An event logging system that monitors for the occurrence of predefined web site usage events having some business significance, records the occurrence of those events, and also records the events' associated context information can advantageously address shortcomings of the prior art. The system includes a software event identification routine, executing within web server software or other web-related application software, that monitors for the occurrence of an event and gathers a desired set of related context information. A database interface, usable by one or more distinct web servers or applications, is used to insert the information into an event database. The event database can later be processed to add, modify, or delete event data, as well as prepare the data for integration into other databases or the preparation of reports.
1. An event logging system for capturing event information associated with activity occurring in an application running on a server computer system configured to provide information to at least one client computer system, the event logging system comprising:
an event identification routine operable to identify the occurrence of an event during the execution of the application and to transmit context information associated with the event; a database operable to receive and store the context information, wherein the database is a relational database utilizing a structured query language (SQL) and
a database interface operable to transmit and receive the context information.
2. The event logging system of claim 1 wherein the application generates the information provided to the at least one client computer system.
3. The event logging system of claim 2 wherein the information provided to the at least one client computer system is product information for at least one of home insurance, life insurance, health insurance, automobile insurance, and renter's insurance.
4. The event logging system of claim 2 further comprising a web server application operable to receive, from the application, the information provided to the at least one client computer system, wherein the web server is operable to transmit the information provided to the at least one client computer system.
5. The event logging system of claim 1 wherein the application is a web server application.
6. The event logging system of claim 1 wherein the application includes at least one of the event identification routine and the database interface.
7. The event logging system of claim 1 wherein the server computer system includes a processor, and wherein at least one of the event identification routine and the database interface is encoded in a computer readable medium as instructions executable on the processor, the computer readable medium being one of a magnetic storage medium, an optical storage medium, and a communications medium conveying signals encoding the instructions.
8. The event logging system of claim 1 wherein the database interface is a SQL stored procedure operable to be invoked by the application.
9. The event logging system of claim 1 wherein the database interface is operable to add additional context information to the context information received from the event identification routine.
10. The event logging system of claim 1 wherein the client computer system is one of a plurality of interconnected client computer systems operating in a distributed computing environment and coupled to the server computer system.
11. The event logging system of claim 10 wherein the plurality of interconnected client computer systems and the server computer system are coupled via a network.
12. The event logging system of claim 11 wherein network is the Internet.
13. The event logging system of claim 1 wherein the event information associated with activity occurring in an application running on a server computer system has a business importance.
14. The event logging system of claim 1 wherein the event identification routine is further operable to produce an event table having a plurality of context fields and a plurality of associated context field values.
15. The event logging system of claim 1 wherein context information includes at least one of a program session identification, an event identification, an event type, a timestamp, a program identification, and a consumer identification.
16. The event logging system of claim 1 further comprising
a database operable to receive and store the context information; and
a database post-processor operable to modify the database.
17. The event logging system of claim 16 wherein the database is a relational database utilizing a structured query language (SQL), and wherein the database post-processor is a SQL stored procedure.
18. The event logging system of claim 16 wherein the database post-processor is operable to add additional context information associated with the event to the database.
19. The event logging system of claim 16 wherein the database post-processor is operable to modify context information associated with the event in the database and to store modified context information in one of the database and another database.
20. The event logging system of claim 16 wherein the database includes context information for a plurality of events, and wherein the database post-processor is operable to modify existing context information of a first one of the plurality of events based on context information of a second one of the plurality of events.
21. The event logging system of claim 16 wherein the database includes context information for a plurality of events, and wherein the database post-processor is operable to add additional context information for a first one of the plurality of events based on context information of a second one of the plurality of events.
22. The event logging system of claim 1 further comprising a database operable to receive and store the context information.
23. A method of logging event information associated with activity occurring in an application running on a server computer system configured to provide information to at least one client computer system, the method comprising:
identifying an occurrence of a predefined event during the execution of the application; a database operable to receive and store the context information, wherein the database is a relational database utilizing a structured query language (SQL)
transmitting context information associated with the event to a database.
24. The method of claim 23 wherein the identifying further comprises populating a table of fields with associated field values depending upon the context information.
25. The method of claim 24 wherein the transmitting further comprises transmitting the table of fields with associated field values to the database.
26. The method of claim 23 wherein the transmitting further comprises transmitting the context information to a database interface operable to transmit and receive the context information.
27. The method of claim 23 further comprising storing the transmitted context information in the database.
28. The method of claim 23 encoded in a computer readable medium as instructions executable on a processor, the computer readable medium being one of a magnetic storage medium, an optical storage medium, and a communications medium conveying signals encoding the instructions.
29. The method of claim 23 wherein the information provided to the at least one client computer system is product information for at least one of home insurance, life insurance, health insurance, automobile insurance, and renter's insurance.
30. The method of claim 23 wherein the context information includes at least one of a program session identification, an event identification, an event type, a timestamp, a program identification, and a consumer identification.