Revision as of 22:19, 2 October 2010

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A banner advertisement module with a simple form of weighting.
In Backend you can see banner view and banner click statistics. (System Menu)

IP-based ReClick blocker was integrated (5 minutes). Forwarding functioned, but isn't counted.
Similarly, the views within a period not re-counted if the same banner displayed. (10 minutes)
The amount of time to block the view count can be changed.

By using the module "Bot Detection" requests from bots and search engines are not counted.

Forum

Questions about the Visitors module will be answered in forum: Forum
Errors and requests can be reported in the Issue Tracker.

Installation

The installation of the module occurs about the extension Repository in back end of Contao.
A manual installation is possible. Download the ZIP file from Extension Repository, unzip and transfer it.
A directory should have been created "/system/modules/banner".
Then call /contao/install.php - Perform Update Database.
( /typolight/install.php in older TYPOlight installations )

The module Banner is dependent on the module "Bot Detection". It must therefore be installed with manual installation.

Note for older "TYPOlight" versions

TYPOlight 2.8

Users of TYPOlight 2.8.x, please use Banner Module Version 1.11.2 (Direct Link)

TYPOlight 2.7

Users of TYPOlight 2.7.x, please use Banner Module Version 1.9.2 (Direct Link)

TYPOlight 2.6

Users of TYPOlight 2.6.x, please use Banner Module Version 1.6.5 (Direct Link)

Installation as an update

An update is identical to the installation.

Notice when updating from < 1.10.0 to the latest version:
The CSS file "mod_banner_fe.css" which is included as an example, the uppercase / lowercase letters changed in a class.
Anyone who has imported this file or the design itself has to produce, the class ".mod_Banner" must change in ".mod_banner".

Update version 1.x to version 2.x

Caution: Version 2.x is not fully compatible with previous versions, an update is possible.

What is to be observed, can be found here.

• Banner Update Version 1 to Version 2

Overview

The Banner Module contains two back end and one front end module.
In the back end, there are "Banner" and "Banner Statistic", for the front end "Banner".

Back end

Banner

Banner Statistic

Back end module Banner Statistic

Front end

Display a banner

Front end module Banner

1. Module Headline
2. Banner Image
3. Banner Comment
4. Banner Name

More details about this see under "Using" or "Technical Details".

Display all Banner

With 'all Banner' is meant here, all banners in the selected category.

In this example, 3 banners have been defined,

• Grafic Banner
• Flash Banner
• Text Banner
  
  

More details about this see under "Using" or "Technical Details".

Using

The first one creates a new banner category via the menu item "banner". In this then the banners. Then, create a front end module and build it into the layout of the page. Here are the steps, each with the default values. Technical details will be explained later.

Create the category

To create a new category, just click on the left in the back end in 'content' to 'Banner'. In the main area click on the button 'New category'.

There, enter the name of the category. The front end module will later use this name. Then you click on "Save and close".
Now you can see the category overview. By clicking on the pencil in the line of the category and repeated clicking on the pencil in the head of the category you return to the settings of the category.

Create the banners

In the category list now clicking on Edit (pencil) of the category.
Now, either click the 'New counter' and then the arrow icon, or click the plus in the head of the category:

First they must select the banner source:

• internal Banner (Grafic / Flash files is stored on server)
• external Banner (Grafic / Flash files are integrated via URL)
• Text Banner

After selecting it appear the appropriate form fields.

Grafic Banners

1. Banner Name
   • The banner name will be displayed in the Banner overview and in the provided template appears below the banner graphic.
2. Banner weighting
   • This controls the display frequency of the banners. The higher the priority, the more often this banner is displayed.
3. Banner target URL
   • The URL of the target by clicking on the banner graphic. The input must include "http://".
   • Optional field.
   • Without a URL, the banner will be displayed without a link.
   • Alternative can be selected an internal target (Banner target page)
4. Banner Image
   • Here you can now select the banner file.
5. Banner width and height
   • To customize the banner size, you can specify the banner width and / or the banner height in pixels.
   • CAUTION: Animated GIFs are for size definitions through the GD recalculation unfortunately to still images.
6. Banner Comment
   • The first line will be installed and displayed as a "title" tag in the HTML source code if you move the cursor over the banner graphic.
7. Published
   • If this option is not selected, this banner is not displayed.

