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INTRODUCTION | |
| This document contains information on downloading,
installing and configuring LiveCounter Classic. If
you're using (or intend to use) LiveCounter Plug and Play, please refer
to the LiveCounter Plug and Play home page as information on
this document is intended only for LiveCounter Classic users. If you're
not familiar with the differences between the two counters, please refer to the comparison chart.
If you're new to counters and other web site usage tracking tools, please read the document "Tracking your site's usage with counters, trackers and log analyzers" first. It will explain different types of counters you can use and help you to find the most suitable counter for your web page. LiveCounter Classic requires that you have CGI access on your web server. If you're not sure what CGI mean or new to CGI scripts, please read the document "What is CGI?" first. In addition to explaining CGI, it will help you to find out if you actually have CGI access. Note that most free web space providers, such as GeoCities, Tripod, Xoom and AOL, do not give CGI access to their basic account users. Following document may help you to find if your web space provider allow CGI access: "Free web space for your home page." If you're still not sure whether you have CGI access, please refer to your web space provider's documentation or contact them for help. The CGI script installation steps documented on this page assumes that your web server has a "common setup." If your web space provider uses an uncommon or other proprietary setup when it comes to installing CGI scripts, you must contact them to find out the specific steps for installing Perl CGI scripts. Since we have no access to your web server settings, please note that we cannot help you on these issues which are not directly related to LiveCounter Classic itself.
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INSTALLING LiveCounter Classic |
 RequirementsYou need a web server on which you have CGI access to install LiveCounter Classic.
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| Installing
LiveCounter on all other servers including UNIX servers If your particular web server is unlisted or if you're on a UNIX server, please use the following steps to install LiveCounter. By choosing to download and/or use this software, you are accepting the copyright and the disclaimer. If you install it on a commercial site, you must obtain a license to continue using LiveCouner Classic after the trial period.
NOTE: Due to errors in certain browsers, following links to files may be renamed to *.exe when you try to download them. If this happens, be sure to rename them back to *.pl OR right click on the links and select "Save Link As..." if possible.
NOTE: If you're using FTP to upload LiveCounter files to your web server, use ASCII transfer mode for all .pl files (script files) and BINARY transfer mode for rest of the files. 1. Copy LiveCounter.class and lcdgts_a.gif to your base directory.
NOTE: Since you will be specifying the exact location of LiveCounter.class and lcdgts_a.gif when calling LiveCounter, it is possible to copy them to a directory other than the base directory (/java/ for example). However, if you are following step-by-step instructions, it is recommended that you copy those two files to your base directory. 2. Specify the location of Perl interpreter. (UNIX
based servers only)
3. Copy LiveCounter script files (livecnt1.pl, livecnt2.pl, and livecntr.pl) to your CGI scripts directory.
1. Change the attributes of LiveCounter
scripts. (UNIX based servers only)
If you don't have TELNET access but you're able to use your FTP client to change file attributes, following modes should be used: (Owner: read, write, execute) (Group: read, execute) (Other: read, execute) 2. Create livecntr.dat file. (UNIX
based servers only)
If you don't have TELNET access but you're able to use your FTP client to change file attributes, first transfer an empty file named livecntr.dat and use the following modes: (Owner: read, write, execute) (Group: read, write, execute) (Other: read, write, execute) 3. Optionally, rename LiveCounter scripts
from *.pl to *.cgi (UNIX based servers only)
To make sure that the scripts are working properly, call
them from a browser as follows:
Again, you must test LiveCounter scripts according to above instructions in order to make sure that your LiveCounter scripts are properly functioning. For example, let's assume that your domain name is www.mydomain.com, your user directory is ~myname, your CGI-BIN directory is mycgi-bin, and that you didn't have to rename LiveCounter scripts. To test your scripts, go to the following URL/address using your browser:
If everything goes well, you should see an incrementing number everytime you reload the above address, in the following format (123 being the incrementing number):
If you get an unexpected result, the following troubleshooting tips may help. If you don't run your own web server, keep in mind that your best resource for web server related questions (such as "do I have CGI access," "what is my CGI directory," "can I TELNET to my server," "how do I run Perl5 scripts," etc.) is most likely your Internet Service Provider (ISP). This is because specific details depend on the way your web server is configured by your ISP. ••• My
