User tracking mod

[JeffD]

Woody:

If you have additional flags that you've added (like Kuwait) send them to me and I'll include them in the archive. The ones I've added were simply a result of finding missing image indicators in the output and figuring out what country it was, locating a flag for said country and scaling it to size. The ps.gif is Palestine Occupied Territory, it was the last I added so I remember it. Don't remember what sv.gif is now.

I don't believe the 0.gif and .gif are needed any more as I fixed the code to display a US flag if GEO_IP doesn't return a valid reference...

I don't have answers for the balance of your questions, sorry!

Jeff

[JeffD]

Woody:

Open the file admin/includes/geoip.inc to see the possible GEO_IP country return codes. Hope this helps!

Jeff

[Woodymon]

The problem is simply when you logoff as a customer the session id remains the same (even though the session has been destroyed) so the session tracking continues to record (as Guest) but under the existing (same) session id and since the session id was previously associated with the customer account, continues to display this way.

Thanks for the info Jeff,

Is this not by Zen Cart design? So that the guest shopping cart contents remains known when the guest creates/logs into an account (when the cart for the guest and newly logged in user are merged).

And also the same if logged in user logs out, and then later logs back in?

So is the session_id IP based or browser based? That is if I moved to another PC using the same IP, or fired up a different browser on the same PC, would we see the same effect? I hope I am being clear. Time for some research on my part. ;-)

I suspect the ZC Dev team has been dealing with this issue since day one.

Woody

[irischant]

Jeff...I think I've tracked it down here

in user_tracking_config.php starting with line 106 I've changed the following from:

    if (((!$HTTP_GET_VARS['cID']) || (@$HTTP_GET_VARS['cID'] == $configuration->fields['configuration_id'])) && (!$cInfo) && (substr($HTTP_GET_VARS['action'], 0, 3) != 'new')) {
      $cfg_extra = $db->Execute("select configuration_key, configuration_description, date_added, last_modified, use_function, set_function from " . TABLE_CONFIGURATION . " where configuration_id = '" . $configuration['configuration_id'] . "'");

      $cInfo_array = array_merge($configuration, $cfg_extra);
      $cInfo = new objectInfo($cInfo_array);
    }

to:

    if (((!$HTTP_GET_VARS['cID']) || (@$HTTP_GET_VARS['cID'] == $configuration->fields['configuration_id'])) && (!$cInfo) && (substr($HTTP_GET_VARS['action'], 0, 3) != 'new')) {
      $cfg_extra = $db->Execute("select configuration_key, configuration_description, date_added, last_modified, use_function, set_function from " . TABLE_CONFIGURATION . " where configuration_id = '" . (int)$configuration->fields['configuration_id'] . "'");

      $cInfo_array = array_merge($configuration->fields, $cfg_extra->fields);
      $cInfo = new objectInfo($cInfo_array);
    }

Seems to work peachy now ;c)

[JeffD]

irischant:

Thanks for updating the code and posting your fix. You may have some more restrictive PHP settings regarding arrays than some as I have not had an issue here but your fixes make sense so I will include them in the next update. Again thank you!


Woody:

No, not by Zencart design but rather by PHP design since the session id is actually generated from within the PHP engine not within Zencart code.

The session is used in Zencart to track the user so yes in that case when he creates an account, has his cart merged etc., the session id is used as the reference.

The session id is neither IP based nor browser based. As I said it is generated by the PHP server to track a specific HTTP connection. If the same user logs out and back in without closing the browser he will likely get the same session id, unless the session has expired in which case he may get a different session id.

Different machines will get different sessions always but multiple connections on the same machine with the same browser will share the same session. Try opening several Firefox browser instances connecting to your store and several through I.E. and you will likely see two different sessions between browsers (unless you log in as the same customer in which case your sessions will be merged). If you play around like this while watching your user tracking session id's I think it will become clearer how it all works.


Hope this helps!
Jeff

[Woodymon]

Open the file admin/includes/geoip.inc to see the possible GEO_IP country return codes. Hope this helps!

Good eye. From the include file I calculated the latest version of GeoIP.dat supports 243 countries.

So the countries' table Zen Cart 1.36' is missing 3 countries. Or maybe not. I see GeoIP includes EU which is not a country per se.

I found an ISO list at:
http://www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-serv.../list-en1.html

ISO site currently shows 244 official short names and code elements.

I see a good source of medium and larger sized flags at https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications...ftheworld.html

What is the generally acceptable source for those tiny flag gif files? I think the same are used by AWStats.

So my tally is:
Zen Cart = 240
ISO = 244
GeoIP = 243
CIA = 237
UT flags = 170

I never know when a potential customer from the ÅLAND ISLANDS may visit my shop and then submit a huge order. Need to be ready for that day ;-)

-Woody

[JeffD]

Woody:

AFAIK they are simply 18px wide by 12px high gif images.

BTW, I think you just volunteered to be the official user_tracking country flag provider! When you have them all ready... send them to me and I'll update the archive.

Thanks!
Jeff

[JeffD]

Woody:

Here is another list of small flags for your examination:

http://www.kidlink.org/icons/flagdir.html

Thanks!
Jeff

[Woodymon]

Different machines will get different sessions always but multiple connections on the same machine with the same browser will share the same session. Try opening several Firefox browser instances connecting to your store and several through I.E. and you will likely see two different sessions between browsers (unless you log in as the same customer in which case your sessions will be merged). If you play around like this while watching your user tracking session id's I think it will become clearer how it all works.

Hope this helps!

Yes that was very helpful. When I stated "browser based" what you descibe above is what I was referring to. Different browsers on the same machine will not share the same session. But if multiple connections made from different windows/tabs in the same browser they would share the same session. Because the connections from each window refers to the same browser client side authenticated sessions table.

So if this is an inherent structural feature in the PHP-Apache platform, wondering how carts developed on other development platforms/languages deal with this issue? Or do they?

Time for me to take a PHP/LAMP programing class.

Woody

[JeffD]

Woody:

Every language that supports HTTP protocol has the concept of a session object and accessors to add and remove session parameters, check for session expiration, etc. This would include JAVA, C++, PERL, and the list goes on and on. They all pretty much do the same thing as PHP so if you learn one you learn them all.

Jeff