Flash Banner

1. Banner Name
   • The banner name will be displayed only in the Banner overview.
2. Banner weighting
   • This controls the display frequency of the banners. The higher the priority, the more often this banner is displayed.
3. Banner target URL
   • The URL of the target by clicking on the Flash Banner. The input must include "http://".
   • Optional field.
   • Without a URL, the Flash Banner will be displayed without a link.
   • Alternative can be selected an internal target (Banner target page)
4. Banner Image
   • Here you can now select the banner file.
5. Banner width and height
   • To customize the banner size, you can specify the banner width and / or the banner height in pixels.
6. Banner Comment
   • Input is not necessary, is not used in the front end
7. Published
   • If this option is not selected, this banner is not displayed.

Text Banner

1. Banner Name
   • The banner name will be displayed in the Banner overview and in the provided template as a headline that is linked simultaneously with the target URL.
2. Banner weighting
   • This controls the display frequency of the banners. The higher the priority, the more often this banner is displayed.
3. Banner target URL
   • The URL of the target by clicking. The input must include "http://".
   • Optional field.
   • Without a URL, the Text Banner will be displayed without a link.
   • in provided template only the domain is shown as a short form. (Third row, see picture above)
4. Banner Comment
   • This is the text line. (Second row, see picture above)
5. Published
   • If this option is not selected, this banner is not displayed.

Front end module

A new front-end module is create with:

• Layout -> Themes -> Modules -> Add module (Contao 2.9 and newer)
• Layout -> Modules -> Add module (TYPOlight 2.8.x)

Be sure tofirst enter the title, then selecting for module type:Miscellaneous -> Banner. Now the form fields change accordingly.
In 'Banner Categories' select the previously created category, then 'Save and Close'.

Now, the front end module must be included in the layout:

• Layout -> Themes -> Layout -> Edit the used layout (Contao 2.9 and newer)
• Layout -> Page layout -> Edit the used layout (TYPOlight 2.8.x)

Include in 'Included modules' the just-created front end module (e.g. to left)

Technical Details

Technical details are inside of the category, in the banner denifinition and in the constructed front end module feasible / adjustable.

Technical Details in the Category Definition

Number of banners

• Show all banners

If you choose this option, all active banners will be showed in front end.
In addition, you can choose:

• Random order

If you choose this option, the banners will shown in a random order.

Technical Details in the Banner Definition

Display limitation by Start / Stop dates and times

• Show from
  • If you enter a date and time value here the current banner will not be shown on the website before this moment.
• Show until
  • If you enter a date and time value here the current banner will not be shown on the website after this moment.

Limiting the number of Views and Clicks

• Limiting the number of Views and Clicks

If you select this option, you can define a maximum number of views and/or maximum number of clicks.

• Limiting the number of Views
  • By entering a number, the current banner is no longer displayed after this number of views.
    The "Limiting the number of Views and Clicks" has enabled it to stay.
• Limiting the number of Clicks
  • By entering a number, the current banner is no longer displayed after this number of clicks.
    The "Limiting the number of Views and Clicks" has enabled it to stay.

Technical Details in the Front end Module Definition

Templates

Each module can be assigned its own Template. Two different templates are included.

• mod_banner_list_all
  • All fields are included.
• mod_banner_list_min
  • The headline and name were removed. It will only display the banner itself.

Both templates also support text banners.
For own Templates, the template files must start with "mod_banner_list_" and end with ".tpl". Example: "mod_banner_list_special.tpl"

Note:

In Banner Version 1.x this selection is located in the banner category.

Prevention of counting their own requests

You can set a custom UserAgent String in your browser and in the banner modul configuration.

