count_admin.pl
For Linux/Unix/NT)
CGI script for Site admins/users to manipulate counter databases
(This program is part of WWW Homepage Access Counter 2.6+)
Description
count_admin.pl is a CGI program written in Perl for users
to manipulate their own counter values. If the admin authorizes, the user
can also add delete URL in the
authentication database. The program
supports
Berkeley Db 1.x, 2.x, 3.x or GNU gdbm. It uses Perl modules
DB_File for
Berkeley db and
DBM_File for GNU gdbm.
count_admin.pl has a list of DBM format preferences, defined by
@AnyDBM_File::ISA at the beginning of the program.
The first found library will be the library
count_admin.pl will attempt
to use for all DBM_File transactions.
The counter installation program detects the type of database the counter
is compiled with and put the database module at the beginning of the
list. The installation program will copy it to your cgi-bin directory.
Before using it, you have to create the text file for user authorization in
cgi-bin directory (default path).
MS NT specific issues
The NT version of the counter is compiled to use
Berkeley Db 3.3.11
Before using count_admin.pl CGI program on NT, you need to have Perl
installed. I use freely availble
ActiveState Perl on NT.
You will also need the DB_File Perl module.
I compiled DB_File with latest
Berkeley Db 3.3.11
After unzipping it, please read the
README file.
In short, open a command shell and do the following:
cd DB_File-1.78
ppm
PPM> set repository a ./
PPM> remove DB_File
PPM> install DB_File
PPM> query DB_File
For more info, please read the
README file.
How to use
Before using the cgi program, you must create a text file called
count_admin.txt in the same directory where the cgi program
count_amdin.pl is. If you want to change the location modify the following
line:
my $guser_textdb='count_admin.txt';
You can specify a different path if you like, but
make sure the file is not accessible from a web browser.
The syntax of
the file is user id, boolean value for user's counter hits editing
permission, boolean value for user's auth database editing
permission, Unix crypted password, comma separated url of document root/s user can manipulate,
all separated by a vertical bar |.
Syntax:
userid|1 or 0| 1 or 0|crypted password|comma separated doc root
Example:
|
|
admin|1|1|sdfjkei78ddky|http://www.muquit.com/,http://209.145.38.154/
muquit|1|0|qcLbxyYBzbwHg|http://www.muquit.com/muquit/,http://209.145.38.154/muquit/
|
In the first line, the first field admin is the user id,
the 2nd field 1 indicates that the user admin can
edit the counter hits,
the 3rd field 1 indicates that the user admin can
edit the authentication database, the third field is
the Unix crypted password and the fourth field
http://www.muquit.com/,http://209.145.38.154/
are the URLs of document root user admin is allowed to manipulate.
In the second line,
user muquit is not allowed to edit the counter database but can
edit the authentication database.
Please be very careful about the document root you set for the user.
In our example, the user admin can edit the counter values
and auth db for the entire site, but the user muquit can only
edit his counter values and manipulate his URLs in authentication database.
A CGI program called
count_admin_help.pl is supplied to help you
to create the count_admin.txt file. Have a look at the
screenshot
Authentication database
Authentication database is a database of URL
WWW Homepage Access Counter uses. If strict_mode=yes in
count.cfg file, then anyone wants to put
a counter in a web page, the URL of the web page must be in this database.
If the URL is not in the auth database, then the user will get a message like
below:
Putting URL is authentication database is analogous to creating data files
for the users in older versions of counter. It gives the administrators
some control.
Authentication database can be manipulated by the program
editdb or by the CGI program
count_admin.pl.
If you allow the users to edit this database by putting 1
in the second field in the line of the file count_admin.txt for
the user, the user will be able ot put her URL by herself.
How to call
The installation script install the programs count_admin.pl and
count_admin_help.pl to your cgi-bin directory. To run the scripts,
access the URL via your web browser:
http://your_host/cgi-bin/count_admin.pl
http://your_host/cgi-bin/count_admin_help.pl
Some screenshots of count_admin.pl CGI
Figure 1: Authenticating as user muquit
Figure 2: After pressing View/Edit Hits
(user is allowed to edit)
FIgure 3: After pressing View/Edit Authdb
(user is allowed to edit)
FIgure 4: After pressing View/Edit Hits, (user is not allowed to
edit)
FIgure 5: After pressing View/Edit Authdb, (user is not allowed to
edit)
Page last updated: Tue Oct 23 23:24:43 2001
