How do I use AdCafe to deliver and manage advertising on my server.

Where Can I Display Ads
How Do I Display Ads
Let me see samples showing how to display Ads
What are AdCafe groups?
Why does AdCafe have two types of totals?
How do I setup the other features of AdCafe
What scripts come with AdCafe and what do they do?

Although AdCafe doesn't require multiple sites or groups of pages on your website one of the powerful features of Ad Cafe is it's ability to deliver ads to a targeted demographic. Different "Sites" or "Content Groups" on the same server may have vastly different content and hence different advertising demographics. For instance on Infohiway, we have 3 different "Content Groupings" or "Sites" identified so far: Cut & Paste Javascript, Search & Surf, and Bandwidth Conservation Society. You have already setup one site when you ran the adcafe_setup.cgi script. To add additional sites, go into our administrative functions page AdCafe Administration. You can then use the identifiers that you create as places to target your advertising.

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AdCafe Professional allows an ad to be setup to deliver either a image file like a gif or jpeg banner, or a raw html fragment that displays the ad. The raw html method (which is only available in the professional version) is very powerful but also requires more expertise to setup. A sample html ad is in the file htmlad.htm.

Ads can be delivered by several different methods.

1. Use an Ad Frame. Use frames on your website with one devoted to the rotation of ads. For example you can use a frame at the top of every page that automatically changes an ad every 90 seconds or at a rate you set (the default is every 90 seconds). We have provided a sample of how this is done in the file frame.htm. The HTML fragment that shows the ad looks like:
   <FRAME SRC="adcafe_frame.cgi?site=1" NAME="adcafe" MARGINWIDTH=0 MARGINHEIGHT=0 SCROLLING=no NORESIZE FRAMEBORDER=NO>

   Infohiway used this method throughout it's site. This method offers lots of flexibility because the content of your other pages is not tied into it. What goes on in that frame is independent of the rest of your content. This means the whole page does not have to change to deliver a new ad. This method also gives you the ability to deliver more than just gif images.as advertisements. Our professional version allows html and javascript ads also. The negative (in some people's mind) is that frames add complexity to the site and must be managed which is more difficult to manage than a plain html page.Older Browsers also do not support frames.

2. Embedded Ads - Ads can also be embedded in html pages directly either by using a cgi reference in a IMG SRC statement. This is the same thing used when you have an image on your page. Basically you insert a cgi script (sounds more complicated than it is and Ad Cafe deals with this for you) as if it were just an image on your page. An example of this demonstrated in the sample file gif.htm. The HTML for this looks like:
   <A HREF="adcafe_click.cgi?site=1"> <IMG SRC="adcafe_gif.cgi?site=1" HEIGHT=60 WIDTH=468"></A>

   If you wanted more than one gif to be delivered this way for one page, then you would add '&tag=n' (where n would be a unique number identifying the gif) after the 'site=1'. This allows AdCafe to identify which gif is clicked on and as a result where the landing pad will be.

   This approach allows different images delivered on the same HTML page. The negative of this method is that clickthrus are harder to track and only gifs (or jpegs) can be delivered.

   This method can not be used to deliver raw HTML.

3. Special Tags - Ads can also be embedded in html pages by inserting special tags. The HTML web page file is parsed (examined) and these special tags are replaced with the ads. This simulates the Server Side Includes (SSI) approach which requires special server access. Since not all sites run SSI this allows similar ad flexibility without having to use a server in that capacity. We have provided a sample file htm.htm which shows how this is done. It is invoked by passing a html file into the script adcafe_htm.cgi. An example is
   <A HREF="adcafe_htm.cgi?htm=test.htm">Test page showing ads integrated into a page.</A>
   The tag in the html file looks like
   <!-- AdCafe Start SITE=1 End AdCafe -->
   

   The negative is that the html files must be inspected every time they are delivered to a browser. Thus puts more of a load on the server than other methods.

4. Server Side Includes (SSI) - Ads can also be delivered via Server Side Includes (SSI). Since not all sites run SSI this is not always available. This is probably the best method available if you do not wish to use frames on your site. It is almost as flexible as the frame method and is faster than the other methods. We demonstrate this in the file ssi.shtml. The negative is that you have to have server access and know about server configuration etc. to make it work for you.

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File Name	Example Method Demonstrated
frame.htm	Using a frame for ad rotation
gif.htm	Embedded Ads in an HTML Page using cgi
htm.htm	Parsed HTML using special tags
ssi.shtml	Server Side Includes approach

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AdCafe Professional allows one the group individual ads together for reporting purposes. If several ads are running for a single client, they can all be reported on as a single ad campaign or individually. This is only for the purposes of reporting.

