OT: Current Users

How could I set it up so I can look at a page on our site and see a count of
the current users on the site? I'm using VBScript ASP.

--
Brandon
Presentations Direct - "Document Finishing Solutions"
http://www.presentationsdirect.com

..oO(Brandon)

How could I set it up so I can look at a page on our site and see a count of
the current users on the site?

Define "current user".

HTTP is a stateless protocol. A user sends a request, the server answers
and then the user is gone.

Micha

http://php.resourceindex.com/Complete_Scripts/Access_Counters/Online_Users/

php, but you can probably find others

http://www.pstruh.cz/tips/detpg_wmi-iis-performance/

asp


hth
Donna

I don't know for sure . . . I've just seen sites that show the "current
users" and was interested in doing something like that. How do they do it?

--
Brandon
Presentations Direct - "Document Finishing Solutions"
http://www.presentationsdirect.com

"Michael Fesser" <netizen (AT) gmx (DOT) de> wrote

.oO(Brandon)

How could I set it up so I can look at a page on our site and see a count
of
the current users on the site?

Define "current user".

HTTP is a stateless protocol. A user sends a request, the server answers
and then the user is gone.

Micha

On 04 Nov 2005 in macromedia.dreamweaver, Brandon wrote:

I don't know for sure . . . I've just seen sites that show the
"current users" and was interested in doing something like that.
How do they do it?

If people are logging in, you could keep a separate database of who
logged in and output that. As Micha notes, though, HTTP is a stateless
protocol (ie no persistent connections). So as soon as it is posted,
it's out of date.

Assuming you're setting a cookie for logins which times out:
- when they log in, write their username and timeout time from the cookie
to a database table
- if they log out, look for their name and delete the record from the
table
- before you write the 'who's logged in' to the page, filter it for
expired logins and delete them

Programming is left as an exercise for the reader...

--
Joe Makowiec
http://makowiec.net/
Email: http://makowiec.net/email.php

Regarding the stateless connection . . . I've read other places that the
current users can be established by editing the global.asa file which
creates a session for every user . . . and the total users can be tracked
this way.

--
Brandon
Presentations Direct - "Document Finishing Solutions"
http://www.presentationsdirect.com

"Joe Makowiec" <makowiec (AT) invalid (DOT) invalid> wrote

On 04 Nov 2005 in macromedia.dreamweaver, Brandon wrote:

I don't know for sure . . . I've just seen sites that show the
"current users" and was interested in doing something like that.
How do they do it?

If people are logging in, you could keep a separate database of who
logged in and output that. As Micha notes, though, HTTP is a stateless
protocol (ie no persistent connections). So as soon as it is posted,
it's out of date.

Assuming you're setting a cookie for logins which times out:
- when they log in, write their username and timeout time from the cookie
to a database table
- if they log out, look for their name and delete the record from the
table
- before you write the 'who's logged in' to the page, filter it for
expired logins and delete them

Programming is left as an exercise for the reader...

--
Joe Makowiec
http://makowiec.net/
Email: http://makowiec.net/email.php

..oO(Brandon)

Regarding the stateless connection . . . I've read other places that the
current users can be established by editing the global.asa file which
creates a session for every user . . . and the total users can be tracked
this way.

The only way to track users is to have a login. But even this is
unreliable, since you don't know if the user is still there or just
forgot to logoff. The same applies to sessions. A script like above will
only show the number of active sessions, which is rather meaningless.

And after all such information is as useless as a hit counter, IMHO.

Micha

Active sessions should for the most part equal active users.

--
Brandon
Presentations Direct - "Document Finishing Solutions"
http://www.presentationsdirect.com

"Michael Fesser" <netizen (AT) gmx (DOT) de> wrote

.oO(Brandon)

Regarding the stateless connection . . . I've read other places that the
current users can be established by editing the global.asa file which
creates a session for every user . . . and the total users can be tracked
this way.

The only way to track users is to have a login. But even this is
unreliable, since you don't know if the user is still there or just
forgot to logoff. The same applies to sessions. A script like above will
only show the number of active sessions, which is rather meaningless.

And after all such information is as useless as a hit counter, IMHO.

Micha

..oO(Brandon)

Active sessions should for the most part equal active users.

Usually active sessions > active users.
What's the point about that at all? Why do you need it?

Micha

But sessions are ROUGHLY equivalent to users . . . it gives us something to
look at so we can immediately see the spike in site traffic during certain
PR and marketing events. Later we can analyze the actual traffic through
monthly stats.

--
Brandon
Presentations Direct - "Document Finishing Solutions"
http://www.presentationsdirect.com

"Michael Fesser" <netizen (AT) gmx (DOT) de> wrote

.oO(Brandon)

Active sessions should for the most part equal active users.

Usually active sessions > active users.
What's the point about that at all? Why do you need it?

Micha