This gist contains functions to plot the data logged by the buckabuckaboo plugin (https://github.com/dpapathanasiou/buckabuckaboo) as an animated sequence of lines per distinct IP address (visitor) against a grayed-out background image which represents the page on the site being monitored using R (http://www.r-project.org/).

mouseTrackPlot.R

#
# mouseTrackPlot.R
#
# Functions to plot the data logged by the buckabuckaboo plugin (https://github.com/dpapathanasiou/buckabuckaboo)
# as an animated sequence of lines per distinct IP address (visitor) against a grayed-out background image
# which represents the page on the site being monitored using R (http://www.r-project.org/).
#
# To run this inside an R repl, use these commands:
#
# > source("mouseTrackPlot.R")
# > plotMousetracks("mousetracks.csv", "page_snapshot_background.png", [normalized width], [normalized height])
#
# The mousetracks.csv file must contain the ip address, date, time, and normalized x,y screen coordinate of the
# visitor mouse movement.
#

library(png)

plotBackground <- function (backgroundImage, w, h, xLabel, yLabel) {
  # create an empty plot with a background image,
  # using plot information so the image will fill the plot box, and draw it
  # source: http://stackoverflow.com/a/12918368
  
  plot(c(0, w), c(0, h), axes=FALSE, xlab=xLabel, ylab=yLabel, type="n")
  lim <- par()
  rasterImage(backgroundImage, lim$usr[1], lim$usr[3], lim$usr[2], lim$usr[4])
}

plotMousetracks <- function (csvFile, backgroundImage, w, h) {
  # load the background image for the plot
  ima <- readPNG(backgroundImage)

  # get the tracking data from the csv file
  mousetracks <- read.csv(file=csvFile,header=TRUE,sep=",");
  am <- length(mousetracks$ip)
  
  # set the information text: sanitized ip address and date/time
  ipPrefix = strsplit(as.character(mousetracks[1,]$ip), '\\.')[[1]][1]
  maskedIp = paste(ipPrefix, 'xxx', 'xxx', 'xxx', sep=".") # for privacy, hide the ip except for the first tuple
  
  infoLabel <- paste(maskedIp, mousetracks[1,]$date, mousetracks[1,]$time, sep=" ")

  # set the line color and font type
  par(fg="#FF007F") # bright pink
  infoFont <- c('sans serif', 'bold')
  infoPos <- (w / 2) - (w / 3) # set the infoLabel text in the bottom left corner of the plot
  
  # create the first empty plot and infoLabel
  plotBackground (ima, w, h, "", "")
  text(infoPos, -3, infoLabel, vfont=infoFont)

  # draw the lines use the mousetrack data frame
  for(i in 0:am) {
    r1 <- i+1
    r2 <- i+2 # iterate 2 lines at a time through the data frame

    if( mousetracks[r1,]$ip != mousetracks[r2,]$ip ) {
      # the next data set belongs to a new ip address so clear the plot, after a 2-second pause
      Sys.sleep(2)
      plotBackground (ima, w, h, "", "")

      # get the next sanitized ip address
      ipPrefix = strsplit(as.character(mousetracks[r2,]$ip), '\\.')[[1]][1]
      maskedIp = paste(ipPrefix, 'xxx', 'xxx', 'xxx', sep=".")
    }

    # update the information text
    text(infoPos, -3, infoLabel, vfont=infoFont, col="white") # clear the current line 
    infoLabel <- paste(maskedIp, mousetracks[r1,]$date, mousetracks[r1,]$time, sep=" ")
    text(infoPos, -3, infoLabel, vfont=infoFont)
    
    # draw the lines between two steps in the data frame
    lines(c(mousetracks[r1,]$x, mousetracks[r2,]$x), c(mousetracks[r1,]$y, mousetracks[r2,]$y), lwd=2)
    Sys.sleep(0.05) # slight pause between drawing lines, so that the animation is not overwhelmingly fast
  }
}