Liquid Frog
FAQ's
Avanti Web Stats
ANSWERS
  1. What is Avanti Web Stats
    Avanti Web Stats is a mixture of web server scripts and Windows software.

    Designed to collect statistics from as many of your websites as you care to monitor, it will display all your stats on your desktop. It achieves this through the use of a small Windows application which collates the statistics and presents them in an easy to read format via a text or chart view. This allows you to monitor all your traffic from all your sites at the same time making it a quick and easy process to monitor all your web sites traffic levels.

    It is capable of monitoring search engine traffic and reporting which search terms were used to find your site. It will also show you which search engines are spidering your site(s). You can set Avanti to monitor a single page or every page on your site. This allows you to track visitors from the moment they enter your site until the moment they leave it. Avanti will also show you how your visitors arrived on your site by reporting the URL they came from as well as a wealth of information about each visitor such as the browser they use, the color depth and screen resolution, their IP address and ISP as well as many other details.

    Included with Avanti Web Stats is also a site availability checker. This monitors all your websites and will warn you by changing its' desktop icon, popping up a dialogue box and/or emailing you (and/or others) should one or more of your sites be unreachable by your visitors. You can configure Avanti to do all this automatically and it will constantly monitor your sites making sure you don't lose any valuable traffic.

    This is just a brief glimpse of what Avanti can do. Download the free evaluation version and see for yourself. Avanti is easy to set up but incredibly powerful. It's what webmasters have always wanted but never had - until now!
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  2. What stats will Avanti track
    Avanti will track the following and more:

  3. Hits by the second
  4. Hits by the minute
  5. Hits by the hour
  6. Hits by the day
  7. Hits by the weekv
  8. Hits by the month
  9. Hits by the year
  10. Date of hit
  11. Time of hit
  12. Referrer URL
  13. Search engine keywords
  14. Search engine visits
  15. Visitors IP addresses
  16. Visitors Host
  17. Visitors Browser
  18. Visitors Browser version
  19. Visitors screen resolution
  20. Visitors color depth
  21. Visitors country
  22. Visitors operating system
  23. Visitors have java enabled
  24. Busiest hour
  25. Busiest day
  26. Busiest week
  27. Busiest month
  28. Busiest year
  29. Compare stats between sites
  30. Is site reachable by visitor?

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  31. How do I set up Avanti Web Stats

    Installation of Avanti Web Stats is a two part process. First set up your server(s), then setup your desktop client.

    Server install:



  32. Extract the downloaded distribution zip file to a folder on your local PC
  33. Ftp to your web server and create a directory to hold the Avanti scripts - you can call it what you like
  34. Chmod the directory you've just created to 777
  35. Upload all the Avanti script files to the newly created directory
  36. Browse to http://www.yoursite.com/avanti_directory_you_created.index.php
  37. The installer will fill in all the fields for you
  38. Set the maximum size of log file you want to use. If you're unsure just leave the default value of 512KB.
  39. Enter a password to use to protect your stats
  40. The install script will create the files needed and present you with some code to paste into your page
  41. Select the tracking code for your page type (PHP or html) and copy it to your clipboard
  42. Find your index page (or the page you wish to track from) and paste the tracking code somewhere after the <body> tag but before the </body> tag for html pages or after the last PHP close tag (?>) for a PHP page. See the install script for more details
  43. Save the modified page back to your web server
  44. Check the directory that Avanti has been installed into and make sure a file called config.php and a file called script.js have been created
  45. View the modified page in your web browser and check for any error messages
  46. Proceed on to set up the Avanti desktop Client

    47. Local PC install:



  47. Browse to the Avanti folder on your PC where you extracted the distribution file
  48. Close any running programs including any virus checkers or firewalls
  49. Double click the Setup icon and follow the on screen prompts
  50. If you disabled your virus checker or firewall, re-enable them
  51. Add the sites you want to monitor and collect stats for
  52. Avanti is now ready to run.

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  53. What is the difference between the evaluation version and the standard version
    The evaluation version is designed to allow you to try Avanti Web Stats for free so you can make sure that it will work on your server, your sites and your local PC and that it will meet your requirements.

    There is no difference in the core functionality between the evaluation version and the standard version except that the evaluation version will only monitor the last 750 visitors to your site.
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  54. What do the status icons mean
    Avanti will monitor the status of all your sites for availability. Next to the name of your site in the 'Sites List' view, Avanti will show you the current status of your site by showing one of the icons listed below.

    Please note this does not affect your stats unless your site is unreachable in which case stats will probably not be recorded until you resolve the current unavailability problem and bring your site back on line

    - Please wait... Avanti is checking your site for availability. It may take a moment or two for Avanti to determine the status of your site. Stats are working.

    - Your site has been found, is being monitored and is operational. This is a 'Normal' status. Stats are working.

    - Avanti was unable to contact your site. Your site cannot be found, is unreachable or is down. You need to check your site! Stats are probably not working.

    - Site checking is currently disabled. Your site is not being monitored and Avanti will not be able to determine the status of your site. Stats are working.


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  55. How many licenses do I need to monitor multiple sites
    You can monitor any number of web sites with just a single license. If you wish to monitor sites from multiple PC's, you will need a license for each PC Avanti is installed on.

