PHPcount 1.0
PHP text hit counter

PHP hit counter (PHPcount)
Version: 1.0
File name: counter.php
Written 15th July 2004 by Klemen Stirn (info AT phpjunkyard DOT com)
PHPJunkYard.com - Free PHP scripts
PHP text hit counter
Support and developers forum

PLEASE NOTE: I cannot provide free installation support for this free script! Please use the above e-mail address to contact me ONLY about possible bug reports, suggestions or comments! Thank you!

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Copyright 2004 Klemen Stirn. All Rights Reserved.

The PHPcount may be used and modified free of charge by anyone so long as this copyright notice and the comments above remain intact. By using this code you agree to indemnify Klemen Stirn from any liability that might arise from it's use.

Selling the code for this program without prior written consent is expressly forbidden. In other words, please ask first before you try and make money off this program.

Obtain permission before redistributing this software over the Internet or in any other medium. In all cases copyright and header must remain intact. This Copyright is in full effect in any country that has International Trade Agreements with the United States of America or with the European Union.

DESCRIPTION

PHPcount is a simple yet effective PHP text hit counter. It uses flat-text database so no SQL databases are necessary. It can count hits for multiple pages of your website or even websites on other servers. To prevent others taking advantage of your script a HTTP referer validation has been included as an option.

Requirements

phpcount10.zip file contains following files:

In case your phpcount10.zip does not include all listed files please download the script again.

>> Quick installation

Upload counter.php file into a folder in your public directory (where the rest of your website is; usually "public_html", "www" or "site").
Example: /public_html/counter
Corresponding URL: http://www.yourdomain.com/counter/counter.php

Within the same folder create a new folder called "logs" (on many servers names are CaSe SeNsiTiVE). Make sure this folder is world-writable (on UNIX servers issue command CHMOD 777 (rwx-rwx-rwx))
Example: public_html/counter/logs

Now to make your counter work just use this piece of code on your site:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="Javascript" SRC="http://www.domain.com/counter/counter.php?page=PAGENAME"><!--
//--></SCRIPT>

Change the SRC parameter accordingly (to your counter.php URL)! Change PAGENAME to a unique name for each page you want track hits on (use numbers and letter only, no spaces or other chars).
Example:
On index.html you would use http://www.domain.com/counter/counter.php?page=index
On someotherpage.html you would use http://www.domain.com/counter/counter.php?page=otherpage
etc...

>> Enabling HTTP referer validation

Enabling HTML validation will prevent other people from using the script installed on your server to count hits on their site.

Open counter.php file in a PLAIN TEXT editor (like Notepad or Wordpad on Windows systems, DO NOT use MS Word or similar editor) and scroll down to "SETUP YOUR COUNTER".

Set $check_referer = 0; to 1 to enable HTML referer validation.
In $referers = array ("domain.com","someotherdomain.com"); set the domains you allow to use the counter.

Example of a correctly configured counter which will only allow counting hits on pages under PHPJUNKYARD.COM domain:

$check_referer = 1;
$referers = array ("phpjunkyard.com");

Save the file and upload it to server.

>> Troubleshooting

What is CHMOD and FTP?

I have prepared a simple FTP and CHMOD tutorial which will help you FTP files to your server and set correct CHMOD settings.

My counter doesn't work, HELP!

Ok, first of all don't panic, it's only a counter :-) Here are a few things to check:

  1. did you create the "logs" folder (not Logs, not LOGS, not LoGs, but logs)?
  2. is the logs folder in the same folder where counter.php file is?
  3. is logs folder world writable? CHMOD it to 777 (rwx-rwx-rwx) if you are on a UNIX server
  4. if you enabled HTTP referer validation make sure you have also setup allowed domain(s).
  5. make sure you used the right code on your page. Change the URL in the code in this readme to the URL of your counter.php script.

Since these scripts are free no support is guaranteed. If you can't get the script to work please go through this readme file again carefully and repeat the installation step-by-step (also delete old files and folders from the server). Also please feel free to post any questions or problems you might have in PHPJunkyard forum!

>> Stay updated!

Join my FREE newsletter and you will be notified about new scripts, new versions of the existing scripts and other important news from PHPJunkYard.
Click here for more info

>> What else?

That's it! If you use PHPJunkYard free scripts or any portion of their code please place a link to PHPJunkYard.com on your website. I won't sue you if you don't, but I believe it is a fair trade for a free script/code. Think about it. You can find link suggestions here.

Best regards,

Klemen Stirn
PHP JunkYard
http://www.PHPJunkYard.com