• Cold Fusion 4.01
• IIS or Cold Fusion supported web server
• MS Access 2000
• Internet Explorer 5 or Netscape 6

Features

Find below a list of some of the more integral features found in BannerTracker.

• unlimited categories and banners
• full statistics on banner exposure
• ability to allow clients to view their banner exposure statistics in a live environment e.g (date/time, viewers ip, banner clicks)
• sequential banner rotation
• random banner rotation
• random banner rotation with weighting
• banner stats may be exported in csv or xls format
• banner expiration can be based on the number of exposures or a specific date
• supported backend databases : MSAccess, MYSQL, MSSQL

Installation

Bannertracker should be installed under the website directory that will be using the application.

For example : d:\inetpub\wwwroot\<your site>\bannertracker

Calls to bannertracker is made via the custom tag bannertracker.cfm.

Copy the file bannertracker.cfm to the root directory of your website, or any other directory where the custom tag may be called from.

The application using bannertracker must provide a datasource name to the custom tag.This can be done in two ways:

a) a variable called application.bt_datasource must be defined.
b) a paramater called datasource can be passed into the tag (e.g. <cf_bannertracker datasource="bannertracker">).

If the datasource requires a username and password, they can be passed into the custom tag as well (e.g. <cf_bannertracker datasource="bannertracker" username="x" password="x">). The other method of passing in the username and password is making sure the appropriate application variables (application.btdb_username, application.btdb_password) are defined in the current application.cfm

The file maintenance.cfm found under the bannertracker directory should run as a scheduled task. The file should be executed on a daily basis. This template handles the cleaning up of old statistic files on the server.

And finally, the application.cfm must be customized to reflect the correct directory paths relating to your server.

Getting Started

OK lets get started using the application. I will take you through the steps required to setup a banner. Before we begin, I am assuming you have already:

a) created an ODBC connection to the database

b) customized the application.cfm and have BannerTracker running on a Cold Fusion server (please execute the application from its "admin" directory)



You should be presented with an Administrator login like the one above, go ahead and login using  "admin" as the username and password (without quotes). Admin is the default username and password for BannerTracker, please be sure to change this later.

Main Menu

Once you have successfully logged in, you will be presented with a menu similar to the one below :



Setup

Click on setup, it is important that the applications setup parameters are defined prior to its use.



I would advise you to change the default username and password.

Here is where you define the display mode of banners. They are sequential, random, or random weighted.

It is quite important to define the correct database mode. Be sure to indicate correctly what backend you are using. The supported databases are Microsoft Access, SQL Server or MySQL. I would recommend using the application under MSSQL or MySQL. The reason for this is that when it comes to random or random weighted banners, the queries are more optimized.

The application can also mirror customized time if desired, the default is now(). Be sure not to include any hashes in the variable name.

You can also define a full path to bannertracker.cfm, if defined all onclick url of banners point to this url. This eliminates the need to have the bannertracker module present in every directory that may be calling it.

The system default code used for banners can also be edited. The base code here is adopted every time a new banner is created.

The following string pointers are substituted with values from defined banners.

Banner Image/Source URL = %s%
Banner URL = %u%
width = %w%
height = %h%
target = %t%
alt text = %at%

Once your desired settings are entered, click save.

Manage Banner Categories

From the main menu select "Manage Banner Categories". This will allow you to create, edit or delete banner categories. In order to create a banner, you must first create a category. A banner must always be assigned to a category. As a result the application can display banners in multiple locations and web sites.



As you are running the application for the first time, you will have to define a category. Go ahead and create a category called "Top Banner". Categories can also be "active" or "inactive". By clicking "active", a category switches to "inactive" and vice versa. Banners assigned under inactive categories are not displayed. When a category is first defined, it is set to inactive as default. Go ahead and click inactive, to switch the category to active. Now that you know where to manage categories, lets go back to the main menu (click on "main menu").

Manage Banners

From the main menu click on "manage banners". You should be presented with a screen similar to the one below.



Click on "Add", since there are no banners defined at the moment. You are now presented with the banner properties box similar to the one below :



The above screen illustrates where all your banner details have to be defined. In the above example I have created a banner for FlashCode Ltd.

Client Name : name of client the banner ad belongs to

Banner Image URL : Full url pointing to the location of the banner image.

Banner URL : Url of where the image should link to.

Banner URL Target : here you can define the the url target e.g _blank will open the link in a new window.

Alt / Hover Text : text displayed during a mouseover on banner.

Banner Width : you can define a banner width value here (optional).

Banner Height : you can define a banner height value here (optional).

Expiry Mode : select how the banner listing will expire, either by date, or exposure count.

Total Banner Exposures : enter in the number of times a banner is displayed before it expires. This number is only effective if the expiry mode is set to "exposure count".

Expiry Date : enter in the expiry date of when the banner expires. This value is only effective if the expiry mode is set to "exposure count".

Banner Category : assign the current banner to a previously defined category. This allows multiple banners to exist on one page, or across different sites.

Banner Weight : allows you to weight a banner from 1 to 10. The higher the weight, the more changes are of that particular banner to be displayed. e.g If we have two banners, one assigned a weight of 5, and one assigned a weight of 10. The banner with a weight of 10 has five more chances of appearing than the banner with a weight of 5.

Client Username : you can assign a client username. This will allow a client to view their banner statistics on a live environment. Be sure the Stats Active is set to "yes".

Client Password : you can assign a client password. This will allow a client to view their banner statistics on a live environment. Be sure the Stats Active is set to "yes".

Stats Active : when enabled allows a banner client to view their stats on a live environment. They must be provided with the following url : http://<your site>/bannertracker

Now click on "Add". Congratulations! You have now successfully created a banner!



To view the code you need to incorporate the banner category into your application, click on "edit" from the Manage Banners screen.

Since the banner has been successfully created, more options become available.



Edit Code : lets you edit the actual code used for displaying the banner. This feature makes the application very flexible in the sense that any type of banner can be accommodated. e.g flash banners.

Clear Stats : clears / deletes any existing statistics that the banner may have.

Download Stats : allows you to download the current banner stats in either csv, or excel format. Once the promotion period has expired you may opt to send all the information gathered to your client.

Copy Code : copies the code required to integrate the banner into your web application to the clipboard. Simply insert the code where you wish the banner category to be displayed.

Upgrade Policy

All BannerTracker purchases entitle you to free upgrades through the rest of that integer-version run. For example, if you buy 1.0, you get free updates through version 1.99.

Software License

TERMS OF USE

You AGREE TO NOT redistribute and or resell the full registered version to others.

Preserving the data stored/used/processed by the BannerTracker is the
responsibility of the user and the user agrees to NOT hold the author
responsible for any data loss or system problems.

This web app has been tested and developed on Windows XP Professional with IIS 5.0,
Personal web sever, ColdFusion MX, SQL Server 2000, and MS Internet Explorer 6.0 however,
due to server settings and users unknown environment, I make no warranty, expressed or
implied, regarding the quality, functionality, performance or stability of the software.
Email (must be the same email that paid for it) and web based support will be provided.

BannerTracker will always remain in encrypted format, the only modifications allowed are
to non encrypted areas of the application to suit the users preferences.

No refunds are available after BannerTracker has been purchased. It is recommended that
you first install the demo to ensure that the application will run on your system.

Ordering the Full Version

You may order the full version from here :

http://www.flashcode.co.nz

or

http://get.to/rizsoftware