving included.

Can also be used on a larger scale, for example, to display chapters of a book, user-guide or manual (a page per chapter).

Learn more about the features of Fast Logs
See the Fast Logs changelog for fixes and updates

Who's it for?

Webmasters with basic-to-intermediate HTML/PHP experience
Webmasters who do not wish to use, or do not have access to, a database
Webmasters/users who need/want to display larger amounts of information in a confined space
Webmasters/users who need/want to edit and manage logs, notices or updates from one location

Installing the Fast Logs back-end

First you need to download the Fast Logs zip package, so give the download box at the top of the page a click and save it somewhere on your computer. The desktop is a convenient place. Downloads are available when you view the full version of this website on a desktop computer.
After you've unzipped the Fast Logs package, browse to the "fast_logs/fast_logs_config.php" file and enter your settings.
Using an FTP client (FileZilla is a good one and it's FREE), upload the entire Fast Logs package to a folder of your website. It can go in the root, or in a sub-folder of your choice.
CHMOD the "fast_logs/_entries/" and "fast_logs/_status/" folders to 755 (Try 777 if 755 doesn't work).
Include the logs on your .php web page, anywhere you like, with this line of code (make sure the path is correct);
<?php include('path/to/fast_logs_include.php');?>
That's it! Now login at "http://www.mywebsite.com/path/to/fast_logs_v1_0/" to manage your logs!

Styling the Fast Logs front-end

To style your Fast Logs, just use standards CSS, either in the <head> section of your website;

<style>
.fast-logs {
color: red;
font-family: Arial;
font-size: 10pt;
border: 1px solid #999;
padding: 25px 5px 5px 5px;
background: #ffffcc;
width: 400px;
height: 550px;
overflow: auto;
}
.fast-logs hr {
height: 0;
border: solid #999 0;
border-top-width: 1px;
}
.pagination {
text-align: center;
width: 400px;
margin: 10px 0;
font-size: 8pt;
font-family: Arial;
}
.pagination a, .pagination a:visited, .pagination a:active {
color: #666;
text-decoration: none;
}
.pagination a:hover {
color: red;
}
</style>

OR, put the extra CSS in your external stylesheet (without the <style> tags above).

Customising the Fast Logs HTML output

To really dress up your Fast Logs installation, you can customise the generated HTML output for your logs in the "fast_logs_include.php" file.

By default, the HTML output takes on this format;

<div class="fast-logs">
     <p>Entry text one - blah, blah...</p>
     <hr/>
     <p>Entry text two - blah, blah...</p>
     <hr/>
</div>

But there's nothing stopping you from editing the "fast_logs_include.php" file to take on your own HTML formatting.

Here's how you'd edit the PHP code to format each log entry as a list item in an unordered list;

echo '<div class="fast-logs">';
echo '<ul>';
for ( $i = $offset; $i < ( $offset + $per_page ); $i++ )
    {
   $item = file_get_contents($file_array[$i]);
   echo '<li>';
   echo $item;
   echo '</li>';
    }
echo '</ul>';
echo '</div>';

Which would generate an HTML output like this;

<div class="fast-logs">
     <ul>
          <li>
               <p>Entry text one - blah, blah...</p>
         </li>
          <li>
               <p>Entry text two - blah, blah...</p>
          </li>
     </ul>
</div>

Any problems setting up Fast Logs?

If you experience any problems setting up your installation of Fast Logs and you can't find a troubleshooting answer in the Questions & Answers page, please tell me all about it via the online contact form. I'll try and work through things with you, and document the findings on this website. Ultimately your feedback can help future others in a similar situation, so please take a moment to share.

Last updated: February 14th, 2014