Detect country of origin

[thebloke]

Guys

What's the most accurate way of determining which country a visitor to your website is in? I'm currently using HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE but doesn't this just test the language settings? Ok, this should be set to the correct country but it isn't foolproof, is it?

[dglienna]

This will give you a country code.

On Error Resume Next
 
Const wbemFlagReturnImmediately = &h10
Const wbemFlagForwardOnly = &h20
 
arrComputers = Array("MYMACHINENAME")
For Each strComputer In arrComputers
   WScript.Echo
   WScript.Echo "=========================================="
   WScript.Echo "Computer: " & strComputer
   WScript.Echo "=========================================="
 
   Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\CIMV2")
   Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_OperatingSystem", "WQL", _
                                          wbemFlagReturnImmediately + wbemFlagForwardOnly)
 
   For Each objItem In colItems
      WScript.Echo "BootDevice: " & objItem.BootDevice
      WScript.Echo "BuildNumber: " & objItem.BuildNumber
      WScript.Echo "BuildType: " & objItem.BuildType
      WScript.Echo "Caption: " & objItem.Caption
      WScript.Echo "CodeSet: " & objItem.CodeSet
      WScript.Echo "CountryCode: " & objItem.CountryCode
      WScript.Echo "CreationClassName: " & objItem.CreationClassName
      WScript.Echo "CSCreationClassName: " & objItem.CSCreationClassName
      WScript.Echo "CSDVersion: " & objItem.CSDVersion
      WScript.Echo "CSName: " & objItem.CSName
      WScript.Echo "CurrentTimeZone: " & objItem.CurrentTimeZone
      WScript.Echo "DataExecutionPrevention_32BitApplications: " & objItem.DataExecutionPrevention_32BitApplications
      WScript.Echo "DataExecutionPrevention_Available: " & objItem.DataExecutionPrevention_Available
      WScript.Echo "DataExecutionPrevention_Drivers: " & objItem.DataExecutionPrevention_Drivers
      WScript.Echo "DataExecutionPrevention_SupportPolicy: " & objItem.DataExecutionPrevention_SupportPolicy
      WScript.Echo "Debug: " & objItem.Debug
      WScript.Echo "Description: " & objItem.Description
      WScript.Echo "Distributed: " & objItem.Distributed
      WScript.Echo "EncryptionLevel: " & objItem.EncryptionLevel
      WScript.Echo "ForegroundApplicationBoost: " & objItem.ForegroundApplicationBoost
      WScript.Echo "FreePhysicalMemory: " & objItem.FreePhysicalMemory
      WScript.Echo "FreeSpaceInPagingFiles: " & objItem.FreeSpaceInPagingFiles
      WScript.Echo "FreeVirtualMemory: " & objItem.FreeVirtualMemory
      WScript.Echo "InstallDate: " & WMIDateStringToDate(objItem.InstallDate)
      WScript.Echo "LargeSystemCache: " & objItem.LargeSystemCache
      WScript.Echo "LastBootUpTime: " & WMIDateStringToDate(objItem.LastBootUpTime)
      WScript.Echo "LocalDateTime: " & WMIDateStringToDate(objItem.LocalDateTime)
      WScript.Echo "Locale: " & objItem.Locale
      WScript.Echo "Manufacturer: " & objItem.Manufacturer
      WScript.Echo "MaxNumberOfProcesses: " & objItem.MaxNumberOfProcesses
      WScript.Echo "MaxProcessMemorySize: " & objItem.MaxProcessMemorySize
      WScript.Echo "Name: " & objItem.Name
      WScript.Echo "NumberOfLicensedUsers: " & objItem.NumberOfLicensedUsers
      WScript.Echo "NumberOfProcesses: " & objItem.NumberOfProcesses
      WScript.Echo "NumberOfUsers: " & objItem.NumberOfUsers
      WScript.Echo "Organization: " & objItem.Organization
      WScript.Echo "OSLanguage: " & objItem.OSLanguage
      WScript.Echo "OSProductSuite: " & objItem.OSProductSuite
      WScript.Echo "OSType: " & objItem.OSType
      WScript.Echo "OtherTypeDescription: " & objItem.OtherTypeDescription
      WScript.Echo "PlusProductID: " & objItem.PlusProductID
      WScript.Echo "PlusVersionNumber: " & objItem.PlusVersionNumber
      WScript.Echo "Primary: " & objItem.Primary
      WScript.Echo "ProductType: " & objItem.ProductType
      WScript.Echo "QuantumLength: " & objItem.QuantumLength
      WScript.Echo "QuantumType: " & objItem.QuantumType
      WScript.Echo "RegisteredUser: " & objItem.RegisteredUser
      WScript.Echo "SerialNumber: " & objItem.SerialNumber
      WScript.Echo "ServicePackMajorVersion: " & objItem.ServicePackMajorVersion
      WScript.Echo "ServicePackMinorVersion: " & objItem.ServicePackMinorVersion
      WScript.Echo "SizeStoredInPagingFiles: " & objItem.SizeStoredInPagingFiles
      WScript.Echo "Status: " & objItem.Status
      WScript.Echo "SuiteMask: " & objItem.SuiteMask
      WScript.Echo "SystemDevice: " & objItem.SystemDevice
      WScript.Echo "SystemDirectory: " & objItem.SystemDirectory
      WScript.Echo "SystemDrive: " & objItem.SystemDrive
      WScript.Echo "TotalSwapSpaceSize: " & objItem.TotalSwapSpaceSize
      WScript.Echo "TotalVirtualMemorySize: " & objItem.TotalVirtualMemorySize
      WScript.Echo "TotalVisibleMemorySize: " & objItem.TotalVisibleMemorySize
      WScript.Echo "Version: " & objItem.Version
      WScript.Echo "WindowsDirectory: " & objItem.WindowsDirectory
      WScript.Echo
   Next
Next
 
