Tracking Anonymous Users

While registered users are easier to track, the behavior of anonymous users is no less important to the owners of a site. After all, for a public commerce site, registered users start as anonymous users.

Commerce Server tracks both anonymous and authenticated users. During each session, a unique identifier is assigned to the user that persists during the course of the session so the behavior of the user during the session can be tracked. If you enable cookies, you can keep track of each anonymous user from one session to the next . In this way, for example, you can determine how many visits to the site the user made before completing her first purchase.

Global variables are used to store information about the user. These values are recorded on the web logs that will be analyzed later for usage statistics. Table 7.5 summarizes the user information tracked in the log file. Of course for authenticated users you can extend your analysis to include fields that are in their profiles.

Table 7.5. Global Variables for Anonymous Users

User Variable	User/Access Type	Value	Description
m_userID		unique	Unique numeric value assigned to each user.
m_UserType	ANON_USER	1	An anonymous user. The user is unidentified, does not have a ticket, and is not tracked (is not recognized on return visits).
	GUEST_USER	2	An anonymous user. The user has not registered but has a GUEST_TICKET. The user may have a profile, depending on site options. The user is tracked during the current session and, if cookies are enabled on the client and the site, the user is tracked between sessions.
	AUTH_USER	4	An authenticated user. The user is registered, authenticated (access type equals either IIS_AUTH or TICKET_AUTH), and is tracked.
	ANON_VISIT	5	A visit by an ANON_USER.
m_UserAccessType	GUEST_VISIT	1	A visit by a GUEST_USER authenticated using the AuthManager object and a GUEST_TICKET.
	IIS_AUTH	2	A visit by an AUTH_USER authenticated to Internet Information Services (i_FormLoginOptions = USE_IIS_AUTH) using either Basic or Integrated Windows authentication.
	TICKET_AUTH	3	A visit by an AUTH_USER authenticated using the AuthManager object and an AUTH_TICKET.

User IDs can be stored in cookies or as part of the URL (URL mode). The user ID is also stored in the profile if the user is authenticated. You can configure Commerce Server to use cookies or URL mode in the Application Default Configuration resource.