Web Statistical Data

[son]

A client of ours has a shop live since two weeks and uses AW stats to check site statistics. So far, so good. Only that she would like to know what products have been looked at which she cannot see. The product page gets data dynamically and she can only see product.php has been accessed 10 times on day x for example. Is there another statistical package that would show the complete querystring individually, so client can see which product has been accessed or is there a simple way to build in a solution for client. What do you guys for those cases?Son

[boen_robot]

Why not use mod_rewrite to make different products appear on different URLs? Doing so would be good for AWStats (and therefore for your client), for their end users, and even for search engines.

[Err]

I do believe that AW stats has a settings file that allows you to do just that. Just have to enable it.

[son]

I do believe that AW stats has a settings file that allows you to do just that. Just have to enable it.

RahXephon,Do you know what this setting might be called? I scanned the help document few times now, but cannot find it... Would be great if you could let me know. Best would be to use what we have:-)Son

[Err]

The settings file is called awstats.conf inside you will find among other things these settings:

# Keep or remove the query string to the URL in the statistics for individual# pages. This is primarily used to differentiate between the URLs of dynamic# pages. If set to 1, mypage.html?id=x and mypage.html?id=y are counted as two# different pages.# Warning, when set to 1, memory required to run AWStats is dramatically# increased if you have a lot of changing URLs (for example URLs with a random# id inside). Such web sites should not set this option to 1 or use seriously# the next parameter URLWithQueryWithOnlyFollowingParameters (or eventually # URLWithQueryWithoutFollowingParameters).# Change : Effective for new updates only# Possible values:# 0 - URLs are cleaned from the query string (ie: "/mypage.html")# 1 - Full URL with query string is used	 (ie: "/mypage.html?p=x&q=y")# Default: 0# URLWithQuery=0# When URLWithQuery is on, you will get the full URL with all parameters in# URL reports. But among thoose parameters, sometimes you don't need a# particular parameter because it does not identify the page or because it's# a random ID changing for each access even if URL points to same page. In# such cases, it is higly recommanded to ask AWStats to keep only parameters# you need (if you know them) before counting, manipulating and storing URL.# Enter here list of wanted parameters. For example, with "param", one hit on# /mypage.cgi?param=abc&id=Yo4UomP9d  and  /mypage.cgi?param=abc&id=Mu8fdxl3r# will be reported as 2 hits on /mypage.cgi?param=abc# This parameter is not used when URLWithQuery is 0 and can't be used with# URLWithQueryWithoutFollowingParameters.# Change : Effective for new updates only# Example: "param"# Default: ""# URLWithQueryWithOnlyFollowingParameters=""# When URLWithQuery is on, you will get the full URL with all parameters in# URL reports. But among thoose parameters, sometimes you don't need a# particular parameter because it does not identify the page or because it's# a random ID changing for each access even if URL points to same page. In# such cases, it is higly recommanded to ask AWStats to remove such parameters# from the URL before counting, manipulating and storing URL. Enter here list# of all non wanted parameters. For example if you enter "id", one hit on# /mypage.cgi?param=abc&id=Yo4UomP9d  and  /mypage.cgi?param=abc&id=Mu8fdxl3r# will be reported as 2 hits on /mypage.cgi?param=abc# This parameter is not used when URLWithQuery is 0 and can't be used with# URLWithQueryWithOnlyFollowingParameters.# Change : Effective for new updates only# Example: "PHPSESSID jsessionid"# Default: ""# URLWithQueryWithoutFollowingParameters=""

Just enable them. My awstats.conf file was in a "stats" folder that as a direct child of "root".

[son]

RahXephon,That is great feedback, thanks. Just one more question as you have experience in changing those setting which I don't. It says:"Warning, when set to 1, memory required to run AWStats is dramatically# increased if you have a lot of changing URLs (for example URLs with a random# id inside). Such web sites should not set this option to 1 or use seriously# the next parameter URLWithQueryWithOnlyFollowingParameters (or eventually# URLWithQueryWithoutFollowingParameters"On the relevant website I use the querystring to pass categories, ranges and products (just under 2000 products at present). Could that be a memory issue?Thanks,Son

[ProblemHelpPlease]

From my experience of this setting being on it depends on the traffic, once lots of dynamic URL's are being visited it can take longer for AWStats to pull the new data from the logs file. The best thing to do would be to try it and check the error logs for any memory limit issues. If you do have any problems then you can increase the memory limit with a change to the php.ini file.

[boen_robot]

RahXephon,That is great feedback, thanks. Just one more question as you have experience in changing those setting which I don't. It says:"Warning, when set to 1, memory required to run AWStats is dramatically# increased if you have a lot of changing URLs (for example URLs with a random# id inside). Such web sites should not set this option to 1 or use seriously# the next parameter URLWithQueryWithOnlyFollowingParameters (or eventually# URLWithQueryWithoutFollowingParameters"On the relevant website I use the querystring to pass categories, ranges and products (just under 2000 products at present). Could that be a memory issue?Thanks,Son

Then you'll need the memory equal to(The amount of products (just under 2000 currently) + the number of possible categories + the number of possible ranges (possible lower range values * possible upper range values) * The memory it takes for one log entryI'd say, yeah, it does become a major memory issue. That's why its disabled by default. I still reccomend having mod_rewrite for the categories and products. You can still use the query string for the ranges. That way, you'll eliminate the largest memory hog - the range views.

[son]

Then you'll need the memory equal to(The amount of products (just under 2000 currently) + the number of possible categories + the number of possible ranges (possible lower range values * possible upper range values) * The memory it takes for one log entryI'd say, yeah, it does become a major memory issue. That's why its disabled by default. I still reccomend having mod_rewrite for the categories and products. You can still use the query string for the ranges. That way, you'll eliminate the largest memory hog - the range views.

Thank you both for your help. I checked yesterday with client for mod_rewrite and he might consider in the future. For now, he would like to use what he has. I checked further options to combat memory issues and found that it might be an idea to set up a scheduled task to update the stats every night. This should speed up access to the stats and spreads the load for the servers...Son

[son]

Thank you both for your help. I checked yesterday with client for mod_rewrite and he might consider in the future. For now, he would like to use what he has. I checked further options to combat memory issues and found that it might be an idea to set up a scheduled task to update the stats every night. This should speed up access to the stats and spreads the load for the servers...Son

I have modified the awstats config file as:URLWithQuery=1URLWithQueryWithOnlyFollowingParameters="cid,pid"and was hoping onlypage.php?cid=5 orpage.php?pid=8 orpage.php?cid=9&pid=12would be counted as separate pages.I found now that it went back now to count pages without regard to querystring. Does anyone know if the comma is the wrong separator when you want to have several parameters counted as individual files?Son