 
Function WMIDateStringToDate(dtmDate)
WScript.Echo dtm: 
    WMIDateStringToDate = CDate(Mid(dtmDate, 5, 2) & "/" & _
    Mid(dtmDate, 7, 2) & "/" & Left(dtmDate, 4) _
    & " " & Mid (dtmDate, 9, 2) & ":" & Mid(dtmDate, 11, 2) & ":" & Mid(dtmDate,13, 2))
End Function

[thebloke]

I'm using asp/vbsript. What does wscript.echo do?

[dglienna]

Writes to the screen, but you could use Response.Write instead.

[thebloke]

Yeah, I figured that out. I can't run the code that you gave me, or any variations of it (been doing a bit of reading on WSH). I get an error which appears to point at permissions on my machine but I have admin rights for this machine. This won't be any good for deploying to a live website.

The error I get is this:

Error Type:
(0x80041003)
/countrytest.asp, line 95

[dj4uk]

I could be wrong but I don't think you can execute that code from a website - due to permissions. Client-side code has strict limitations when running in a browser - you certainly can't get all those details about a website visitors machine for privacy reasons.

Server-side you could use Request.ServerVariables("REMOTE_ADDR") to return the visitors IP address and then use a third party service to find the location of the visitor. Please note this is not completely accurate though - I show up as London, UK but this is where my ISP is based - I'm in Birmingham.

It depends if this information needs to be 100% accurate - if you only want it for localisation purposes this is quite good enough.

HTH

DJ

[thebloke]

Thanks DJ, I was kind of coming to that conclusion although I know nowt about WSH.

I'm currently using request.servervariables("HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE") which works fine as long as the user has the correct language settings on their browser but if I change my settings to en-us then the code thinks that I'm in the US.

I've seen some third party gadgets (countryhawk) but I was hoping that I could so something with a standard bit of code.

[Danial]

Thanks DJ, I was kind of coming to that conclusion although I know nowt about WSH.

I'm currently using request.servervariables("HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE") which works fine as long as the user has the correct language settings on their browser but if I change my settings to en-us then the code thinks that I'm in the US.

I've seen some third party gadgets (countryhawk) but I was hoping that I could so something with a standard bit of code.

Unfortunately there is no standard way of determining The origin of user. I have used a 3rd party free tool, which maps the country name from the IP adress. Dont know how accurate it is but it fullfilled my requirement.

If you are interested then search for GeoIP and you should find it..

[thebloke]

Thanks Danial. I'm not sure that this is any more certain than the current method I'm using ("HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE") - I'm only trying to distinguish visitors from the US from the UK.

Thanks anyway.

[dj4uk]

Why not ask them the first time they visit the site and then store the result in a cookie? More low tec I know but it'll do the job.

DJ

[thebloke]

Good point. It's not the ideal solution but it might just work. I like it!