You can
use the
Visitor ID tab to identify one or
more user columns to be used for setting the value of the visitor
ID. Perform this task when you want to manage the identification of
the visitors to the Web sites listed in clickstream logs. A clickstream
log is a collection of entries (one entry per click) that is made
by multiple visitors to a Web site. Evaluation of clickstream log
files can provide business analysts with useful information about
each visitor's behavior during Web site visits.
Each person who uses a Web browser to access a Web site
is considered a visitor of that Web site. Web developers use clickstream
parameters (such as a cookie or a query parameter) to uniquely identify
visitors to their Web site. These clickstream parameters can be parsed
into user columns, which can then be assigned to the visitor ID. A
visitor ID is designed to contain a unique value for each visitor.
The
Available list box contains the list of valid user columns
for visitor ID values. You can use the
User Columns tab to define a user column. Then, you can use the
Clickstream
Parameter tab to map a clickstream parameter to a user
column.
Selecting
the
Set visitor ID to the last non-blank column below check box causes the Clickstream Parse transformation to parse the
list of user columns in order and use the first non-blank value to
populate the visitor ID value. If all user columns are blank, then
the default algorithm using the client IP and user agent string is
used to populate the visitor ID.