Creating a Tracker

The first step to using TikiWiki trackers is to actually create the tracker. You can think of the tracker as the individual database or spreadsheet that holds the information.

In this section we will create a new tracker to collect some basic information (such as name, address, and telephone number) from the site visitors.

From the Admin menu:

1. Select Trackers > List Trackers.
   The Trackers page lists all of the trackers on the site. Currently there are none — let's create one now.
2. Click the Create button. The Create Tracker window appears.
   
3. On the General tab, enter the following information in each field.
   • Name: Enter a name for the tracker (such as Visitor Information).
   • Description: Enter a detailed description for the tracker.
     

      Tip

     Select the Description text is tiki-parsed option to use wiki syntax in the description.
4. On the Display tab, enter the following information.
   
   • Show status and Show status to tracker admin only: Enable this option. For some trackers (such as if collecting bug reports) you may want to use a specific status (open, pending, or closed). For this tracker, however, we are only collecting user information — there is no need to show the status to other users.
   • Show lastModif date when listing tracker items: Enable this option. This will allow you (as the admin) to see (and sort) when visitors complete each tracker form.
     

      Tip

     You can specify a custom time and date format, or use the default that you configured earlier.
5. On the Notifications tab, enter the following information.
   
   • Copy activity to email: Enter you email address. Tiki will send you an email alert each time a user adds a new tracker item.
6. Click Save. Tiki saves the information and loads the Trackers page.
   The Trackers page shows the newly created tracker.
   

Now that you have a tracker, you need to add fields to it. These fields determine the information that users will complete.