Forum Home Enhancements - Track Guest Visits

This modification is no longer available or supported.

Something that has been repeatedly asked in the "Members who visited today" modifications (all versions) is a similar way to track the number of guests that have visited a forum each day. This isn't possible in stock vbulletin as no record is kept of guest visits, they are a 'realtime' display only. I've therefore finally got round to looking at the issue and produced this modification.

This will add (another) section to the "What's Going On" area. The data is kept in a new table so it should be possible for other uses to be made of it (or display it in other ways). A screenshot of the current display is attached.

Options / Features ;

* The ability to turn it on/off.
* The ability to turn just the display on/off.
* The ability to allow (or prevent) certain usergroups viewing the display.
* The ability to run the display code on all pages (not just forumhome).
* The ability to switch between 'Today' and Rolling 24 Hours display (default).
* The list of guests can be set to be always collapsed on initial view.

* The script that the Guest is running is logged (e.g. showthread, usercp etc).
* The request variables in use are logged (e.g. threadid, userid etc).
* The guest table can be cleaned of old records to help control it's size.
* Controls for the displays automatic template update.
* The datastore read (for spider detection) will read from the File/APC/Memcache/Xcache datastore [if used].

Version 1.19+

* Guest Views data collection - tracking each guests viewing of the forum index page, forums and threads.
* Guest Views data collection can be separately disabled.
* Multiple guest visits to the same page are logged separately.
* Clicking on a Guest type in the main display will list all recent visits by guests of that type.
* Clicking on the option in the guest listing will show that guests viewing data (if enabled).
* Usergroup permissions are now done with the standard vbulleten usergroup permissions system.

Four new usergroup permissions are provided in the usergroup manager.

* Can View the Guests Visited Display - Members can view the guests visited display on Forumhome.
* Can View Guest IP Addresses - Members can see the ip addresses of visiting guests.
* Can View Guest Visits List - Members can view the list of guest visits page.
* Can View Guest Tracking Data - Members can view the individual guest visit tracking page.


Version 1.22+

The option to keep a record of [and display] the most ever guests has been added - this used to be provided by a seperate add-on product.


* All (non usergroup) modification settings are in vBulletin Options > Guest Tracking.

To install ;

• Unzip the XML files.
• Upload the bitfields file to your ../includes/xml folder.
• Import the product into vB using the ACP Product Manager.
• Set your required permissions in the usergroup manager.

Note that by default no permissions are given, you must set them.

You can get an improved Spiders Definition file, that recognises many more spiders, from this post.

Note: For Spider detection to work you must set Enable Spider Display to 'Yes' in vBulletin Options > Who's Online Options.

A German translation has been provided by hurik in post #769 - (for Version 1.22).


History:

v1.00 : Internal dev version.
v1.01 : Initial vb 3.6 beta release.
v1.02 : Phrasing added, final beta version.
v1.03 : Initial full version, some new options added.
v1.04 : Fix potential variable name clash with WVT Mod.
v1.05 : More options added, script and request variable logging added.
v1.06 : Minor internal code changes, phrasing altered slightly.
v1.07 : Datastore call changed to standard fetch function.
v1.08 : Moved Datastore call due to oddities, and fixed small bug.
v1.09 : Simplified always collapsed code.
v1.10 : Datastore call moved and reverted back to db_fetch.
v1.11 : Added Spider Cache Refresh on install (limited release).
v1.12 : Unique Guest id changed from standard vb id to internally created id.
v1.13 : Changed the SQL to force MySQL to use the index on forumhome.
v1.14 : Changed install code to delete old spider cache before rebuilding it.
v1.15 : Added check to try and detect a broken spider cache and fix it.
v1.16 : Number formatting added to individual totals in display list.
v1.17 : New usergroup display options added, datastore read updated.
v1.18 : Beta for new display options - listing guests and tracking guest views.
v1.19 : First release with the new permissions and display options.
v1.20 : Minor changes to install code only.
v1.21 : Internal development version, not released.
v1.22 : Added the "Most ever guests" option.

