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about you saying google gets "time spent" from clicking links within the site? Wait...are you talking about Google Analytics? Because my time spent is recorded by loading, and unloading the page.
Also, sorry once again there is a minor problem i noticed. Lets say i visit my site, and i click a page on my site, then i click back -- when i get to my homepage, the php either doesnot work or inserting a new row in my database. BUT the javascript does work... Is there a way to fix this? Like make a php script run when you click "Back" or "Forward"?
Thanks
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does anyone have a clue about the minor problem?
when i press back or forward, javascript on that page runs, but not php.
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Hi,
I tried back and forth a few times, and every time it sent something to the server. You should see a few entries in your database - the same time as this posting - with a time id of 723
Musicman
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yes, but what happens is, when you press back the php doesnt add a new row, but instead that old cookie is still the same and never gets updated. And instead javascript sends the time spent with the old cookie id, and the other php script just changes the time spent for the last row.
Basically, even though the row has a time var, it changes it because the php on the homepage never updates the cookie.
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Hi,
two choices: either force a new cookie every time the start page is loaded (and force no-cache in the first place so that reloading occurs), or just add the value to the database rather than inserting it.
Musicman
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How am I gonna force a new cooki every time the page starts? To get the cookie value I need the php script to run because the php has the vars with the info that will be put in the cookie.
Wait what do you mean by adding instead of inserting?
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Hi,
I thought about a sql
mysql_query("update mytable set timespent = timespent +$spent where id = ....")
Which script is setting the cookie? Not the one that records the time spent when leaving but one that runs when the page is loaded? So if you use anti-cache headers within your main page, you could force a new cookie.
Musicman
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hey,
The script that records the time spent already used 'update'.
Sorry I'm not familiar with cache and how to force it to make a new cookie...
I did read online that its sort of a memory holder for accessing objects, and i googled and found this about anti-cache headers:
PHP Code:
header("Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate"); // HTTP/1.1
header("Cache-Control: post-check=0, pre-check=0", false);
header("Pragma: no-cache"); // HTTP/1.0
Is that what i should use?
Thanks
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Hi,
if I understand your scenario right, I would suggest to use the update like in my previous post: if a visitor temporarily leaves the page and returns, database would calculate total time. The anti-cache thing is correct, but it would result in separate visits recorded in the database.
There is one more header that makes sense with stopping cache - an "Expires" with a date in the past
Musicman
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ahhh, my bad I didnt notice you said "+ $spent". Now that is a very good idea, thank you very much! :)
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also one more question, im building the framework of the ajax thing, cuz most of the fields i have in my tracking table show empty fields for time. So here's what i have so far and it won't really work, since im not experienced I guess you would know what the problem could be. Thanks
PHP Code:
function ajaxFunction(){
var ajaxRequest; // The variable that makes Ajax possible!
function start()
{
starttime = (new Date()).getTime();
}
try{
function leave()
{
stoptime = (new Date()).getTime();
var params = "spent="+(stoptime-starttime);
xmlobj = new XMLHttpRequest();
xmlobj.open('POST', 'timetest.php', true);
xmlobj.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
xmlobj.setRequestHeader("Content-length", params.length);
xmlobj.setRequestHeader("Connection", "close");
xmlobj.send(params);
}
// Opera 8.0+, Firefox, Safari
} catch (e){
// Internet Explorer Browsers
try{
function leave()
{
stoptime = (new Date()).getTime();
var params = "spent="+(stoptime-starttime);
xmlobj = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
xmlobj.open('POST', 'timetest.php', true);
xmlobj.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
xmlobj.setRequestHeader("Content-length", params.length);
xmlobj.setRequestHeader("Connection", "close");
xmlobj.send(params);
}
} catch (e) {
try{
function leave()
{
stoptime = (new Date()).getTime();
var params = "spent="+(stoptime-starttime);
xmlobj = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
xmlobj.open('POST', 'timetest.php', true);
xmlobj.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
xmlobj.setRequestHeader("Content-length", params.length);
xmlobj.setRequestHeader("Connection", "close");
xmlobj.send(params);
}
} catch (e){
// Something went wrong
alert("Your browser does not support AJAX, for a better experience on our site (and the web) please use IE7/Firefox/Safari. Thank you");
return false;
}
}
}
}
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Look into jQuery dude. There is a nice little ajax function built in, and the entire jQuery library is only 18k.
Just include jQuery on every page, then you can bind appropriate event listeners and do cross browser Javascript with no problems at all.
http://jquery.com/
Here's the unload event: http://docs.jquery.com/Events/unload
And here's AJAX Post functions: http://docs.jquery.com/Ajax/jQuery.post
We can rewrite your page like this:
PHP Code:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function(){
var starttime = (new Date()).getTime();
$(window).unload(function(){
$.post('timetest.php', {spent: (new Date()).getTime() - starttime});
});
});
</script>
No more complicated cross-browser Javascript debugging.
Put that in your <head> and see if it works. I haven't tested.
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Okay so im trying this on this page only: www.trixmasta.com/about_us.html
And im using firebug, for some reason when i load about_us it sends the time randomly when it shouldnt, it doesnt send the timespent var when the page unloads but sends it randomly when it the page loads.
Why is doing that?
And by using jquery, do you think chrome will also be able to pass vars with ajax?
Thanks
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What do you mean, it sends the time randomly? It sent it correctly for me.
And about Chrome, using jQuery would be your best chance. If it doesn't work with jQuery, you won't be able to write something to work on your own.
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Oh hey, sorry for not responding soon.
I sort of see the problem now...but still cant solve it. Basically, when you load a page on my site here is what happens:
1. The php immediately sets a cookie with a id
2. When the user leaves that page, the time_spent is sent to a php script
3.The php script reads the cookie on the computer, getting the id value.
4.The php script then inserts the time_spent into the row that contains the id that was stored as a cookie
Okay so for some reason, when you leave webpage A, the time is sometimes not sent. And when the webpage B starts loading (by the time a new cookie is set) THEN the time_spent gets sent to the timetest.php script. So the timetest.php script inserts the time_spent for webpage A, in webpage B's id (because a new cookie was set by the time webpage A's time_spent was sent).
So, I guess this is happening because jQuery must take a few seconds to do its job... Which is not good :( Because then the time_spent is recorded in different pages, and screws up the whole table.
Do you have a way to fix this?
If this issue is not happening to you when you visit www.trixmasta.com and its pages, then your internet must be fast enough to handle the jQuery or something. But still, it means its a problem for people on wifi that sometimes is slow, like me.
Please help, thanks!
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I dunno dude, it's working flawlessly for me. jQuery is as quick as they come, so I don't think that's your issue. Your bottleneck will be your request to timetest.php. Making an HTTP request to that is going to be way slower than it is to execute a piece of Javascript. And regardless of how you implement it, that will always be the case.
Explain what is happening wrong, and what you'd expect to happen. In detail. Maybe you're just interpreting your results wrong.
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Hey,
So I visit my site, and while I'm on my homepage I check my tracking table. My homepage row has no value for timespent (of course since the homepage hasnt unloaded yet), then i click a other link on my site. I look at the table and I see a new row, that HAS my homepage's timespent value! But my homepage row, still has no value! This happens for any way I navigate through my site. The time is recorded into the link I visit to, and I believe the problem is what i said earlier. But I may be wrong.
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No, that is an error with your logic. You're not updating the previous row, and instead inserting a new row with that value.
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Umm, well this is what I have in my script:
PHP Code:
$query = "UPDATE counter SET time_spent= time_spent + $spent WHERE id='$id'";
$result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());
That's updating the row, not inserting... So what could be the problem?
