Ever wonder where your visitors are coming from? Here is a simple example of how you can find out, by logging all of your visitors stats.
First we need a database. I am using Access for my example but you may use any standard ODBC compliant RDBMS you like.
Create a New Database and name it siteLog, then create a new table inside of it named tblSession. Use the screenshot below as a reference.
* Note: If using MS SQL Server have the LID field an identity column and uncheck allow nulls.
Create a virtual directory off of the web servers root and name it 'data., place your newly created siteLog.mdb file in it.
Next, we want to create our global.asa file and set it up to log every visitor's information. We will be pulling their data by accessing the Server Variables collection and then updating it to the database.
Let's start by referencing the Browser Component in the Global.asa.
This set's up a BC object available to use in the session scope.
Now, let's build the framework of the global.asa file.
<script language="vbscript" runat=server>
Sub Session_OnStart
' ADO Constants
Const adOpenForwardOnly = 0
Const adOpenKeyset = 1
Const adOpenDynamic = 2
Const adOpenStatic = 3
' LockTypeEnum Const Values
Const adLockReadOnly = 1
Const adLockPessimistic = 2
Const adLockOptimistic = 3
Const adLockBatchOptimistic = 4
'Define Data to Insert into Log
'Sniff Browser Info From Header.
Browser = Trim(Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_USER_AGENT"))
'Get Users Browser Language Setting
Language = _
Trim(Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE"))
' Where did they come from? Oh! That's Where!
Referer = Trim(Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER"))
SessionID = Trim(Session.SessionID)
'Get User IP
UserIP = Trim(Request.ServerVariables("REMOTE_HOST"))
Session("IP") = UserIP
'What Part of the Site did they Hit First?
FirstPage = Trim(Request.ServerVariables("Script_Name"))
'Resolve OS and Browser details if possible
OS = bc.platform
UA = bc.browser
UAversion = bc.version
Today = Now()
'Log week and year number stats for later retrieval
TWeekNumber = DatePart("ww", Now())
TYearNumber = DatePart("yyyy", Now())
' Handle exceptions
If Language = "" Then
Language = "Unknown"
End If
If Referer = "" Then
Referer = "None"
End If
'Could be useful to persist REFERER info.
Session("Referer") = Referer
BrowserCode = "0"
Set oSRS = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.RecordSet")
'DB Connection Settings
strSConn = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" _
& Server.MapPath("data\siteLog.mdb")
strSQL = "SELECT * FROM tblSession"
oSRS.CursorType = adOpenKeyset
oSRS.LockType = adLockOptimistic
On Error Resume Next
oSRS.Open strSQL, strSConn
' Update the DB with the Info.
oSRS.AddNew
oSRS("Browser") = Browser
oSRS("Language") = Language
oSRS("Referer") = Referer
oSRS("SessionID") = Session.SessionID
oSRS("UserIP") = UserIP
oSRS("Date") = Date()
oSRS("Time") = Time()
oSRS("HitPage") = FirstPage
oSRS("TWeekNumber") = TWeekNumber
oSRS("TYearNumber") = TYearNumber
oSRS("BrowserCode") = BrowserCode
oSRS("OS") = OS
oSRS("UA") = UA
oSRS("UAversion") = UAversion
oSRS.Update
oSRS.Close
Set oSRS = Nothing
IF Err > 0 Then
Response.Write Err.Number & " " & Err.Description
End IF
End Sub
</script>
Whew! That wasn't so bad was it? Now we have a database that keeps track of all the traffic data from our visitors. So now what?
Let's make some use of that data, and build ourselves a page that can list the stats out.
This will be useful for seeing what search engines our visitors are coming from and what the search phrases they are using.
Your finished page will look like the screenshot below.
We will be using Recordset Paging, so if you aren't too familiar with it, brush up with this article. Otherwise, let's get started. Create a new ASP page and name it siteLog.asp.
I am not going to get into the code too much since it is mainly just pulling the data from the database, which is not in the scope of this article. The decode function at the bottom of the page may be useful for other purposes as well, since ASP comes with a urlEncode function, but no corresponding decode function.
<% Response.Buffer = False
'Max Records to display per page
iPageSize = 25
'Double Quote
Q = Chr(34)
'Line Feed
CR = vbCrLf
'Check for first page
If Request.QueryString("page") = "" Then
iPageCurrent = 1
Else
'Not 1st page, grab page # From querystring
iPageCurrent = CInt(Request.QueryString("page"))
End If
'Do we want to show Browser details? If so Click the checkbox.
IF lCase(Request("ShowBrowserDetails")) = "on" Then
strChecked = "Checked"
ShowBrowserDetails = True
Else
strChecked = ""
ShowBrowserDetails = False
End IF
%>
<html>
<head>
<title>sitelog</title>
<META Name="ROBOTS" Content="NOINDEX, NoFollow"
</head>
<body>
<%
Set RS = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.RecordSet")
Conn = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" _
& Server.MapPath("data/siteLog.mdb")
strSQL = "SELECT * FROM tblSession"
on Error Resume Next
RS.PageSize = iPageSize
RS.CacheSize = iPageSize
RS.CursorLocation = adUSeClient
RS.Open strSQL, Conn, 3, 3
'Total # of pages
iPageCount = RS.PageCount
IF iPageCount = 0 Then
Response.Write "No records found!"
