bots (easy question)

[james438]

Hi, I created a small program to detect browser resolution as well as IP address and store the info in a file. Do bots have screen resolutions? I ask because some of the records have an IP address, but no screen resolution.

[Nile]

This is a totale guess:
Since many bots run off one server, and not a specific computer I would guess no. Unless they configure it like that. I would think that a bot if you php[ed] it, it would like this:

<?php
$infos = array();
$infos['surf'] = "Google.com/";
$infos['ip'] = 10294; //tells which IP to use
$infos['screen_res'] = null;
?>

Remember, the above is a guess.

[Moshambi]

I would guess that bots don't have a screen resolution. I mean from what I've always thought bots don't need to "see" anything...so I would guess they don't even need a monitor, that they just are there to collect information.

Just my 2 cents

[james438]

What both of you are suggesting does make a lot of sense. Another possibility is that there is an error in my code. I altered it a bit to only record the stats if a browser resolution is detected, so the problem is largely solved for me. However, one way to check is if I knew the IP address of a bot and then check the address against what I have in my list and see if it has a resolution.

I also noticed that my own IP address was recorded as not having a screen resolution. When that happens a cookie is generated so that that won't happen in the future and every successive return to the page will show that I do indeed have a resolution setting.

For those curious the script is located here.

It seems kinda dumb to me, but the javascript lines are copywritten. actually since most of the lines are not his, but mine maybe I should remove the copyright. Not sure.