counter reload

Hello,
I have a PHP Visitor Counter script that works perfect except that when the
user
clicks on the browser reload button the counter increases again.

Could someone please tell me what code i need to insert in order to prevent
this.

I am also a PHP newbie so please try to explain in idiot terms

Thank you.

Richard Summers wrote:
> Hello,
> I have a PHP Visitor Counter script that works perfect except that when the
> user
> clicks on the browser reload button the counter increases again.
>
> Could someone please tell me what code i need to insert in order to prevent
> this.
>
> I am also a PHP newbie so please try to explain in idiot terms

You could use a cookie, that is set and has an experiense time that is around
X hours, befor increasing, make a cheack if the cookie is there or not, if
not, then set the cookie, if there is a cookie, then do nothing.


//Aho

"Richard Summers" <maria-kube@freenet.de> wrote in message
news:3f1066a4$0$30297$9b622d9e@news.freenet.de...
> Hello,
> I have a PHP Visitor Counter script that works perfect except that when
the
> user
> clicks on the browser reload button the counter increases again.
>
> Could someone please tell me what code i need to insert in order to
prevent
> this.
>
> I am also a PHP newbie so please try to explain in idiot terms
>
> Thank you.

Hi,

You can read details about the client's IP address in the array
$_SERVER

try $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']

If you save that value you can check to see if the next click comes from the
same place and so ignore it.

The only trick is maintaining a persistent record of the address that will
survive from one page refresh to the next.

You could as Aho says use a cookie, or you could use a session variable. (
much the same really )
take a look in the manual, sessions are possibly a tad easier to set up for
a newbie.

Cheers

Ron

Richard Summers wrote:

> I have a PHP Visitor Counter script that works perfect except that when the
> user
> clicks on the browser reload button the counter increases again.

There are a number of things you can do to prevent this, but all have
drawbacks. There is no perfect solution.

You could set a cookie or session variable. Execute your counter code if the
cookie or session is not set. If it is set, don't execute the code. This will
work until the cookie or session expires. It not work if cookies are disabled.

You could log their IP address and timestamp and only execute the counter code
if they haven't visited within 24 hours or whatever (probably too much hassle
for a simple counter). This would mean if a bunch of people behind a firewall
visited your site the counter would only increment by 1.

And a number of others, all pretty complex. This is a very common problem on
the Interweb. It comes up with counters, vote tabulators, statistics programs,
quizes, and a bunch of other scripts. Nobody has found the perfect solution.
Your best bet is probably to live with it or go with the cookie. If the
counter is critically important, use option 2 with a mySQL DB or flat file.

Shawn
--
Shawn Wilson
shawn@glassgiant.com
http://www.glassgiant.com