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AdCafe supports two different ways to generate totals. Each method has different benefits and drawbacks. They are offerred as a way of supporting different web sites traffic loads and needs. The first method which is referred to as 'Live Totals' is the same method used by the standard AdCafe. This method updates all the totals immediately and so has a up to the minute total for all ads for the current day.

The second method reffered to as 'Batch Totals' updates the totals automatically at the end of the day. It does not report on totals for the current day (unless you manually run the batch update script via the browser). It offeres slighly more comprehensive totals and does not take as much server processing time to deliver an ad (making it better for high traffic loads).

If one does not need up to the minute totals, we would recommend the Batch totals method. It puts less of a load on your server during the day when it is busy (hopefully) and also has more comprehensive totals. The variable '$adcafeTotalCd' in adcafe_cfg.cgi controls this option. The default is Batch totals.

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How do I ... ?	How to do it
Access administrative functions - add, change or delete sites and ads?	This is handled by the script adcafe_admin.cgi. The HTML fragment would look like: <A HREF="adcafe_admin.cgi">Admin</a>. Click Here for AdCafe Administration
View ad totals for the server?	This is handled by the script adcafe_tots.cgi. The HTML fragment would look like: <A HREF="adcafe_tots.cgi">AdCafe Totals</a>. Click Here for AdCafe Totals. You can also view a daily totals overview via the script adcafe_daily.cgi. The HTML fragment would look like: <A HREF="adcafe_daily.cgi">Daily Snapshot</a>. This differs from the first script because it shows only the targeted date and not any total accumulations (like Month to date. etc). It is more of a quick summary of totals.
Let a sponsor view his totals?	This is handled by the script adcafe_login.cgi. It will ask for a login and a password. If the login / password is correct, the sponsors totals will be displayed. The HTML fragment would look like: <A HREF="adcafe_login.cgi">Sponsor Totals</a>. Click Here for Sponsor Totals
Enter the data for an ad?	This is handled by the script adcafe_ads.cgi. From the administrative functions (see above) you can add, edit, or delete ads. The information to enter is: Enter a unique id for the ad (ie. bml for Big Mouth Lion) - this will be used as the login when the sponsor wants to view their ad totals. Enter the company name of the sponsor. Enter the URL for where to go when the ad is clicked on (the landing pad). You can include a '[DT]' tag into your URL and have AdCafe replace it with a unique 6 digit tag. This is typically used by Ad Brokers to prevent browsers from caching their delivery to your site. This only makes sense here if it is also used with the Ad Banner (GIF) below also. Enter the target of the landing pad URL. (new window, a specific frame, etc.) Enter the frame name for a target of a frame (ignore otherwise.) Enter the URL for the gif or jpeg for the ad. Multiple gifs can be entered - they will be rotated randomly. You can include a '[DT]' tag into your gif URL and have AdCafe replace it with a unique 6 digit tag. This is typically used by Ad Brokers to prevent browsers from caching their delivery to your site. This only makes sense here if it is also used with the URL for the landing pad above. Enter alternate banner description for the ad. Enter the height, width, and border size for the ad. (border size of 0 is none). Highlite the sites the ad is to be displayed on (ctrl enter for more than 1 site). Starting date for the ad (mm/dd/yyyy) How long is the add to run for. It can be based on impressions, click thrus, days, or always (never stops). How often is the add to rotate - Normal rotation is one impression for each cycle through the ads for a site. Double frequency would mean 2 displays for each cycle. Password for the sponsor to login and view the ads totals. Choose the times the ad will be displayed (ie. always, weekdays, weekends, etc.) Enter the browser restrictions for the ad (ie. Navigator, IE, other) Enter the client system restrictions for the ad (ie. Windows, MAC, other) Enter the RAW HTML for the ad. This allows HTML to be inserted into a page instead of a gif. It must be used with care because it assumes the user knows what they want. The URL for the gif is ignored and the RAW HTML is inserted in its place. An example of an html ad is in the file htmlad.htm. If this field has data in it it will be used instead of the Gif Image above (the exception to this is an ad delivered as a gif img src). You can include various tags within your raw HTML and have AdCafe replace them with the contents of other fields from the ad. [HREF] = replace with the URL for where to go when the ad is clicked on (the landing pad). This sets up everything including tracking a click on the ad. It also controls the TARGET of the click and what URL is displayed on the mouse over the Href. [CLICK] = replace with the URL for where to go when the ad is clicked on (the landing pad). This sets up everything including tracking a click on the ad. It would be used to get the proper landing pad for a javascript routine so it does NOT include the TARGET or the mouse over support that HREF does. [IMG] = replace with the info in a HTML IMG SRC. It will use the URL for the ad gif, the alt. description, the height, the width, and the border size for that where entered for this ad. [GIF] = replace with the URL for the ad gif entered for the ad above. [URL] = replace with the URL for the landing pad. This differs from the [HREF] tag in that it is not setup to track the clickthru for the ad. It is just the URL that was entered. [DT] = replace with a unique 6 digit tag. This is typically used by Ad Brokers to prevent browsers from caching their delivery to your site. Enter the email address of the client - the person to notify about the ad starting, totals, and when the ad ends. Enter the number of seconds an ad will display in a frame before it is automatically rotated. AdCafe's default is filled in as the default. This is only used by the frame delivery method. Enter the amount of the ad. This is for documentation purposes only. Enter any notes that pertain to the ad. When an ad is finished and removed from the schedule, the dates the ad has run will be automatically placed in here.