browser is displaying the content of the script file (instead of an incrementing number)
whenever I try to test LiveCounter scripts. Reason: This means your LiveCounter scripts aren't getting executed. Solution:
••• ERROR: "document contains no data" Reason: It's difficult to pin point this message to a single cause,
but this usually means: Solution:
••• ERROR: "file not found" Reason: Invalid path/URL/address. Solution:
••• LiveCounter scripts are always returning 0 (c0=0) during testing. Reason: 1. livecntr.dat file may be missing from the scripts directory (the directory where LiveCounter Classic scripts are installed). 2. livecntr.dat file may not have the necessary file access rights such as read, write and update rights. Solution:
••• LiveCounter scripts are returning the correct results when I test them as documented (incrementing count), but the counter display stays at 0 (or multiple 0s). Reason: 1. Most likely there's an error in the LiveCounter HTML
tags. Solution:
••• ERROR:
"Applet exception: class LiveCounter could not be loaded" Reason: Most likely your LiveCounter.class file is not at the location you specified or it is corrupted. Solution:
••• My counter is properly working on all browsers except Internet Explorer 4.x. Internet Explorer 4.x is displaying 0s. Reason: This is because of certain bugs in Internet Explorer 4.x when interacting with HTTP/1.1 web servers such as Apache. Solution: If your counter is in fact properly working on all other browsers except IE 4.x (including older versions of IE), try adding following parameter to your counter tags one at a time. If adding the first parameter doesn't make a difference, remove it and add the second parameter, and so on.
••• I've installed Perl CGI scripts before without a problem. But I'm having trouble installing LiveCounter Classic scripts. What did I overlook? Reason: Although the reason could be anything, most likely reason is that you may not have transferred the scripts to your web server in ASCII mode. Solution: Try to upload the scripts to your web server using the ASCII FTP protocol. Or, if you're on an UNIX web server and if you're familiar with converting DOS/Windows text files to UNIX text files, do so. For example, you could load the scripts to the "vi" editor and resave, or run the following sample command on all script files: tr -d "\015\032" <dosfile >unixfile
Add following tags to your web page (text colored in red must be replaced with proper values for your server/web page): <!-- begin: LiveCounter Classic
Java counter --> Again, don't forget to replace your.domain.name with the actual domain name of your server and your.scripts.directory with your CGI scripts directory name. TIP: How to insert custom HTML tags on to your web page
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| Installing
LiveCounter on Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) 1.x / 2.x / 3.x and Microsoft Peer Web Services
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Installing
LiveCounter on Personal Web Server for Windows 95
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Installing
LiveCounter on "WebSite" web server
If you get a "document contains no data" or similar error when you test LiveCounter scripts as stated in step #4, this may be because your system does not support flock() command. Please try placing a # character in front of all flock commands in all LiveCounter script files.
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| Installing LiveCounter on Apache for Windows Apache 1.3 with support for Windows was in beta stage as of March 20, 1998. Because of the following documented bug in Apache 1.3b2 and lower versions, you must have Apache 1.3b5 or higher in order to use LiveCounter Classic scripts:
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CONFIGURING LiveCounter Classic |
| NOTE: Following information does not apply to your counter if you're using LiveCounter Plug and Play. Please refer to LiveCounter PnP
frequently asked questions page. If you're using LiveCounter Classic, please make sure that your counter is functioning before using following information to configure it.
There are three ways to change your LiveCounter's digits set. 1. Choose a digit style from the official LiveCounter digits page:
2. Choose a digit set from other archive such as Digit Mania:
3. Design your own digits set: If you're familiar with creating custom images, take a look at digit set files at above sites and either modify one of them or create a similar file with digits 0 - 9 arranged vertically (original LiveCounter Classic format) or horizontally (format used by most digit style archives).
Simply add the following tag to your LiveCounter applet to hide leading zeros:
Assuming that the /cgi-bin/ is your scripts directory and
that all LiveCounter (LC) related files except LC scripts are in the root directory:
To create additional counters, simply follow the same steps replacing "counter1" with the name of your new counter.