Via:

• Layout -> Themes -> Modules -> Modul Name (Contao 2.9 and newer)
• Layout -> Modules -> Module Name (TYPOlight 2.8.x)

In the applied banners module in the new field "No counting for this HTTP_USER_AGENT partial identifier" , a string is entered, it should be unique.
Example: CTISOK
Save it.
Several strings are also possible, then enter them separated by commas.
so you can change the User Agent String of Mozilla Firefox:

1. Type about:config in the Mozilla Firefox address bar and press ENTER
2. Type general.useragent.extra.firefox in the Filter bar
3. Double-click on the returned Firefox setting, where you can change a user agent string to overwrite the default.
4. Add her "CTISOK" separated by space, e.g. "Firefox/3.6.3 CTISOK".

You can check your new User Agent String , type about: in the Mozilla Firefox address bar and press ENTER, see last row.

For other browsers, see: walkernews.net - how to change user agent string

Specific feature

Bot Detection off

Who wants to count the hits from bots and search engines on the banners can turn off the bot detection. This is done by the file localconfig.php. Template:Attention The following entry to the end of localconfig.php (after: ### INSTALL SCRIPT STOP ### ) turning off the bot detection:

$GLOBALS['TL_CONFIG']['mod_banner_bot_check'] = false;

Change Banner Block Time for Views

As written in the beginning, when a banner is displayed multiple times within 10 minutes, this banner is only counted once.
With an entry in the localconfig.php can change that. The values be there in minutes, the number must be> 0, otherwise will be automatically taken back to the default value (10). Template:Attention The following entry to the end of localconfig.php (after ### INSTALL SCRIPT STOP ### ) causes a change to 5 minutes:

$GLOBALS['TL_CONFIG']['mod_banner_block_time'] = 5;

Exception: No active banners defined and no default banner defined

If, in this case, "Hide if empty" is not activated, until now was an empty image tag generated, what was presented by the IE as Broken Image. From version 1.11.2 now a DIV tag with class = "banner_empty" is generated:

<div class="mod_banner">
	<div class="banner_empty">
	<!-- no banner, no default banner -->
	</div>
</div>

With CSS can now be reached that is maintained (in this example) the amount and thus the layout of the site will not change:

.mod_banner .banner_empty {
    height:90px;
}

The resultant text can be overridden to enforce in langconfig.php, here is an example of an empty text:

$GLOBALS['TL_LANG']['MSC']['tl_banner']['noBanner'] = '';

Sonderfall: mehrere Banner Module pro Seite

Hier einige Hinweise und Tipps für bekannte Anwendungsszenarien und deren Besonderheiten.

Eine Kategorie - Zwei Frontend Module auf einer Seite

In der aktuellen Version gibt es die Möglichkeit alle Banner einer Kategorie anzuzeigen.
Die alte Variante mehrere Banner auf einer Webseite anzeigen zu können war, mehrere Frontend Module anzulegen und in die Webseite einzubinden. Vom Modul wird dabei verhindert, dass ein Banner nicht mehrmals angezeigt wird.

Nun wurde davon ausgegangen, dass alle untereinander angezeigt werden, wodurch es Sinn machte, die Modul Überschrift nur einmal anzuzeigen.
Will man nun aber bei allen Banner Frontend Modulen die Überschrift anzeigen lassen, weil diese z.B. auf der Seite verteilt sind, muss hierzu eine kleine Anpassung am Template vorgenommen werden. Dazu legt man über das Backend eine Kopie des Templates "mod_banner_list_all" an und nennt es dabei um, z.B. in "mod_banner_list_special.tpl".
Dort ändert man nun die dritte Zeile wie folgt:
Original:

 
<?php if (($this->headline) && (!$this->headline_stop)): ?>

Spezial:

<?php if ($this->headline) : ?>

Nun die Banner Frontend Module editieren und das neue Template auswählen.
Fertig.
Das gilt natürlich auch für mehr als zwei Frontend Module.

Zwei Kategorien - Zwei Frontend Module auf einer Seite

Hier hat jedes Frontend Modul seine eigene Kategorie. Auch hier wird aber trotzdem nur beim ersten Modul die Überschrift angezeigt aus den selben Gründen wie im Abschnitt zuvor.
Falls in diesem Szenario auch alle Modul Überschriften angezeigt werden sollen, ist die Lösung dieselbe.

Das gilt natürlich auch für mehr als zwei Kategorien und Frontend Module.

--BugBuster 15:48, 2 October 2010 (CEST)