Trace and log user actions...

This hack was requested by ossi69 and John Mac.

This is a pretty simple hack that allows you to track and document a user's
actions while they are logged into your board. Every click made by the user
makes a brand new entry in a log file. The log file entries include, username,
IP address, date and time, and the URL clicked on. The user actions are
documented even before the user has a chance to see the page he clicked on.

Templates affected by this hack: none
Tables affected by this hack: user
Files affected by this hack: global.php, admin/user.php

Execute the following query to create a new field in the user table:

alter table user add trace smallint(5) unsigned DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL;

You also need to create a brand new directory in your forums directory by
the name of tracelog. You need to make sure that your give the appropriate\
read/write permissions to this directory so that the http server on your
host can create files in there.

Here is a sample output:

Zed, 192.168.1.101 , 2003-04-28 18:31:30, /forums/index.php
Zed, 192.168.1.101 , 2003-04-28 18:31:36, /forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=9
Zed, 192.168.1.101 , 2003-04-28 18:31:42, /forums/showthread.php?threadid=143901
Zed, 192.168.1.101 , 2003-04-28 18:31:51, /forums/rules.php
Zed, 192.168.1.101 , 2003-04-28 18:31:53, /forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=9
Zed, 192.168.1.101 , 2003-04-28 18:32:07, /forums/showthread.php?threadid=143901
Zed, 192.168.1.101 , 2003-04-28 18:32:11, /forums/index.php
Zed, 192.168.1.101 , 2003-04-28 18:32:15, /forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=103
Zed, 192.168.1.101 , 2003-04-28 18:32:28, /forums/showthread.php?threadid=225576
Zed, 192.168.1.101 , 2003-04-28 18:32:38, /forums/member.php?action=getinfo&userid=4112

Note:Go to this post to download the directory protection file for this hack.

[Areku]

Nice point!

Is that as simple as adding admin/tracelog/ instead of tracelog/ on the first replacement? I guess that's more secure than the index.php file?

The userid thing may be a good point too...

(Ps. working on vb2.2.0 )

[Hobbes]

/me clicks install...

it would be a wicked idea to have the logs viewable in the admin cp....like a link or something!!!

[Katana Myronson]

Great hack! I'm going to install it right away! Thanks, Zzed this is just what i was looking for!

[TheComputerGuy]

does this create a lot of queries

[Zzed]

Today at 01:56 PM TheComputerGuy said this in Post #34
does this create a lot of queries

There are no queries while a user is being traced. Information is written to a text file. The user information is already populated when the user esablished a session with the board, so there is no need for any further queries.

The only time there is a query is when you try to visit the contents of the tracelog directory.

[Morgalis]

this was just what i was looking for!

thanks

[Zzed]

You are welcome.

[Boofo]

04-28-03 at 07:04 PM Zzed said this in Post #9
I'll look into the line separator thing.

You can view the file through your browser by going to http://myforum.com/forums/tracelog/Zzed.log

Or you can get a directlry listing by going to: http://myforum.com/forums/tracelog

How's this coming along? And Mutt's idea about using the userid as the name of the file instead of the username is a good one, too.

[obs]

hi I'm new here and this is a really nice hack. I was wondering how to automatically track all users instead of having to go into each one and selecting 'track user'?

[Zzed]

Today at 01:54 PM obs said this in Post #39
hi I'm new here and this is a really nice hack. I was wondering how to automatically track all users instead of having to go into each one and selecting 'track user'?

Are you sure you want to do that?

If so then replace this:

if($bbuserinfo[trace] == 1) {

with this:

if(1) {