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How to track document views on WSS / MOSS (Sharepoint)
Does anyone know any method at all of tracking when any user 'touches' a document in Sharepoint? I am open to just about anything - exposed methods / event triggers on the base WSS classes, post-back handlers on host pages, workflows, etc.
Scenario is we receive a bunch of recurring reports each night. I have middleware written to in-process, tag up, and upload these reports into various SP libraries. Once the reports are present online in SP they may or may not be viewed a variety of end users, and I would like to be able to log every view.
The IIS logs on the front end WSS server can be cranked up to the level that they track each document access, but I'm looking for something that can be used within Sharepoint at itself - an entry in a library History list would be ideal.
Anyone point me in the right direction on this?
Scenario is we receive a bunch of recurring reports each night. I have middleware written to in-process, tag up, and upload these reports into various SP libraries. Once the reports are present online in SP they may or may not be viewed a variety of end users, and I would like to be able to log every view.
The IIS logs on the front end WSS server can be cranked up to the level that they track each document access, but I'm looking for something that can be used within Sharepoint at itself - an entry in a library History list would be ideal.
Anyone point me in the right direction on this?
geowrian
Are audit log settings insufficient for your needs? You can enable audit log settings under the site collection's "Site collection audit settings" link. Choose "Opening or downloading documents, viewing items in lists, or viewing item properties". Then you can run the report (or have Excel or an XML parser do it on a schedule) to see all content that was viewed. Does that work for you?
ASKER
Is this "Site Collection Audit Settings" link you mention exist on the client-side or Central Administration? I find it nowhere and so suspect that you refer to an MOSS only feature. My task requires a solution that will work at both the WSS and MOSS level, therefore the lowest common denominator is WSS and my solution must be specific to that speices of the platform.
It is in the site collection's administration section of the site collection. Just go to the root site in the site collection, choose Site Actions -> Site Settings -> Modify All Site Settings. It will be listed under "Site Collection Administration."
Nevermind - that does appear to be a MOSS feature. I checked another implementation here that only has WSS and it didn't have that option.
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ASKER
Fair enough, geowrian. Thanks for the attempt. Partial points awarded for clarifying that point, but my question stands for full solution.
ASKER
This newer possibility for programatically instantiating audit which you have posted a link to looks promising, although I suspect I may get stuck not having an interface to access the resulting audit data via client side webparts and may have to custom build one. This possiblity will take a while to investigate; findings will be posted in a day or two, but for now it's goodnight after a 17 hour day. :)
Thanks Geowrian.
Thanks Geowrian.
Sounds good to me. I wish you luck and look forward to hearing your findings. Have a great weekend - long week for us both it seems.