    For example if you are monitoring 25 web sites and you are doing that from just a single PC, you only require one license. If you are monitoring 1 web site but you do it from three different PC's, you will need three licenses. This applies even if you are not using all three PC's at the same time. Essentially the license you are purchasing is a license to install and use on a single PC.
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  56. What is the current stable released version of Avanti
    The current stable released version is V1.0.1
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  57. Where can I find my version of Avanti
    On the Avanti desktop client, click help/about. The version is shown in the popup window.
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  58. Can I suggest a way to improve Avanti Web Stats
    Yes of course. We actively encourage users of our software and scripts to suggest improvements so that they can be developed still further. To make a suggestion please use the contact form on the site and send your comments to feedback.
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  59. I get an Unhandled Exception error
    Please see the Known Issues FAQ dated August 14th 2004. You are recommended to upgrade your Avanti install to the latest version.
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  60. I get error messages when running the Avanti Web Stats installer on my web server
    If you are receiving errors like this:

    Warning: fopen(script.js) [function.fopen]: failed to create stream: Permission denied in /home/httpd/vhost/your_domain.com/httpdocs/stats/index.php on line 131
    Warning: fputs(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/httpd/vhost/your_domain.com/httpdocs/stats/index.php on line 139
    Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/httpd/vhosts/your_domain.com/httpdocs/stats/index.php on line 141
    Warning: chmod() [function.chmod]: Operation not permitted in /home/httpd/vhosts/your_domain.com/httpdocs/stats/index.php on line 143

    Then your web server probably has some restrictions set. You will need to check that two files (config.php and script.js) have been created.

    To do this start your FTP browser and connect to your site. Check the Avanti stats directory for these two files. If they are present on the server, open each one in turn. The config.php file should look like this:

    # The stats directory on the server
    define( "_STATS_DIR", "/home/httpd/vhosts/your_domain.com/httpdocs/Avanti_stats_dir/" );
    # The URL where the stats script can be found
    define( "_STATS_URL", "http://your_domain.com/" );
    # The maximum log size. If the log exceeds this size, it is flushed after it is accessed.
    define( "_MAX_LOG_SIZE", "128" );
    # The encrypted digest of the password used to retrieve the stats.
    defined( "_STATS_PASS", "0986geewdshs563cswd373ce4e326y754f6" );
    ?>

    And the script.js file should look like this:

    dr=this.document.referrer;
    s=screen;
    sw=s.width;
    sh=s.height;
    sd=s.colorDepth;
    document.write("");

    Check the path variables carefully to make sure they are correct. If they are not you will need to modify them by hand. If you have difficulty finding the path to use for _STATS_DIR then refer to the readme file in the Find Stats Dir folder contained in the downloaded distribution file. See also the readme file in the Config and script files folder in the downloaded distribution file.
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  61. I get an application error when I run Avanti
    If you are receiving any sort of application error when you try and run Avanti then it is likely that you do not have the .NET Framework installed on your PC or it is corrupted in some way.

    .NET is a free download available via Windows Update or directly from the Microsoft web site [here]
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  62. Avanti reports no records to download after I've installed it
    If, after installing Avanti, the desktop client reports "No new records were found on the site" it is probably because your tracking code is not in the right place on your page. Another symptom is that only a blank page is shown when you try and view your stats directly from the site.

    In this case check for the presence of two files in your stats directory on your server - config.php and script.js. If these two files are present then the install routine has been successful and the problem is only related to placement of the tracking code.

    To resolve this issue make sure that you are using the correct tracking code for your type of page and that it is in the correct place. If you have tried adding the tracking code to the bottom of your page, delete it and move it to the very top. To generate the tracking code again, simply browse to your stats directory in your web browser.

    You will know when the tracking code placement is correct because a file called log.csv will be created in your stats directory after the first hit.

    Don't forget that in a new install of Avanti there may not be any hits to track because no one has visited your site yet!
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  63. I had to restore my PC and now Avanti doesn't work
    It has been noted that when a user restores a PC to an earlier date under XP, sometimes Avanti will refuse to run giving a Fatal Execution Engine Error.

    It would seem that the restore process sometimes corrupts XP's .Net installation. In order to rectify the problem, simply download .Net from the Microsoft website and re-install it. There is no need to re-install Avanti.

    You can obtain .Net from [here]
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  64. I get an open_basedir restriction in effect error message
    If you receive this error message (or something similar that talks about open_basedir restrictions in effect):

    Warning: main() [function.main]: open_basedir restriction in effect. File(/usr/lib/php4/php/language/lang-.php) is not within the allowed path(s): (/home/http/vhost/yourdomain.com/httpdocs)

    Then your hosts have set some restrictions on your server. Most hosts will be happy to turn off this restriction to allow the script to run. Contact your hosts, inform them of the error message you are receiving and request that they remove open basedir restrictions.
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  65. Known Issues & History
    August 14th 2004 - Avanti V1.0.1 Critical update released. This release supercedes any previous release and users of Avanti before this version should upgrade. All known issues prior to this upgrade have been fixed in this version. There are now no known issues with Avanti.

    August 14th 2004 - The Avanti interface is undergoing some minor reworking as part of the issues reported below. All bug reports and errors to date will be fixed and Avanti will be re-released with a version update to V1.0.1. This is a minor update but is considered critical. All users will be recommended to upgrade their Avanti installations. Full instructions will be provided with the distribution file.

    August 14th 2004 - We are aware of an issue with some users experiencing an Unhandled Exception error when their log files exceed 7,000 records. Whilst this is only an issue for a very small number of users, we are currently working on a resolution. A fix will be released within a week.

    August 14th 2004 - We are aware of an issue with incorrect instructions in the help file for the hit counter. The help file is being re-written.

    August 13th 2004 - We are aware of an issue with the hit counter. It is not possible to hide the counter from site visitors. An update is being written and will be available in the next few days.
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