Forum Home Enhancements - Track Guest Visits

As of 23 Nov 2017 this modification has been withdrawn.

This tracks 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.

This modification adds another section to the "What's Going On" area.
It also has seperate pages to display (1) the list of guests, and (2) the pages a particular guest has visited

Options / Features ;

* The ability to turn the whole modification on/off.
* The ability to turn just the forumhome display on/off.
* The ability to allow (or prevent) certain usergroups viewing the forumhome display.
* The ability to switch between 'Today' and Rolling 24 Hours display (default).
* 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.
* The datastore read (for spider detection) will read from the File/APC/Xcache datastore if used [note, not Memcache].
* 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.
* The option to keep a record of [and display] the most ever guests.
* Usergroup permissions are done with the standard vbulleten usergroup permissions system.
* Clicking on the main display icon will list the recent visits by all guests (if allowed).
* Clicking on a Guest type in the main display will list all recent visits by guests of that type (again, if allowed).
* Clicking on the option in the guest listing will show that guests viewing data (if enabled, and allowed).
* The main display can be set as always collapsed on initial page load (4.0.3 +)

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.

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

To install (or upgrade);

• Unzip the files.
• If upgrading from a previous version, delete any old trg bitfield xml files from your ../includes/xml/ folder.
• Upload the new bitfields file to your ../includes/xml/ folder.
• Import the product into vBulletin using the ACP Product Manager.
• Set your required permissions in the usergroup manager.

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


You can get an improved Spiders Definition file from this post.

Note: For Spider detection to work you must set Enable Spider Display to 'Yes' in vBulletin Options > Who's Online Options.
The installation code will turn this on for you.

It is recommended that you visit your Who's Online page after installing this mod (or after updating your spiders file) to make sure your spider definitions are built / rebuilt.


History:


Beta Releases

v4.0.0.2 : 04-Jan-2010 : Initial Beta release for vb 4.0.0 Gold.
v4.0.0.3 : 05-Jan-2010 : Fix scope error in global hook database write.
v4.0.0.5 : 06-Jan-2010 : Second stage Beta - Main Guest List Display added.
v4.0.0.6 : 06-Jan-2010 : Fix IP display error in Guest List Display.

v4.0.1 : 08-Jan-2010 : Initial release for vb 4.0.0 Gold.
v4.0.2 : 09-Jan-2010 : Minor code changes and fixes.
v4.0.3 : 16-Jan-2010 : Added always collapsed option.
v4.0.4 : 20-Feb-2010 : Internal update, not released.
v4.0.5 : 27-Feb-2010 : Style code updates for vB 4.0.2.
v4.0.6 : 19-Sep-2010 : Fix bug in attachment viewing links.
v4.0.7 : 23-Oct-2010 : Fixed for WGO style changes in vB 4.0.8.

v4.1.0 : 04-Dec-2010 : Updated for vBulletin 4.1.

v4.1.7.0 : 16-Oct-2011 : Updated for vBulletin 4.1.7.
v4.1.8.0 : 18-Nov-2011 : Updated for vBulletin 4.1.8 onwards (only).
v4.1.11.0 : 03-Mar-2012 : Updated for vBulletin 4.1.11 image changes.

v4.2.0.0 : 24-May-2012 : Updated for vBulletin 4.2.0.

[K!nG]

I just got quick question when i keep it limited to 3-4 threads to view and then it ask for registration does that apply on search engines (web crawlers) also ?? like google?msn?yahoo? etc etc ????

[tareqbd]

Many thanks Paul bro. I was looking for it. Works fine with VB 4.1.3.

[Rakehel]

I'm missing something on the install. I uninstalled the old product. (vB 3.86 version) Removed the older ".trg" uploaded new one. Imported new product.

The feature displayed for a while then disappeared. I reinstalled everything and can't get it back.

Guest settings need to be set to be viewable in Who's Online. Anything else?

[Paul M]

Did you upload the new bitfield xml file ?

[Rakehel]

The "bitfield_trg.xml" file is the only one, correct?

I've tried removing everything a couple of times. Originally I simply uploaded and overwrote the existing .xml, then went back and deleted it, reuploaded, before reinstalling the product again.

I'm wondering if I don't have Guest permissions set right or another mod is interfering. The mod has always worked like a charm since vB 3.7.

[Paul M]

Yep, thats the correct file.

If you actually uninstalled the old one before installing the new one then you will need to redo all the usergroup permissions, as they will have been zapped.

[Rakehel]

Thanks Paul. I'll check them again. I know it's something simple that I'm overlooking. We finally upgraded to v4.1.4 (from 3.8.6) and are still sorting through all the new tools and toys.

[Rakehel]

Heh-heh...just being an idiot. We have to set it so the Admins can view the thing!

Where's the smilie here that smacks its forehead?

[doctorsexy]

Installed on 4.1.4 looking good... thank you

[LisaArnold]

Thanks, works nicely with 4.1.4