Configure >  Page Tracking

Configure Page Tracking

The Page Tracking feature can record all activity by any user accessing your AbleCommerce store or Merchant Administration.  The records are initially stored in the database and then can be archived to disk when regular maintenance is performed by AbleCommerce.  When you enable tracking, you can see statistics about what categories and products are being viewed, pages that are referring to you, and some technical data like the user's IP, browser, and operating system.  When the log files are archived, they are written to disk in extended log file format.  This means the log files are compatible with most statistical reporting software programs that convert the raw data into something meaningful.

Using the Page Tracking feature will benefit your customer as well.  If enabled, you and your customers can see their recently viewed items and other features.

  

TIP:

See Help > ConLib Reference.  You can view the control for "RecentlyViewed".  Add this control object to your Layout's sidebar.  Change the control object's properties for more options.

 

Configure Page Tracking

The logs for user activity are stored in the database and can be archived in extended log file format.

  1. Go to Configure > Store > Page Tracking using the top menu.  

  2. In the top section, you will see the Configure Page Tracking options.

  3. To record all user activity, check the box next to Enable Tracking.

  4. For History Length, enter the number of days to store records in the database before they are archived or deleted.

  5. Choose an Archive Option.

    • Delete - This option deletes any records older than the number of days entered for history length.  There will be no backup of the data that is removed.

    • Save to File - This option will write out any user activity data, longer than the history length, to a file, and then delete it from the database.

  6. Click the SAVE button, or SAVE AND CLOSE button when finished.

 

NOTE:

The log is written to the App_Data/Logs/ folder in extended log file format. You must have write permissions to this location, and you are responsible for maintaining and/or removing the log files.

 

 View the Page Tracking Log

You can view the page tracking log for the entire store here, or you can view a single user's activity from the Edit User page under People > Users

  1. Go to Configure > Store > Page Tracking using the top menu.  In the top-right section, you will see the Current Log feature.



    The Current Log shows the number of records stored in the database at that time.

    IMPORTANT NOTE:  A high traffic site should have adequate server and database resources when this feature is enabled.  If this is not possible, or performance needs to be improved, we recommend that merchants disable this feature.  See the section below to understand the impacts of enabling/disabling the Page Tracking feature.

  2. Click the VIEW button to view the log as shown in the example below.

  3. This page displays all store activity from newest to oldest.  You can see the following information:

      • IP - The user's originating IP.

      • Method - click on URL (GET) or post to form (POST).

      • Page - a partial URL to the page that was accessed.

      • Time - the length of time on each page (in milliseconds)

      • Referrer - If available, the page that referred to this one.

      • Browser - the browser type and version, with computer's operating system.

      • User - the anonymous or registered user will be shown here with a link to the Edit User page.

      • Item - This is the name of the product or category that the user looked at.

  4. If you want to reset all page tracking statistics and clear all records from the log.  Click the CLEAR button  

Impacts of Page Tracking

The following features make use of the Page Tracking feature.  All features, but one, are available only to merchants.  If you not using the Recently Viewed control, then we recommend that you disable the Page Tracking feature to improve performance.

  • Admin -> Dashboard -> Activity by Hour (Admin\Dashboard\ActivityByHour.ascx)

  • Admin -> Dashboard -> Popular Categories (Admin\Dashboard\PopularCategories.ascx)

  • Admin -> Dashboard -> Popular Products (Admin\Dashboard\PopularProducts.ascx)

  • Admin > People > Users > Edit User > Search history (Admin\People\Users\SearchHistoryDialog.ascx)

  • Admin > People > Users > Edit User > Page View History (Admin\People\Users\ViewHistoryDialog.ascx)

  • Admin > Reports > Customers > Page Views Over Time (Admin\Reports\CustomerHistory.aspx)

  • Admin > Reports > Customers > Popular Browsers (Admin\Reports\PopularBrowsers.aspx)

  • Admin > Reports > Products > Category Popularity (Admin/Reports/PopularCategories.aspx)

  • Admin > Reports > Products > Product Popularity (Admin/Reports/PopularProducts.aspx)

  • Admin > Configure > Store > Page Tracking > View Log (Admin\Store\PageTracking\ViewLog.aspx)

  • Store Retail > Recently Viewed control (ConLib\RecentlyViewed.ascx)

 

 
Related Topics

Configure > Page Tracking > Google Analytics
Website and ecommerce reporting with Google Analytics, a FREE business service.

People > Users (Edit User)
Modify a user's account information, member group, or ban from store.