List of Features

DynAds family of banner ad rotation and tracking scripts have all the essentials and more to manage your basic level rotation and tracking tasks.

Technical features

• The scripts are written in Perl.
• It is available as
  • Flat file text database backed CGI script
  • MySQL database backed regular CGI script
  • MySQL database backed Apache mod_perl compliant script
  • MySQL database backed fast CGI compliant script
• Flat file database version is platform independent since it does not require a back end database server. It runs on any platform that provides Perl.
• MySql database version runs on any server platform that provides Perl and MySql.
• It is compatible with all operating systems : Linux, Unix, Solaris, WinNT, Win2000, Cobalt RaQ ...
• Installation is a breeze. It comes with a setup program to make it very easy installing and configuring the product.
• Ads are organized in categories. Ad groups are formed from already defined ads to produce list of ads for rotation. See the illustration of DynAds data model.
• It serves to unlimited number of domains from one installation of the software.

Web based administration control panel

• All management tasks are done via web based and password protected administrator control panel.
• Appearance of the admin panel can be matched to the style of your pages.
• Your advertisers can login to the admin panel and check their real-time statistics.
• Admin panel includes account management, category and ad management, ad-group management, code generator and report generators.

Unlimited user accounts

• Admin can define unlimited number of user (advertiser) accounts.
• Admin can specify the rights of other users in the setup program.
• Every user can have unlimited number of categories and ads.
• Admin can enable/disable user accounts. Ads of the disabled accounts are excluded from rotations automatically.

Ad management

• No limit on the number of ads.

• General purpose content rotator

  It can deliver from a simple image ad to a whole HTML page.
• It supports all banner ad formats: images, text, HTML, DHTML, scripts, rich media ads, flash, or any other third party format.
• There is no limit on the size of the ad content to be delivered.
• All views of an ad are tracked.
• One automatic redirection URL for each ad. When defined, the clicks to the ad are tracked.
• Individual ads can be enabled and disabled in the admin panel. The disabled ads are automatically taken out of any rotation.
• Ads can be weighted in rotations to adjust their selection probability.

• Global default ad and default page

  Default ad is served when there is no active ad in an ad group. Likewise the default page is used to re-direct the visitors when the clicked ad is disabled or not found.
• One can define an ad to be of four types:

  • Run of network (never auto-disable)

    ads do not expire.

  • Expire on clicks (pay per click)

    ads are constrained by the total number of clicks. When the number of clicks exceeds the assigned number of clicks, the ad becomes inactive.

  • Expire on views (pay per view)

    ads are constrained by the total number of views. When the number of views exceeds the assigned number of views, the ad becomes inactive.

  • Expire after a Date

    ads become inactive after the specified date and time.

Category management

• An account may have unlimited number of categories.
• A category may include unlimited number of ads.
• One can define a category to be of four types:

  • Run of network (never auto-disable)

    categories do not expire.

  • Expire on clicks (pay per click)

    categories are constrained by the total number of clicks. Clicks to the ads of the category are summed up. When the number of clicks exceeds the assigned number of clicks, the category becomes inactive.

  • Expire on views (pay per view)

    categories are constrained by the total number of views. Views of the ads of the category are summed up. When the number of views exceeds the assigned credits, the category becomes inactive.

  • Expire after a Date

    categories become inactive after the specified date and time.

Ad Group management

• There is no limit on the number of ad groups.
• An ad group can include unlimited number of ads.
• The ads in the ad group can be weighted to adjust the likelihood of being selected.

Code generator

• Content rotation code generator

  This is the generator for obtaining the ad rotation codes. You specify the parameters of the rotation in the generator menu. Then the system generates the rotation code to paste to your pages.

• Link redirection and tracking code generator

  You can easily select the link to track. The generator produces the redirection URL for tracking. It is possible to redirect through static HTML files.

Ad and content rotation

• Support for all ad formats

  DynAds is a general purpose content rotator. It can rotate and deliver any type of contents. Thus, it supports all ad formats: image banner ads, text ads, HTML ads, script ads, DHTML ads, flash ads, rich media ads.

• Access methods

  DynAds provides the most extensive set of ad access methods. Whether you choose to access the rotated ads from a server side technology such as PHP or SSI, or from a browser side technology such as JavaScript or pop-up/pop-under windows, DynAds supports it. Here is the list of supported access methods.

  • Java Script

    This method is the general purpose content rotation method on the browser side. A simple SCRIPT tag retrieves and displays the rotated ads from the ad server.

  • IMG tag

    This method is for rotating images only such as gif or jpeg banners. IMG tag is ideal for rotating and tracking ads in e-mails and for maximum browser compatibility.

  • IFRAME or OBJECT tag

    You can rotate the ads in an inline frame or HTML Object. Both IFRAME and OBJECT are now standard tags in HTML 4.0, and all of the new browsers, including Netscape, support these tags.

  • Frame

    You can rotate the ads in a frame of a frame-set.

  • Pop-up and pop-under windows

    You can select if the window should be opened as pop-up or pop-under.

  • Server Side Includes (SSI)

    You can include the rotated ad contents at the server side by using SSI rotation codes. The contents included at the server side become the part of your web page.

  • Active Server Pages (ASP)

    If your pages are written in ASP, you can include the rotated ads in your ASP page.

