Such and such download x amount of times

[Xko]

I'm looking to add a (i hope) small line of code which will show how many times a file has been downloaded.

for example i have on my site the first doom game and after the description i'd like it to say...

downloaded xxx times

xxx being a number obviously.

Is this easily done and if so how?

[devinemke]

store the number of downloads in a database. instead of linking directly to the file, link to a PHP script that updates the database and then sends a header to the browser with the file content.

[Xko]

Ok, i get what you're saying but i'm no php expert by any means.

Coul ddo with some help on that...

[Hawkmoon]

Have your <a href> link to a file like this.

-Hawkmoon


//Connect to your database then:
$sql = "UPDATE your_table SET COUNTER=(COUNTER+1) WHERE GAME='Doom'";
if(mysql_query($sql)) {
header("Location: game_folder\doom.zip");
} else {
echo(mysql_error());
}

[Xko]

Right, i know what you're trying to tell me there but how do i incorporate that into a big standard <a href> link?

Do i see the need for a MySQL database? :(

[Hawkmoon]

<a href='download_doom.php'>Download Doom</a>

Then in download_doom.php:

//Connect to your database then:
$sql = "UPDATE your_table SET COUNTER=(COUNTER+1) WHERE GAME='Doom'";
if(mysql_query($sql)) {
header("Location: game_folder\doom.zip");
} else {
echo(mysql_error());
}


if you REALLY don't want to use a database to track this, then make download_doom.php something like this:

$filename = "counter.php";

$count = file($filename);
$current_count = $count[0];

if($current_count=="") {
$current_count = 1;
} else {
$current_count++;
}

$file = fopen($filename,"w+");

fwrite($file,"$current_count");
header("Location: game_folder\doom.zip");