Do not increment on page reload - php

Question

I've placed a hit counter on my page. It reads a text file, increments the number in the file, and later in the page, I output the incremented value.
$hitsFile = "hits/exps/stats.txt";
$hits = file($hitsFile);
$hits[0]++;
$fp = fopen($hitsFile , "w");
flock($fh, LOCK_EX);
fwrite($fp , $hits[0]);
fclose($fp);
My problem is that if I reload the page, the code will increment the hits. I don't want that. I thought of using session to fix that, but with session, in order the increment the hits again, I need to exit the site and visit again. I don't want that either.
I want it to increment not when I reload the page but when I revisit the page.
For example, let's say I have two-page website, Home and Contact, and on contact page I have a hit counter. I don't want the hit counter to increment if I reload(refresh) the contact page, but if I leave the contact page and visit homepage, and later revisit the contact page, I want it to increment.
In short, I don't want it to increment on page reload. Is there a way to do that?

Answer 1

In each of your pages, you need to write the page name in the session.
Do something like this:
$_SESSION['page'] = 'contact';
On the pages where you need to count hits, you need to check this session key.
For example, if you were on page 'contact', then $_SESSION['page'] == 'contact'.
Now when you go to visit the 'homepage':
$page = $_SESSION['page'];
if($page != 'homepage')
{
//increment your hits counter
$_SESSION['page'] = 'homepage';
}

Answer 2

I suggest this method, is my preferred, create in root these folders: cnt and log... then put inside cnt folder the following files cnt.php and showcnt.php...
cnt.php
<?php
##############################################################################
# Php Counter With Advanced Technology For The Prevention Of Reloading Pages #
# Version: 1.4 - Date: 13.11.2014 - Created By Alessandro Marinuzzi [Alecos] #
##############################################################################
function cnt($file) {
session_start();
global $pagecnt;
$reloaded = isset($_SERVER['HTTP_CACHE_CONTROL']) && $_SERVER['HTTP_CACHE_CONTROL'] === 'max-age=0';
$thispage = basename($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']);
if (!isset($_SESSION['first_go'])) {
$_SESSION['first_go'] = 1;
$first_go = TRUE;
} else {
$first_go = FALSE;
}
if (!isset($_SESSION['thispage'])) {
$_SESSION['thispage'] = $thispage;
}
if ($_SESSION['thispage'] != $thispage) {
$_SESSION['thispage'] = $thispage;
$new_page = TRUE;
} else {
$new_page = FALSE;
}
$pagecnt = rtrim(file_get_contents($file));
if ((!$reloaded) && ($new_page == TRUE) || ($first_go == TRUE)) {
$fd = fopen($file, 'w+');
flock($fd, LOCK_EX);
fwrite($fd, ++$pagecnt);
flock($fd, LOCK_UN);
fclose($fd);
}
}
?>
showcnt.php
<?php
##############################################################################
# Show Counter Results - v.1.4 - 13.11.2014 By Alessandro Marinuzzi [Alecos] #
##############################################################################
function gfxcnt($file) {
global $number;
$number = rtrim(file_get_contents($file));
$lenght = strlen($number);
$gfxcnt = "";
for ($i = 0; $i < $lenght; $i++) {
$gfxcnt .= $number[$i];
}
$gfxind = "<span class=\"counter\"><span class=\"number\">$gfxcnt</span></span>";
echo $gfxind;
}
?>
Well, then edit your index.php or other php page... and put at the beginning this piece of code:
<?php session_start(); include("cnt/cnt.php"); cnt("log/index.txt"); include("cnt/showcnt.php"); ?>
Well, then edit index.php or other php page... and use this piece of code for reading counter file:
<?php gfxcnt("log/index.txt"); ?>
It's all, I hope you'll find my answer useful :) My counter can write/read multiple php pages...
Source: my blog (https://www.alecos.it/new/101/101.php)

Answer 3

Add session_start(); to the top.
Now change your if to this:
if (!isset($_SESSION['lastpage']) || $_SESSION['lastpage'] != $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING') {
$hits[0]++;
}
$_SESSION['lastpage'] = $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'];
This will basically force someone to move to another page if they want to increment the counter.

Answer 4

Update the hit count only if the current URL is not stored in $_SESSION['url'].
After updating the hit count, store the current URL in $_SESSION['url'].