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Here is a list of critical files and the functions they perform in Ad Cafe should you need to know but they are all accessible by hyper links through the administration program and between each other as needed.

CGI Name	Function performed
adcafe_cfg.cgi	Variables and routines that are targets to be modified. Colors, screen width, and other elements are defined here to make it easy to change the look and feel of the AdCafe.
adcafe_admin.cgi	This script displays the sites and ads currently setup on the server. It provides links to edit the sites and ads.
adcafe_click.cgi	This script is used to capture when an ad is clicked. It updates the totals and logs the click. An example entry would be <A HREF="adcafe_click.cgi?site=1"> The only ads that you will have to explicitly set this up will be ads delivered via an IMG SRC using adcafe_gif.cgi.
adcafe_frame.cgi	This script delivers an html page consisting of an ad to a frame. The frame will refresh itself every 90 secs. It is invoked by executing the script with the site it ad is for. A typical entry might look like this <FRAME SRC="adcafe_frame.cgi?site=1" NAME="adcafe" MARGINWIDTH=0 MARGINHEIGHT=0 SCROLLING=no NORESIZE FRAMEBORDER=NO> You can see an example of how this is invoked in the sample frame.htm.
adcafe_gif.cgi	This script will deliver a gif or jpeg for html insertion. A typical entry looks like <A HREF="adcafe_click.cgi?site=1"> <IMG SRC="adcafe_gif.cgi?site=1" HEIGHT=60 WIDTH=468"></A> You can see an example of how this is invoked in the sample gif.htm.
adcafe_htm.cgi	This script parses a HTML file and replaces special tags with an ad. It is invoked by passing a html file into this script. An example is <A HREF="adcafe_htm.cgi?htm=test.htm">Test page showing ads integrated into a page.</A> The tag in the html file looks like <!-- AdCafe Start SITE=1 End AdCafe --> This entry is replaced in the html file by an HREF and an IMG SRC. This is demonstrated in the sample file htm.htm.
adcafe_inactive.cgi	This script shows the ads that are no longer active. It allows them to be edited or deleted.
adcafe_all.cgi	This script displays all the ads that are running on a specific site. An example is <A HREF="adcafe_all.cgi?site=1">All ads for Site 1.</A>
adcafe_login.cgi	This script allows a sponsor to login to AdCafe and view their ads totals.
adcafe_stats.cgi	This script displays the ad totals for an individual sponsor for the Live Totals method.
adcafe_statads.cgi	This script displays the ad totals for an individual sponsor for the Batch Totals method.
adcafe_ssi.cgi	This script delivers an ad using Server Side Includes (SSI). This is the script that is executed by the server. It will deliver an HREF and an IMG SRC into the html file being sent to a browser.
adcafe_totals.cgi	This script displays the totals for AdCafe using the Live Totals method.
adcafe_tots.cgi	This script displays the totals for AdCafe using the Batch Totals method.
adcafe_totals.cgi	This script displays the totals for AdCafe using the Live Totals method.
adcafe_daily.cgi	This script gives a snapshot of totals for a day or range of days. It is a more of a quick overview of totals then the above script.
adcafe_sum.cgi	This allows the batch update of totals to be manually invoked. Enter the date for the totals you wish to run.
adcafe_dates.cgi adcafe_lock.cgi adcafe_security.cgi adcafe_getad.cgi adcafe_getsubs.cgi adcafe_gui.cgi adcafe_statsubs.cgi adcafe_totsub.cgi adcafe_totdata.cgi adcafe_totform.cgi adcafe_totmsg.cgi adcafe_batch.cgi adcafe_clean.cgi adcafe_update.cgi	Scripts that are used by 1 or more of the scripts above. They are not meant to be used as standalone scripts.

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