What I would like to see is a box similar in design to hotlist_flex where there are multiple views in the one box. The default view would be a hit counter for both unique and non-unique hits. Another view could be what percentage of users use which browser. And a third view could be how long the average stay on the site is or what the most viewed sections are or something of that nature.

My only problem with this is that I am just learning perl and I am finding that this little project puts me in way over my head. I think I am still going to try and work on making this box, most likely at first it will be something very simple. But if people have ideas on what should be included or how to go about doing anything I have mentioned here I would like to know them.

Apache is already writing a perfectly good access log out every single request. Instead of wasting time on each request stuffing extra data into a database, just add it to the access_log using mod_log_config (which I'm sure you're already using).

Somewhere in scoop, during the request (a box would work for this, even), put whatever you want to log into Apache's notes table (using $S->{APACHE}->notes). Then in your httpd.conf, where the log format is setup for what you use (probably combined, though I think common is the default), you'd add them in using the %{NOTE}n syntax.

Any number of fields could be added to the access_log this way, or a log could be created that is made from various notes set by scoop. But with this approach, the two logs would have to be combined by whatever parses them to get all the data.

Also, in any case, a parser will have to be written specifically for the extended format, since I'm fairly sure none are customizable to the point that they can work with scoop's data. But then, maybe some are, I'm not sure.

In any case, keeping stats in the database isn't a good idea when scoop is already way too database-intensive, especially when Apache already provides an easily-customized logging facility.

You can try out the page stats box i just made, at a demo site (log in as guest/guest, who is an editor -- i've designated in a Var that editors can see the box). I haven't done much testing, so let me know what you find, as well as any opinions about usability, more features, etc.

A cron function parses the httpd access log, which should have a modified combined log format that includes the cookie string. Currently the location of the log (CustomLog directive) and it's exact format (LogFormat directive) are specified in Vars, since i don't know any way to access those values thru mod_perl.

The added field to the log is the only addition to scoop's logging.

The box currently makes a total of two selects, on one table each.

Here relevant Vars, as well as the new table structures, are indicated by the statements below.
The stats box code can currently be accessed here, and the cron function is in this version of Cron.pm. But like i said, it needs testing.

INSERT INTO vars (name,value,description,type,category) VALUES ('stats_skip_groups', '', 'List of groups to ignore when calculating page statistics. E.g. Superuser, Admins, Anonymous', 'text', 'Stats');
INSERT INTO vars (name,value,description,type,category) VALUES ('stats_pageview_timeout', '30', 'Number of minutes a page viewing can take before being ignored by page statistics calculator', 'num', 'Stats');
INSERT INTO vars (name,value,description,type,category) VALUES ('stats_logformat', '%h %l %u %t "%r" %>s %b "%{Referer}i" "%{User-Agent}i" "%{Cookie}i"', 'Format of log, as specified by the Apache directive', 'text', 'Stats');
INSERT INTO vars (name,value,description,type,category) VALUES ('stats_logfile', '', 'full path of log file (should be access log)', 'text', 'Stats');
INSERT INTO vars (name,value,description,type,category) VALUES ('stats_displayto_groups', 'Superuser, Admins', 'List of groups that can see the stats box', 'text', 'Stats');
INSERT INTO vars (name,value,description,type,category) VALUES ('stats_links_number', 6, 'How many of the most popular links should be shown in the list', 'num', 'Stats');

CREATE TABLE page_route (loc1 TEXT, loc2 TEXT, label TEXT, period CHAR(1), count MEDIUMINT UNSIGNED, percent TINYINT); CREATE INDEX per_loc ON page_route (period,loc1(20));

CREATE TABLE page_views (loc TEXT, period CHAR(1), count MEDIUMINT UNSIGNED, elapsed MEDIUMINT UNSIGNED, avg TINYINT UNSIGNED); CREATE INDEX per_loc ON page_views (period,loc(20));

INSERT INTO cron (name,func,run_every,enabled) VALUES ('stats', 'cron_stats', 86400, 1);