Help on click tracking code

[Shanfeng Cheng]

I write a piece of code to tracking the number of clicks on a link
each day. The link usu. gets about 3000-6000 clicks per day. I just
store today's click count in a one-line text file, like,

01/07/2004 1234

The first field is the date and the second field is number of clicks.
I just read the current count, increase by 1 and then write back. When
another day comes, I write today's count to mysql DB.

The problem I am having is that sometimes during a single day, the
click count seems to be reset to zero and starts counting from zero
again. Normally I'd get at least 3000 clicks a day. But sometimes, the
clicks I've got are only around 600. I am sure there is something
wrong with my code. I've pasted my code. I'd appreciate if sombody can
help me with some tips.

$hitcount=0;
$today=date("m/d/Y");
$hitdate=$today ;

$fdaycount="day count.txt";

if (file_exists($f daycount))
{
//read out today's count from file
$handle=fopen($ fdaycount,"r");
if (!$handle) exit(0);
if (!feof($handle) )
{
$s=fgets($handl e);
$p=strpos($s," ");
$hitdate=substr ($s,0,$p);
$hitcount=(inte ger)substr($s,$ p+1);
}
fclose($handle) ;
}

if ($hitdate==$tod ay)
{
//increase todays' count by 1
$hitcount++;
$fp=fopen($fday count,"w");
if (!$fp) exit(0);
$s=$today." ".$hitcount ;
fputs($fp,$s);
fclose($fp);
}
else
{
//write today's data into database
.....
//

//reset today's count to 1
$fp=fopen($fday count,"w");
if (!$fp) exit(0);
$s=$today." 1";
fputs($fp,$s);
fclose($fp);
}

[CountScubula]

"Shanfeng Cheng" <sh***********@ yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:c8******** *************** ***@posting.goo gle.com...

I write a piece of code to tracking the number of clicks on a link
each day. The link usu. gets about 3000-6000 clicks per day. I just
store today's click count in a one-line text file, like,

01/07/2004 1234

The first field is the date and the second field is number of clicks.
I just read the current count, increase by 1 and then write back. When
another day comes, I write today's count to mysql DB.

The problem I am having is that sometimes during a single day, the
click count seems to be reset to zero and starts counting from zero
again. Normally I'd get at least 3000 clicks a day. But sometimes, the
clicks I've got are only around 600. I am sure there is something
wrong with my code. I've pasted my code. I'd appreciate if sombody can
help me with some tips.

$hitcount=0;
$today=date("m/d/Y");
$hitdate=$today ;

$fdaycount="day count.txt";

if (file_exists($f daycount))
{
//read out today's count from file
$handle=fopen($ fdaycount,"r");
if (!$handle) exit(0);
if (!feof($handle) )
{
$s=fgets($handl e);
$p=strpos($s," ");
$hitdate=substr ($s,0,$p);
$hitcount=(inte ger)substr($s,$ p+1);
}
fclose($handle) ;
}

if ($hitdate==$tod ay)
{
//increase todays' count by 1
$hitcount++;
$fp=fopen($fday count,"w");
if (!$fp) exit(0);
$s=$today." ".$hitcount ;
fputs($fp,$s);
fclose($fp);
}
else
{
//write today's data into database
.....
//

//reset today's count to 1
$fp=fopen($fday count,"w");
if (!$fp) exit(0);
$s=$today." 1";
fputs($fp,$s);
fclose($fp);
}

Proccess the logs, its cleaner,

run a cron job, and place the results in your dbase
--
Mike Bradley
http://www.gzentools.com -- free online php tools

[Herb Kauhry]

Look what happens in the code when the file doesn't exist. Now consider
what happens if two (or two hundred!) sessions try to open the file at the
same time. What happens when you use file_exists() on a file that someone
else has already opened for write? Does file_exist return false? Out of
200 simultaneous attempts, how many actually would succeed in updating the
counter?

You've got a database - use that and manage the count like this: UPDATE
hitcountertable SET hitcount = hitcount +1. The DBMS will serialize access
to the hitcount, be faster and work better.
--

"Shanfeng Cheng" <sh***********@ yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:c8******** *************** ***@posting.goo gle.com...