  • PHP

    If your pages are written in popular PHP, you can include the rotated ads in your PHP page easily.

  • Perl

    If you generate your pages from a Perl script, you can include the rotated ads in a Perl variable easily.

  • Java Script Array

    If you want to display the rotated ads in your way, then you can obtain the rotated ads in a Java Script array. Then you can display the ads in any way you like by using JavaScript.

  • DAG API object

    If you want to display the rotated ads in your way by using the JavaScript DAG API, then you can obtain the rotated ads in a DAG object. Then you can display the ads in any way you like by using the API.

• Single ad selection

  The selection process is the phase of the rotation where the ads to be displayed are determined among the ads in the ad group. In single ad selection scheme, only one ad is returned from the rotation. DynAds has four selection methods.

  • Weighted random selection

    The ad is selected randomly with the selection probability equal to the normalized weight of the ad. That is, if ad-1 has a weight two times the weight of ad-2, then ad-1 has two times chance for selection than ad-2.

  • Uniform random selection

    The ad is selected randomly while all ads have equal chance for selection. Weight values are not taken into account.

  • Server side sequential selection

    With every rotation request to the ad server, the next ad in the rotation is selected. This ensures that all of the ads in the ad group are selected equal number of times.

  • Browser side sequential selection

    A visitor sees the next ad when he/she re-visits your site or when the ad is refreshed. This ensures that the visitor sees the ads in order.

• Multiple ad selection

  If you want to display more than one ad, you can pull multiple ads from an ad group in a rotation. DynAds has many features to support multiple ad rotation. The final selected ads are returned in appended form.

  • Limiting the number of ads

    In the code generator, you can specify the maximum number of ads to return from the rotation. If the number of active ads in the ad group is greater than or equal to the specified maximum limit, then only the specified number of ads are selected. Otherwise, it can return ads less than the specified limit. Additionally, one can choose to return all of the active ads in the ad group. Also, you can specify the number of ads to return based on the total number of active ads in the ad group, like "total number of active ads in the ad group minus N".

  • Ad selection methods

    DynAds has 6 ad selection methods to support multiple ad selection.

    • Weighted random selection

      The ads are selected randomly with the selection probability equal to the normalized total weight of the ad. You can specify if you want duplicate ads in the resulting ad list or not.

    • Uniform random selection

      The ads are selected randomly while all ads have equal chance for selection. You can specify if you want duplicate ads in the resulting ad list or not.

    • Random slice selection

      The active ads in the ad group are thought as a big virtual list in the order they appear in the database. Then a slice of ads is selected where the slice beginning is chosen randomly with equal probability. If you like, you can choose to have a circular slice.

    • Server side sequential slice selection

      This is like "random slice selection". This time, the slice beginning is chosen sequentially on the server. With every rotation request to the ad server, the next ad in the rotation is selected. You can specify how many ads to skip at every rotation request.

    • Browser side sequential slice selection

      This is like "random slice selection". But the slice beginning is chosen sequentially for each visitor. At every visit or ad refresh, the visitor sees the next slice of ads. You can specify the number of ads to skip at every ad refresh.

    • All of the active ads selection

      When you choose this option, all of the active ads in the ad group are returned in the order they appear in the database.

  • List operations

    List operations are applied to the selected ad list to change the order of the ads in the list. You can apply the following list operations.

    • Randomize

      The positions of the ads in the list are randomly changed.

    • Circular shift

      The list of ads is shifted circularly by a random amount of positions.

    • Reverse

      The list is reversed such that the first ad becomes the last and the last ad becomes the first.

    • Reverse and Circular shift

      The list is first reversed and then circularly shifted randomly.

• Periodic auto-refreshing of ads

  When enabled, the rotation code refreshes the ads in regular intervals without refreshing the browser. The ads are pulled from DynAds ad server on the fly. No programming is needed. You specify the refresh period in seconds and the refreshing method in the code generator. The software handles the rest.

• Event recording

  By default, a record of every ad views (impressions) and ad clicks (if link tracking is enabled for the ad) is saved in the reports database. If you like, in the code generator you can disable the tracking of the views, the clicks or both.

Link redirection and tracking

• Static tracking URL

  It is possible to obtain the tracking URL in static form, a URL pointing to a static HTML document.

Reports and statistics

• Account summary reports

  Summary reports show a snapshot of an account. Administrator may generate reports of the total figures of all accounts.

  • Daily summary

    The total daily views and clicks of the account for the last X days.

  • Account summary

    The total views and clicks of the accounts.

  • Category summary

    The total views and clicks of the categories of the account.

  • Ad summary

    The total views and clicks of the ads of the account.

  • Category summary

    The total views and clicks of the ads of the categories of the account.

  • Display Positions summary

    The total views and clicks of the ads shown on different display positions.

• Log reports

  Users can see details of every event record. The following fields are available: time, type, display position, account, ad, category, IP, referrer, and user agent. The records can be sorted with respect to any fields.

• Progress reports

  This type of reports displays the counts versus adjacent time slots. For example, you can report daily progress of a category in a given time interval.

• Histogram reports

  These reports tabulate the distribution of view and click events over periodic time slots, such as counts versus days of week.

• Purging event records

  You can selectively purge the saved records to free up disk space.

• Table or graphic presentation

  Most of the reports can be presented in table or bar graph form.