Following HTML tags will create a visible CGI-only counter. Text colored in red must be replaced with specific values for your installation. <!-- begin: LiveCounter Classic
CGI counter --> If you have multiple counters, use the following HTML tags instead. "Name" is the name of the counter you want to use. <!-- begin: LiveCounter Classic
CGI counter -->
The purpose of a read-only counter is to read and display the current count without incrementing it. For example, you could install read-only counters on a page on which only you have access, to monitor the current values of multiple counters that you may have on your site. You could also use read-only counters to read the values of hidden counters and link counters. NOTE: Do not include CGI backup counter tags when creating read-only counters. Use following tags if you have just one LiveCounter: <applet codebase = "http://your.domain.name/" code = "LiveCounter.class" width = "90" height = "20"> <param name = "urlimage" value = "http://your.domain.name/lcdgts_a.gif"> <param name = "urlscript1" value = "http://your.domain.name/cgi-bin/livecnt1.pl"> <param name = "urlscript2" value = "http://your.domain.name/cgi-bin/livecnt2.pl"> <param name="calloninit" value="0"> </applet> Use following tags instead if you have multiple LiveCounters, assuming that the name of the counter data file name you want to read is "counter1": <applet codebase = "http://your.domain.name/" code = "LiveCounter.class" width = "90" height = "20"> <param name = "urlimage" value = "http://your.domain.name/lcdgts_a.gif"> <param name = "urlscript1" value = "http://your.domain.name/cgi-bin/livecnt1.pl"> <param name = "urlscript2" value = "http://your.domain.name/cgi-bin/livecnt2.pl"> <param name = "data" value = "counter1"> <param name="calloninit" value="0"> </applet>
NOTE: LiveCounter must be properly installed and functioning BEFORE you make the following change. To exclude hits from a particular IP address, replace "++$nCount;" in all livec*.pl files with: $sExclIP =
"your_ip_address_goes_here__keep_quotes"; For example, if the IP address you want to exclude is 205.161.72.3: $sExclIP = "205.161.72.3"; For example, if you wanted to exclude everyone coming from 205.161.72 or 205.161.72.* (class C network): $sExclIP = "205.161.72."; If you need to exclude more than a single IP address, list each IP address separated by a | character. For example, to exclude 1.2.3.4, 1.2.3.5 and 1.2.3.6 use: $sExclIP =
"1.2.3.4|1.2.3.5|1.2.3.6"; To exclude complete IP addresses as well as IP address ranges, add a * to the end of ranges. For example, to exclude 1.2.3.4, 1.2.4.* and 1.3.* use: $sExclIP =
"1.2.3.4|1.2.4.*|1.3.*"; TIP: How to find out your computer's IP address
NOTE: LiveCounter must be properly installed and functioning BEFORE you make the following change. To exclude hits to a particular URL, replace "++$nCount;" in all livec*.pl files with: $sExclURL =
"your_url_goes_here__keep_quotes"; For example, if the URL you want to exclude is http://www.chamisplace.com/: $sExclURL =
"http://www.chamisplace.com/";
NOTE: LiveCounter must be properly installed and functioning BEFORE you make the following change. To include hits to a particular URL only (the counter will not increment if you place it on an URL or domain outside the one you specify), replace "++$nCount;" in all livec*.pl files with: $sExclURL =
"your_url_or_domain_goes_here__keep_quotes"; For example, if the URL you want to include is http://www.chamisplace.com/: $sExclURL =
"http://www.chamisplace.com/"; If you want to include a particular domain, use the domain name instead of the complete URL. For example, to include hits only to pages at chamisplace.com: $sExclURL = "chamisplace.com/";
To create a hidden counter, simply insert the following single tag by itself into your web pages (you'll see a 2x2 black pixel, but you can treat this as a period or otherwise make it blend with the rest of the page in order to make it "invisible"): If you have just one LiveCounter: <img src="http://your.domain.name/your_scripts_directory/livecntr.pl?0+1" width="2" height="2"> If you have multiple LiveCounters, assuming that the name of the counter you want to hide is "counter1": <img src="http://your.domain.name/your_scripts_directory/livecntr.pl?0+1+counter1" width="2" height="2"> Finally, you can use a read-only counter to view the count of a hidden counter. Since the hidden counter is a CGI-only counter, you should use this counter mode if you do not wish to use Java (as with the regular/full counter mode with the animated display). Just as visitors to your home would ring your doorbell, your WWW home page with LiveCounter Classic can be setup to make a sound when others visit it. To have your LiveCounter Classic counter make a sound by enabling doorbells, simply insert the following code in-between <applet ...> and </applet> tags of your counter tags:
For example, if your audio file is located at: http://your.domain.name/your_directory/your_audio_file.au insert the following tag: <param name = "urlsound1" Note that your sound file must use the Java compatible *.AU format (details).