I write a piece of code to tracking the number of clicks on a link
each day. The link usu. gets about 3000-6000 clicks per day. I just
store today's click count in a one-line text file, like,

01/07/2004 1234

The first field is the date and the second field is number of clicks.
I just read the current count, increase by 1 and then write back. When
another day comes, I write today's count to mysql DB.

The problem I am having is that sometimes during a single day, the
click count seems to be reset to zero and starts counting from zero
again. Normally I'd get at least 3000 clicks a day. But sometimes, the
clicks I've got are only around 600. I am sure there is something
wrong with my code. I've pasted my code. I'd appreciate if sombody can
help me with some tips.

$hitcount=0;
$today=date("m/d/Y");
$hitdate=$today ;

$fdaycount="day count.txt";

if (file_exists($f daycount))
{
//read out today's count from file
$handle=fopen($ fdaycount,"r");
if (!$handle) exit(0);
if (!feof($handle) )
{
$s=fgets($handl e);
$p=strpos($s," ");
$hitdate=substr ($s,0,$p);
$hitcount=(inte ger)substr($s,$ p+1);
}
fclose($handle) ;
}

if ($hitdate==$tod ay)
{
//increase todays' count by 1
$hitcount++;
$fp=fopen($fday count,"w");
if (!$fp) exit(0);
$s=$today." ".$hitcount ;
fputs($fp,$s);
fclose($fp);
}
else
{
//write today's data into database
.....
//

//reset today's count to 1
$fp=fopen($fday count,"w");
if (!$fp) exit(0);
$s=$today." 1";
fputs($fp,$s);
fclose($fp);
}

[Shanfeng Cheng]

Thanks. I did find problem with the file_exists() function call. It
does return false sometimes.

But I don't know why updating a database field can be faster. You have
to take time making the database connection each time. And somehow my
ISP limits the number of simultaneous MySQL connections.
"Herb Kauhry" <ti****@tulips. me> wrote in message news:<PO******* *************@c omcast.com>...

Look what happens in the code when the file doesn't exist. Now consider
what happens if two (or two hundred!) sessions try to open the file at the
same time. What happens when you use file_exists() on a file that someone
else has already opened for write? Does file_exist return false? Out of
200 simultaneous attempts, how many actually would succeed in updating the
counter?

You've got a database - use that and manage the count like this: UPDATE
hitcountertable SET hitcount = hitcount +1. The DBMS will serialize access
to the hitcount, be faster and work better.
--

"Shanfeng Cheng" <sh***********@ yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:c8******** *************** ***@posting.goo gle.com...

I write a piece of code to tracking the number of clicks on a link
each day. The link usu. gets about 3000-6000 clicks per day. I just
store today's click count in a one-line text file, like,

01/07/2004 1234

The first field is the date and the second field is number of clicks.
I just read the current count, increase by 1 and then write back. When
another day comes, I write today's count to mysql DB.

The problem I am having is that sometimes during a single day, the
click count seems to be reset to zero and starts counting from zero
again. Normally I'd get at least 3000 clicks a day. But sometimes, the
clicks I've got are only around 600. I am sure there is something
wrong with my code. I've pasted my code. I'd appreciate if sombody can
help me with some tips.

$hitcount=0;
$today=date("m/d/Y");
$hitdate=$today ;

$fdaycount="day count.txt";

if (file_exists($f daycount))
{
//read out today's count from file
$handle=fopen($ fdaycount,"r");
if (!$handle) exit(0);
if (!feof($handle) )
{
$s=fgets($handl e);
$p=strpos($s," ");
$hitdate=substr ($s,0,$p);
$hitcount=(inte ger)substr($s,$ p+1);
}

fclose($handle) ;

}

if ($hitdate==$tod ay)
{
//increase todays' count by 1
$hitcount++;
$fp=fopen($fday count,"w");
if (!$fp) exit(0);
$s=$today." ".$hitcount ;
fputs($fp,$s);
fclose($fp);
}
else
{
//write today's data into database
.....
//

//reset today's count to 1
$fp=fopen($fday count,"w");
if (!$fp) exit(0);
$s=$today." 1";
fputs($fp,$s);
fclose($fp);
}