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Hello,
I'm trying to make some changements to this article cms i have, and one of these changements would be to count how many time an article is viewed.
I don't want a hit every time the article page is loaded, but every time the article link is clicked.
Can someone tell me how to do this? I have no idea how to start on it.
Thanks!
Don't you have to click on the article link to load the article page? Can you explain your problem more clearly?Originally Posted by sanzo
No, because then a refresh would add to the 'click count'.
The way I see it, there are two ways to do it:
- Use Javascript and an IFRAME to load a hidden counter increment, and then get it to redirect to the page you require
- Pass the page of the article you wish to visit to a seperate page that counts the click, updates the database, and then redirects you to the page you require
The advantage of the first one is that it would be seamless for the end user - they wouldn't be redirected to two pages, it would all be done in a hidden iframe, and then just redirected to the article - However, for this, the user must have javascript and frames enabled, which isn't ideal
The second idea removes these requirements, requiring just a straight link to a tracker page, but you will esentially be sending the user to a dummy page, and the redirecting them to the article from that page
Just my thoughts - if you want some more help on how to actually achieve these let me know
Well i would like to do it with the clicking way.
Isn't there a way around it with a cookie or session or something?
If not, how do you do it so it also clicks on page refresh?
@jazzer01, thanks for ur suggestions, but i'd prefere not using frames. And the 2nd way is kind of long.
Thanks!
To do it just on page load - so that it also increases on refresh, all you would do is write a routine at the top of the page that increased the counter by 1:
Where $article is however you want to identify the individual articel - without knowing your DB structure, I don;t know exactly what fields you have, but thats a general idea of how to go about it.PHP Code:<?
$query = "UPDATE `tracker` SET `count` = `count`+1 where `article` = '$article'";
mysql_query($query);
?>
I'm still trying to come up with a click way - however, cookies are not great, as they are easily rejected - and wouldn't differentiate between a click and a refresh anyway...
do you want to count the 'refreash' as a page view or not?
@ Kailash Badu: I'd prefere not, but it looks kindof hard to do without it ...
@jazzer01: With a temporary url, that redirects after saving the hit i'm not sure if it would be good for seo (what url's do se's index?)
I hope you come up with something
Thanks!
Why don't you use a normal view counter. Every time a page is loaded, increment the value in the database. In the 'Article' table, just include a column called 'view';
Unfortunatly you are right, it would be kinda awkward for SEOs - they would see the redirect link and page, although you could include a keyword rich link on that tracker page, linking to the article in question, so that the spiders would follow through to the actual article (and so possible index the article).@ Kailash Badu: I'd prefere not, but it looks kindof hard to do without it ...
@jazzer01: With a temporary url, that redirects after saving the hit i'm not sure if it would be good for seo (what url's do se's index?)
I hope you come up with something
Thanks!
The other option I did think of is to open a tracker page in a new window that closes as soon as the update is performed. However, with many users blocking popups, this is not a particullaly good solution.
I'm just heading off to a meeting now, so if I have a brainwave, I'll post when i get back
How about this;
in the page where the article is viewed, only counting a view, if a referral is set?
I supose there isn't a referral set when refreshing a page is there?
To be completely honest, before I did a test, I didn't know - however, on a page refresh, the HTTP_REFERER is still there, so unfortunatly that will not work
oh that sucks
i just tryed, and unset didn't work nether, or i did someting wrong, or it's just impossible
There must be a way - there is always a way!!
hm....what about using a XMLHttpRequest?? Not sure why I didn't think about it before....i can't see why it wouldn't work - except it requires javascript, so people with javascript disabled would have problems....
Does the program keep track of whether the same user clicks on the article or not?
If it does, set a cookie in the top of the viewed page, so that if they refresh or, click it again it wont increment your counter
If not, i think the best way would be to have a redirect page. There is no sense messing around with ajax, and all this other stuff, when it could be as simple as making a redirect page.
I did recommend a redirect page at the beginning, but sanzo really didn't seem to like the idea - hence the wierd and wacky attempts to come up with a solution! - although his main issues was with SEO issues, so perhaps this is still a workable solution? sanzo?
whats wrong with something like that?PHP Code:if(!$_SESSION['click']) {
$sql = mysql_query("update table set counter = counter+1 where article='whatever'");
$_SESSION['click'] = 1;
}
Mike Swiffin - Community Team Leader
Only a woman can read between the lines of a one word answer.....
I started out with nothing... and still got most of it left!
Hm...why didn't we think of that?
Only issue is that if they clicked the article again, then it wouldnt be counted as a click - but then again, if they have visited it once, why would they need to re-click?
I feel really stupid now..... :P
Can someone explain me how that works please?
I don't really understand.
And also, when does this expire or something, so the click is counted again?
Thanks alot guys!
how about making the link a submit button that passes a hidden variable...
Wouldn't be SEO friendl neether i think.
Hi sanzo,
When the page is loaded, the script checks for the $_SESSION variable. If it's not there it sets it to 1. If the page is then reloaded by the user the script can see the variable and so wont add to the counter.
It the user goes off around the site and then comes back to the same page, the variable is still there and again wont add to the counter.
It remains until the user closes their browser window or until you unset() it.
For reference:
http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.session-start.php
Mike Swiffin - Community Team Leader
Only a woman can read between the lines of a one word answer.....
I started out with nothing... and still got most of it left!
So if i understand this, this should come on the page where the article is shown.
And how should the link look like in the first page then?
Thanks alot!
Yes, this appears at the top of the page where the article is displayed. You will need session_start() in there as well.
so your code would be:
PHP Code:session_start();
if(!$_SESSION['click']) {
$sql = mysql_query("update table set counter = counter+1 where article='whatever'");
$_SESSION['click'] = 1;
}
Your links wont change from what they are now
Obviously you will need to change the query line though to reflect your table!
Mike Swiffin - Community Team Leader
Only a woman can read between the lines of a one word answer.....
I started out with nothing... and still got most of it left!
I just thought - once the session is set, and you visit one page, any other articles you click on won't be counted..... or am i missing something?
nope, you arent missing anything
quick amendment to the script to add the article_id into the variablePHP Code:session_start();
$article_id = $_GET['article_id'];
if(!$_SESSION['click'][$article_id]) {
$sql = mysql_query("update table set counter = counter+1 where article='whatever'");
$_SESSION['click'][$article_id] = 1;
}
Good spot jazzer
Mike Swiffin - Community Team Leader
Only a woman can read between the lines of a one word answer.....
I started out with nothing... and still got most of it left!
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