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.

[Audentio]

Originally Posted by tryance

I can't find it in under groups manager either so I can not see it as well. I had to upload the tracking guest file. The bitfield file gave me an invalid error. I have V3.6

editL I went in and physically uploaded the fieldbit file in the includ/xml folder and now it works and uploaded the XML through products manager.

Thanks

Can you please explain how you did that once more? Im not seeing mine come up either.

[bulletinboard]

Excellent addon, thanks.

[mandazi]

I downloaded it. Uploaded the bitfield_track-guests.xml to the includes/xml folder. Then I went to the Admin CP and impored the track-guests.xml. Everything imported fine on the screen. I went to my forum, and it doesn't appear on the bottom.

Did I miss something?

Edit: Nevermind, I got it to work.

[Paul M]

Originally Posted by mandazi

Did I miss something?

Yes, you did ;

* Set your required permissions in the usergroup manager.

By default no permissions are given, you must set them.

[Audentio]

Originally Posted by Paul M

Yes, you did ;

* Set your required permissions in the usergroup manager.

By default no permissions are given, you must set them.

Im looking for them, cant find them anywhere .

[TigerWare]

Originally Posted by Audentio

Im looking for them, cant find them anywhere .

AdminCP -> Usergroups -> Usergroup Manager

Edit each of your primary usergroups, scroll down to the panel marked "Guest Tracking Permissions", edit the settings for each. All are off by default. HTH

[high]* TigerWare clicks installed.
[/high]
Good stuff Paul M, you rock.

[Audentio]

No, you dont understand. It ISNT in usergroup manager. I understand instructions, I installed the plugin and product and went to usergroup manager to find nothing.

I even used find to look for "tracking" and all that I got was pm tracking. Ive tried redoing it, nothing of it though.

[Paul M]

Have you copied the bitfield file to the correct place on your server ?

[McMendo]

My mistake. Please, delete.

[Audentio]

Originally Posted by Paul M

Have you copied the bitfield file to the correct place on your server ?

Youre a smart man . Somehow I put the wrong file in there, a dumb mistake on my part. Thanks a lot Paul. Great mod, installed, 5/5.

EDIT: Sorry, I have one more problem. Even though I have spider tracking on, I am only getting a list of visitors. DO you know why this is?