Else
' Move to the selected page
RS.AbsolutePage = iPageCurrent
Response.Write "Page <B>" & iPageCurrent & "</B> of " _
& " <B>" & iPageCount & "</B> " _
& RS.RecordCount & " Total Records." & vbCrLf
%>
<Form Method="POST" Name="frmShowMoreDetails">
<font face="arial" size=1>Show Browser Details?</font>
<input type="checkBox" name="ShowBrowserDetails"
<%= strChecked %>
onClick="document.frmShowMoreDetails.submit()">
</form>
<table border=0 width="100%" cellspacing="4" cellpadding="4">
<tr bgColor="skyBlue">
<td valign="top">Referer</td>
<td valign="top" width="20%"><b>IP Address</b></td>
<td valign="top"><b>Date</b></td>
<td valign="top"><b>Time</b></td>
<td valign="top"><b>First Page</b></td>
<% IF ShowBrowserDetails = True Then %>
<td valign="top"><b>Browser</b></td>
<td valign="top"><b>Version</b></td>
<% End IF %>
</tr>
<%
'counter to keep track of record #'s displayed
iRecordsShown = 0
'Loop thru records until Page Size is reached
Do While iRecordsShown < iPageSize AND Not RS.EOF
IF RS("Referer") = "None" Then
strRef = "<b>Bookmark</b>"
Else
strRef = "<a href=" & Q & "#" & Q & " onClick=" & Q _
& "var j = window.open('" & RS("Referer") _
& "', 'newWin'); j.focus();" & Q & ">" _
& urlDecode(RS("Referer")) & "</a>"
End IF
%>
<tr bgColor="silver">
<td valign="top" width="20%" WRAP=HARD><%= strRef %></td>
<td valign="top"><b> <%= RS("UserIP") %></b></td>
<td valign="top"><b> <%= RS("Date") %></b></td>
<td valign="top"><b> <%= RS("Time") %></b></td>
<td valign="top"><b> <%= RS("HitPage") %></b></td>
<% IF ShowBrowserDetails = True Then %>
<td valign="top"><b> <%= RS("Browser") %></b></td>
<td valign="top"><b> <%= RS("UAversion") %></b></td>
<% End IF %>
</tr>
<%
RS.MoveNext
'increment counter
iRecordsShown = iRecordsShown + 1
Loop
End IF
RS.Close
Set RS = Nothing
Response.Write "</table>"
IF iPageCurrent > 1 Then
Response.Write "<input type=button " _
& "name=" & Q & "btnPrev" & Q & " " _
& "value=" & Q & "<< Previous " & Q & " " _
& "onClick=" & Q & "window.location='SiteLog.asp?page=" _
& iPageCurrent - 1 & "'" & Q & ">" & vbCrLf
End IF
If iPageCurrent < iPageCount Then
Response.Write "<input type=button " _
& "name=" & Q & "btnNext" & Q & " " _
& "value=" & Q & "Next >>" & Q & " " _
& "onClick=" & Q & "window.location='SiteLog.asp?page=" _
& iPageCurrent + 1 & "'" & Q & ">" & vbCrLf
End IF
' Function to help make the referer data a little more readable.
' Replaces urlEncoded data with it's original character
Function urlDecode(str)
str = Replace(str, "%3F", "?")
str = Replace(str, "%2F", "/")
str = Replace(str, "%7C", "|")
str = Replace(str, "%5C", "\")
str = Replace(str, "%21", "!")
str = Replace(str, "%40", "@")
str = Replace(str, "%23", "#")
str = Replace(str, "%24", "$")
str = Replace(str, "%25", "%")
str = Replace(str, "%5E", "^")
str = Replace(str, "%26", "&")
str = Replace(str, "%2A", "*")
str = Replace(str, "%28", "(")
str = Replace(str, "%29", ")")
str = Replace(str, "%7B", "{")
str = Replace(str, "%7D", "}")
str = Replace(str, "%3A", ":")
str = Replace(str, "%2E", ".")
str = Replace(str, "%2D", "-")
str = Replace(str, "%5B", "[")
str = Replace(str, "%5D", "]")
str = Replace(str, "%2C", ",")
str = Replace(str, "%3D", "=")
str = Replace(str, "%2B", "+")
str = Replace(str, "%2D", "-")
str = Replace(str, "%5F", "_")
str = Replace(str, "%7E", "~")
str = Replace(str, "%60", "`")
str = Replace(str, "%27", "'")
str = Replace(str, "%22", Chr(34))
urlDecode = str
End Function
%>
That's about it, you can now check your siteLog.asp page and click on the links to visit the exact page that your visitors came from. Most of the search engines will even display the search phrase they used in the search box.
Enjoy.
- Jason Withrow
You can download a zip file of the code from here.