[testpig]

Hi Paul. This hack still doesnt appear in my forum.

I have removed the previous version and uploaded V1.10 but absolutely nothing happens. Still using the default skin with some additional plugins installed.

Hmmmmmm,

[Quantnet]

Updated.

Paul, i looked at http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/ and on the Currently Active Users, it shows spiders, members and guests in the same box..

Is that a version of your mod ? I would like to add spiders to that list too. Right now, guests and spiders are shown as guests
Thanks

Edit : just found that the spiders on forumhome is https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=119134

[jw00dy]

Originally Posted by Get Shorty

This hack causes a problem with the "Direct Category Links" feature of vbSEO. Here is the fix:

Original code:

if    (
    $vbulletin->userinfo['userid'] == 0 
    AND $vbulletin->options['trg'] 
    AND $vbulletin->options['trgspiders']
    )
{
    define('SKIP_DEFAULTDATASTORE',true);

$vbulletin->datastore->fetch(array('wol_spiders'));
}

Changed to:

if    (
    $vbulletin->userinfo['userid'] == 0 
    AND $vbulletin->options['trg'] 
    AND $vbulletin->options['trgspiders']
    )
{
    define('SKIP_DEFAULTDATASTORE',true);
$__temp_fc = $vbulletin->forumcache;
$vbulletin->datastore->fetch(array('wol_spiders'));
$vbulletin->forumcache = $__temp_fc;
}

Credit to: Oleg Ignatiuk

Where are you putting this in the 1.10 version? Or did you implement this in 1.10 paul? I was unclear on this and I use vBSEO as well.

[Paul M]

Originally Posted by jw00dy

Where are you putting this in the 1.10 version? Or did you implement this in 1.10 paul? I was unclear on this and I use vBSEO as well.

That plugin does not exist in 1.10.

Originally Posted by testpig

Hi Paul. This hack still doesnt appear in my forum.

I have removed the previous version and uploaded V1.10 but absolutely nothing happens. Still using the default skin with some additional plugins installed.

Hmmmmmm,

One of those plugins must be intefering, try disabling other products one at a time until you find which one (past experience suggests it's probably one with a plugin linked to the cache_templates hook, try them first).

Originally Posted by dj_melayu

I've been using this hack since it on v1.03, and I frequently kept updating this hacks cuz its a one of the wonderful hacks! Unfortunetly, after I upgraded to v1.10, I got this error on my index.php on my vbadvanced page.
My forumhome page is on forum.php.

I have installed vbadvanced on my test forum and cannot reproduce this, so there's not much I can tell you.

[jw00dy]

Originally Posted by Paul M

That plugin does not exist in 1.10.

Even better

Thanks Paul, Seriously, your work is top notch, and I appreciate it.

[Paul M]

Originally Posted by cerulean

I have the same error as dj_melayu and I to have vbadvanced. I had to disable the product in order to get my forum to work.

Ps. It only gives the error if a guest goes to the page but if you where previously logged in and go to it it is fine.

Any thoughts?

As above, I cannot recreate this on a test vba (2.2.1). Try turning off the "Detect Spiders" option, see if it's related to that.

[blogtorank]

Thanks for the update Paul, with over 70+ hacks on a forums this is working just fine with your v1.10

[dj_melayu]

Originally Posted by Paul M

As above, I cannot recreate this on a test vba (2.2.1). Try turning off the "Detect Spiders" option, see if it's related to that.

Thanks..it fix when disable the spiders option..Good job! Or should I downgrade to v1.90. which version is better?

[snowman872]

Installed and seems to be working. Thanks for this useful hack Paul!

[Paul M]

Originally Posted by dj_melayu

Thanks..it fix when disable the spiders option..Good job! Or should I downgrade to v1.90. which version is better?

Hiding the problem is never a good idea, fixing it is much better. Can you confirm that you have read and done this ;

Note: For Spider detection to work you must set Enable Spider Display to 'Yes' in vBulletin Options > Who's Online Options and then visit your Who's Online page. This will enable vBulletin to build it's cache of spider details.