Author Topic: Logging accesses to contact files (Read 700 times)

capo · July 31, 2012, 03:56:20 pm

Hello,

I'm working for a project where we will work with sensible information. In Spain, since certain level of "sensibility" of information we've to keep a record of every single access to the file of a contact.

Logging capabilities through triggers, allow CiviCRM to record evrey creation, modification or deletion but I also need to record every access.

I've two questions regarding this topic:

Should I use log tables to record this information (such as log_contact with log_action = 'View') for these purposes?
How can I detect accesses to contact files?

Just in order to clarify, when I say "access a contact file", I mean open it in "View" mode (http://localhost/drupal/civicrm/contact/view?reset=1&cid=1).

Thanks

petednz · July 31, 2012, 03:58:39 pm

hi capo - i am just making this comment to make it easier for others to spot. this issue is about 'sensitive' information.

Donald Lobo · July 31, 2012, 07:20:26 pm

if database triggers are also fired on SELECT, then doing this via triggers is definitely a good option.

You can potentially add this via the new trigger hook functionality in 4.2

Some expertise with php and mysql would be needed for this

lobo

totten · July 31, 2012, 07:59:10 pm

MySQL triggers probably can't be bound to SELECT events (http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/create-trigger.html) although I've never tried.

If they don't work, then the best bet is to implement logging on a screen-by-screen basis using hooks. (It sounds like you have some technical expertise, so I'm assuming that you have a general familiarity with hooks but not with Civi's hooks.) For example, one of two hooks will be called whenever a web form or web page is displayed (F.1, F.2). If you write code that listens to the hook, then your code can examine the hook arguments (eg $formName, $page) and figure out which screen is being displayed and which contact ID is being used.

These hooks can be a little tricky for a new developer because it's hard to guess what values will be coming through $form/$page. If you're using Drupal, then the best the thing is to install the "devel" and the "civicrm_developer" modules (F.3, F.4). After activating the modules and logging in as super-admin, you will see an on-screen alert every time a CiviCRM hook runs. Pay attention to the class-names and attributes -- that information helps when writing the hook.

(F.1) http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC41/CiviCRM+hook+specification#CiviCRMhookspecification-hookcivicrmbuildForm
(F.2) http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC41/CiviCRM+hook+specification#CiviCRMhookspecification-hookcivicrmpageRun
(F.3) http://drupal.org/project/devel
(F.4) https://github.com/eileenmcnaughton/civicrm_developer

capo · August 05, 2012, 05:45:15 am

As far as I know, the applications wanting to perform any kind of sql action whenever someone is opening a record file, use to replace SELECTs and use calls to stored procedures instead. In my case, it's not possible, so I'll probably have to use Civi's hooks. Thanks a lot for your ideas. I'm already installing these modules in my development environment!

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Author Topic: Logging accesses to contact files (Read 700 times)

capo

Logging accesses to contact files

petednz

Re: Logging accesses to contact files

Donald Lobo

Re: Logging accesses to contact files

totten

Re: Logging accesses to contact files

capo

Re: Logging accesses to contact files