[FSRevolution Support Center] Most Popular Articles

How do I configure my affiliate for instant crediting through postbacks?

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:24:29 GMT

There are a number of steps performed in order to instantly credit a user for an offer.

The user clicks on an offer which you have added through the admin panel. What's known commonly as their "subid" is appended to the end of this link. So if the user's ID is 123 and they are on a games site with the prefix GMS, their subid is GMS-123, which is appended at the end of the offer link. This is used to track which user completed the offer.
The user then completes the offer. When they successfully do so, the affiliate is notified of the completion. When the affiliate receives this notification they begin the closed-loop reporting process.
To initiate this process, the affiliate will call a URL that is hosted on your website. This URL will also contain a number of variables that will be used to determine the offer completed, the user that completed it, and the commission of the offer.
In order to retrieve the values of these variables, FSR needs to know the names of the variables used to specify the values. Here are some sample URL's
- http://www.yourfreesite.com/pb/postback.php?oid=123&subid=GMS-123&cpa=12.00
- http://www.yourfreesite.com/pb/postback.php?offerid=123&sid=GMS-123&status=1
- http://www.yourfreesite.com/pb/postback.php?oid=123&user=GMS-123
In the first example, we have 3 variables. The first one is titled oid. This specifies the value of the offer ID, which is 123 in this case. The next variable is subid, which specifies the ID of the user, which is GMS-123 in this case. The last variable is cpa which specifies the commission of the offer, $12.00 in this case. So in FSR, you would simply enter these variable names into the appropriate fields (Postback Offer ID Name, Postback User ID Name, and Postback Commission Name, respectively). The other fields can safely be left blank.
In the second example we have 3 variables again. The first two are similar to the first case, except the variables are now called offerid and sid instead of oid and subid. The last variable, status, determines whether this report is a credit or a reversal. Not all affiliates do this! In this case, status is our variable name, and 1 is the value used to specify a credit. Let's say 0 is the value used to specify a reversal. So for Postback Credit Status Name you would enter status, for Postback Credit Value you would enter 1 and for Postback Reversal Value you would enter 0.
In this last case we only have two variables, oid and user. These are the minimum variables we need to specify a credit. So for Postback Offer ID Name you would enter oid and for Postback User ID Name you would enter user.
You will also need to specify a set of valid IP addresses from which this postback will come. Generally, this information is available on the affiliate website.
One of the last things you will need to do is properly configure the offer you're running through a particular affiliate. Go to Manage Offers and click on Edit for the offer you wish to run through the affiliate. Choose the appropriate affiliate from drop-down menu. You will also need to enter a value for the CSV/Postback ID field. This is the offer ID that the affiliate will be sending through the postback URL (123 in all the above cases). This is generally available on the affiliate's listing of offers, or may be located somewhere in the offer URL.
Finally, make sure you enter the proper postback URL into your affiliate's website so they know which URL to call! Pay careful attention if there is any special formatting that needs to be added to the URL in order to get it work. For example, FusionCash requires that you format the URL yourself and enter the values yourself like so: http://www.yourfreesite.com/pb/postback.php?oid=#offerid#&sid=#subid#&cpa=#comm#

That's it!

CPALead

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:14:35 GMT

Great! Once your application is approved, I'll need to the code that's generated for you under Tools -> Active Survey Display as well as all of your login information for your website so that I can integrate the code for you.

What steps do I need to take if I need to switch hosts or servers?

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:24:29 GMT

- Download all files from your old server to your local machine
- Edit all of the configuration files to update the path and database information. These files include:
- /includes/db.inc.php
- any config.inc.php file (in /admin, /cc, /pb, and any site you have added)
- Create a new database on your new server
- Export the database from your old server
- Shut down your old site (password protect the main directory or something similar) - this is to avoid any new data being inserted to the database during the transfer so no data is lost
- Import the database into your new server
- Switch the nameservers for your domain to the new domain
- Make sure you e-mail us at support [at] fsrevolution [dot] com with your new IP address so we can update your license

Error: Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: Cannot send session cookie - headers already sent by (output started..

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:14:27 GMT

*NOTE* If you're using Dreamhost, follow these instructions.

If you are receiving this error, there are a number of things to try:

1) Edit the .htaccess file in your root web directory and add this line to it:

PHP_FLAG output_buffering on

Save it and try again. If you now receive an Internal Server Error, remove this line from the .htaccess file and move on to the next method.

2) This involves creating a local php.ini file which will allow us to set this flag. However, we need to set a few more options along with it.

- Open up some sort of text editor. Notepad is fine.
- Paste the following in there:

output_buffering = On
zend_extension = ../ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.2.so
memory_limit = 100M
include_path=.:/usr/local/lib/php:/usr/bin/pear

- There are a few caveats to this, however. Depending on where you are uploading this file and which ioncube loader you are using, this line:

zend_extension = ../ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.2.so

may need to be adjusted. If you are placing this in a directory below the ioncube directory, you will need to keep the ../ in front of the line. However, if you are uploading this to the same directory in which the ioncube directory is, you will need to remove the ../ in front of the line.

Also, if you are using a loader other than ioncube_loader_lin_4.4.so, an error message should show up telling which loader you need to use. Simply change the filename in the php.ini to match the one the error message says you need.

- Save that file as php.ini
- Upload this to the directory in which are you are experiencing the error (admin, install, any subdomain, or root web directory).

If this does not work, please e-mail support@fsrevolution.com detailing the steps you've taken and the error messages you are receiving.

Cross-Checking Walk-Through

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:24:29 GMT

How do I set-up a cross check with another site?

Allow a site to cross-check with yours

Log-in to your admin panel.
Go to the Cross-checking link underneath the Manage Users option.
Click on the Add New Allowed Cross-Check Site
Create a SiteID for the site you wish to cross-check with. i.e. A4F for anything4free.com
Next, create a Site Key for that site. This can be any assortment of letters or numbers.
Add any additional comments you have, and Add Site.

Cross-check with another site

Log-in to your admin panel.
Go to the Cross-checking link underneath the Manage Users option.
Click on the Add New Site to Cross-Check
Obtain the SiteID from the site (NOTE: This is not the same as the SiteID from above, it is created by the owner of the site you are cross-checking with)
Next, obtain the Site Key that site created for you.
Type in the base URL. For FSR systems, it will always be www.yourfreesite.com/cc/crosscheck.php
Add any additional comments you have, and Add Site.

Error: Warning: main(DB.php) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:24:29 GMT

You simply need to contact your host and have them install the DB package for PEAR.