You can use the "digitscount" parameter to change the number of digits on the Java enabled counter display. For this example, let's assume you want to display 10 digits:
By default, LiveCounter Classic applet will update
its counter display every 60 seconds. If you want to change this to 30 seconds instead,
for example, simply add the following parameter to the Java enabled counter (between
<applet ...> and </applet> tags):
By default LiveCounter Classic will display the current count -1 and immediately scroll up to the current count. For example, if the current count is 478, 477 will be displayed first and then scroll to 478. You can change the difference between the initial count displayed and the actual count by using the "initcountstartadj" parameter. To set the counter to start at -10, add the following tag: <param name="initcountstartadj" value="-10"> If
the actual count is 478, above tag will cause the counter to display 477 and
count up to 478. Note that the value must be 0 or a negative number. |
| REGISTERING LiveCounter Classic | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| LiveCounter Classic registration requirements You're welcome to use the counter-only version of LiveCounter Classic without a fee on:
Please note that all other sites and uses require a registration as described below. You may also wish to register for add-ons such as LiveCounter Log Analyzer and LiveCounter Classic Log Processor . If you install LiveCounter Classic on any of the following types of sites, a valid registration / license to use it is required.
The unregistered Java version of LiveCounter Classic has a built-in link to its home page that gets activated when clicked on the animated counter display as described on the status bar. The CGI version does not have such a link. The registered version does not activate the above link, unless the SHIFT key is held down while clicking the counter display. The Shift+Click will be used to provide registered users quick diagnostic information about their counter and future upgrades. Also the registered version does not have a status bar message similar to the unregistered version. The status message simply reads "LiveCounter" when the mouse is moved over the Java counter display.
Please make sure that LiveCounter Classic is working on your web server and read the disclaimer before registering. If LiveCounter Classic isn't installed at the main web address that you're registering, be sure to also include the address to a page on the same server where LiveCounter Classic is up-and-running. Products and prices are subject to change without further notice. NOTE: If you're a Florida (USA) resident, please add 6% - 7.5% sales tax (depending on your county) to the registration fee.
Need a custom license? Please write to LiveCounter Classic support describing what you're looking for. Information on how to pay by postal mail can also be obtained from the above email address.
If you registered LiveCounter Classic after 1-May-1999, the updated LiveCounter.class applet uses shorter parameter names as follows. If you're using any of the following parameters, you must change the names to the new name for the updated LiveCounter.class applet to function properly. For example:
should be changed to:
The default size of a LiveCounter Classic Log file is 1 MB (1024 KB). Log files exceeding this size will be recycled to avoid running out of space on the server. This default log file size can be changed as follows:
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WHAT'S NEW |
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The latest version of LiveCounter Classic applet (internal version 1015) is now available for downloading. If you're installing LiveCounter Classic for the first time, simply follow the regular installation steps as documented. If you downloaded and installed LiveCounter Classic prior to 3/31/98, you can easily update your counter as follows:
What's new in this version:
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APPENDIX |
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"LiveCounter Classic" and
"LiveCounter Plug and Play" Comparison chart |
| LiveCounter Classic and LiveCounter Plug and Play Comparison Chart | ||
| Home page | LiveCounter Classic | LiveCounter Plug and Play |
| Recommended |
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| Parameters
used by the LiveCounter Classic applet Once
LiveCounter Classic is set up and properly functioning on your web server, you can use
following parameters to further customize it:
If you have questions after reading this document (especially the troubleshooting section) please write to LiveCounter Classic support. Don't forget to include your WWW address where LiveCounter Classic is installed (required in order to be able to check for possible installation problems). LiveCounter, LiveCounter Classic, and LiveCounter
Plug and Play THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ON AN AS-IS BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. PROVIDER SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY OTHER WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL PROVIDER BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF PROVIDER HAS BEEN ADVISED BY CLIENT OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH POTENTIAL LOSS OR DAMAGE. CLIENT AGREES TO HOLD PROVIDER HARMLESS FROM AND AGAINST ANY AND ALL CLAIMS, LOSSES, LIABILITIES AND EXPENSES. PROVIDER RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE FOR ANY REASON. PRODUCTS AND PRICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE. |
