counter : once per session

[frommarcq +]

Hi,

One of the most important thing that my customers are searching is the statistics of their listing.

The counter is really useful to prove that the page is seen, but some of my customers told me that this function isn't really sharp : if you refresh the same page in your browser, it counts like a new visit.

According to me, the answer is to have a 'once per session' counter. A visitor is counted once, even if s/he visits the same page one thousand times !

I found a php code, and want to have your point of view about it. How (and where) to implement such a code ?

PHP Code:

<?php
session_start();
if (is_null($_SESSION['first_time']))
{
$_SESSION['first_time'] = 'Nope :D';
}
else
{
// It's their first time...
print "welcome";
}
?>

Regards,

Pascal

PS : Would it be difficult to create an 'advanced counter' module (with the number of visits day by day) ?

[frommarcq +]

Any suggestion ?
lol
Pascal

[juven14 +]

This really isn't suited for a module since the update happens via the core. The only thing I could think of is to count their first visit to the page, after that just subtract 1 from the counter. Not perfect, editing the core file and preventing the additional hits would probably be ideal vs creating a module that subtracts.

Honestly, I think having the counter when the page is loaded is fine. As long as you are not stating that they are page views per visitor per session. If you follow the logic, wouldn't you want to discount any further page view for that user? What's the difference per session and per next day. Also, per session doesn't really work either. What happens if they close their browser and go back to the site 5 min later and view the same page?