Updated for 64 Bit Operation
Web Monitor now installs into the proper 64 bit operation and runs as a native 64 bit app under x64 versions of Windows.
Several small Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue in the installer that made the application installer fail to load. Fixed up bug with the registration form that caused denial of access on some machines even when given correct registration code. Fixed a startup bug that erroneously polled sites immediately after startup instead of waiting for the initial timeout. Fixed a bug in email logging. Removed manifest file which potentially causes problems on some locked down environments.
Version 3.34
3/10/2008
Email Logging Added
Added support for an email log file that can be used to trouble shoot email issues should email sending fail. The email code itself has also been updated to fix a few connection level issues.
Updated Web Interface
Updated the Web Interface to bring on par with recent additions of features in the front end. Ensured that Web UI renders well with Mozilla style browsers.
Miscellaneous Bug Fixes
Fixed but with sending email to mobile devices (emailAddress with * at end). Several issues related to occasional email crashes are fixed. Added additional top level error trapping and logging. Added additional 'fail-safe' error trapping and logging features that should avoid rare crashes that previously occurred.
Version 3.30
1/4/2007
Codebase moved to .NET 2.0
Web Monitor now uses .NET 2.0. Internally this has allowed for some small user interface improvements and better startup performance and smaller memory footprint. Both the desktop/service application and the Web application have been moved up to .NET 2.0.
Terminal Services Detection
Web Monitor can now detect when running under Terminal Services and present a less resource intensive user interface by reducing the UI color scheme used.
Many minor bug fixes and UI Enhancements
This update includes many minor tweaks and fixes in the user interface and logging functionality.
Updated Support for Regular Expressions in Content Search
You can now use Regular Expressions for searching for content inside of the returned HTTP response. There are a number of options on how to search the content either using plain strings or RegEx expressions, and using either matches or non-matches.
Added support for Failure Treshold and Retry
Web Monitor now allows you to set a failure treshold, so that if a request fails, the request is retried in a specified number of seconds. Only if the second request fails is a notification sent out or action executed. First failures are marked as tentative and are logged but don't cause notification and actions to occur.
Sorted Site List
The SiteList now sorts into Alphabetical order by default. Inactive items are sorted to the bottom. In addition, an optional SortOrder can be set in the configuration file to prioritize sites. A sort order value greater than 0 overrides alphabetic order and sorts higher values to the top. A new Site Sorter dialog has also been added.
Additional AddIn Events
We've added a couple of new AddIn Events: OnValidateResponse() which can be used to implement custom HTTP response checking to fail or approve a request and OnSendMail() which can be used to override how emails are sent or to activate notification via some completely different mechanism.
Updates to the User Interface
There have been a number of enhancements to the user interface of the Site Manager. The New Site entry form is no longer modal, and you can now immediately test a Site from this form. The POST data form has been updated to be easier to use and several context menu options have been added in various places to make common tasks more easily accessible.
Web Server Front End Configuration Simplified
We've simplified the Web Server configuration in order to run the ASP.NET front end to the Web Monitor Service. The Web Front End allows you to edit sites and configurations and view the log files via an ASP.NET based Web front end.
Version 3.20
04/22/2005
.NET add-in support
You can now easily extend Help Builder's functionality by creating an Add-in in .NET. The add-in can listen to events or be activated from the Web Monitor as a straight executed extension.
Added support for POST Request data for Site checks
You can now add POST data for requests hitting a site. POST data can be specified via the Site configuration entry form and you can specify a raw POST buffer and content type.
User Interface Enhancements
The user interface has been redesigned with new menu controls and a more consistent feel throughout the application. Most options now are hotkeyed and choices are generally more visible and obvious.
Logging enhancements
The Log view has been enhanced to provide a more visually pleasing look as well as providing additional information. Every failure captures full response data now. The Error Log now allows viewing error detail which shows the full response data as well as the full error information and expected result all in a single HTML result form.
Email Port support for Mail Server
Previously it was not possible to configure the email port for the server. You can now use mailserver.net:2525 style syntax to configure mail server ports other than 25.
Version 3.0
Windows Service Support
You can now run Web Monitor as a Windows Service. You can install/uninstall the service through the configuration interface and start and stop the service. Your options for running Web Monitor at startup now are: No Auto Launch, Launch in Windows Taskbar (interactive), Windows Service (no User Interface). The service installs/uninstalls based on these options.
Much improved Logging
Web Monitor now creates two logs - an error event log, which logs only Site errors and failures, and an optional detail log which logs every single request and its response. Both logs now use standard XML files that can be easily parsed and imported and be viewed over the Web. There is also a new Log Viewer that lets you quickly browse and administer the logging activity.
Web Monitor Web Interface
Web Monitor can now be completely accessed remotely through a Web Interface. In combination with the Windows Service you can now change default and site configuration options remotely and start and stop the monitoring service. You can also view the error and detail logs remotely to get a quick glance of activity of the monitor. The configuration form now includes an auto-configuration option that configures the Web interface with no-touch configuration right through the Web interface.
Reduced Memory Footprint
In this version we've reduced the memory footprint of Web Monitor considerably. A typical logging session now runs at around 4-6megs of memory usage most of the time for the Windows Service and around 5-10 megs for the desktop application.
Web Monitor API improvements
The Web Monitor API has been separated out of the main Web Monitor application so you can now call directly into this API as to perform logging operations if you choose.
HTTP Check optimizations
There have been a number of tweaks and tuning operations to make the process of checking the site and reporting errors smoother in the User Interface. A number of little UI bugs have been ironed out as well. All of this results in a much cleaner and smoother operation with less impact on the environment.