counter

Adam H-W · August 13th, 2003, 03:18 AM

Hi

I'm using the following code to count how many times users access a page. However, it seems to reset itself every day to 0 again. Can anyone help me with this. Here is the code:

<%Response.Expires = 0%>

<%
            If (Application("AppPageCountVB") = "") Then
                Application("AppPageCountVB") = 0
            End If

            Application("AppPageCountVB") = Application("AppPageCountVB") + 1
        %>

<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
  <tr>
    <td><div align="right"> visits
        since August 1 2003 </div></td>
  </tr>
</table>

many thanks

Adam

Jonax · August 13th, 2003, 03:48 AM

Are you restarting the server every day?!

Anyway, you might want to wrap the assignment with .lock and unlock, like this:

Code:

Application.lock
Application("AppPageCountVB") = Application("AppPageCountVB") + 1
Application.unlock

This however won't fix your problem, but it will ensure a (more) precise count.

planeswalk · August 14th, 2003, 12:27 AM

Hi,

I suggest you use a database to store your stats like site hits, visits, and so on. This is far more reliable than application variables and I agree with Jonax in that if the web service is restarted in any way, it will completely wipe out any existing application variables. There are lots of free hot counter scripts out there which you can download and use.

Cheers!

Marlon Villarama
Support Team
Web Burner Hosting
[email protected]
www.webburner.com
Toll-Free: 877-535-2876

Adam H-W · August 14th, 2003, 05:08 AM

Thanks for your replies. I've managed to find some code that uses the file system object. However it's still not working correctly. It's giving me the following error.

Microsoft VBScript runtime error '800a0035'

File not found

/default.asp, line 112

What's supposed to happen is that a .txt file will be created in a folder that I've created called Counters relating to the page that the code is on. However, it's not working correctly! When I response.write the wfile it gives me the correct path:

D:\Inetpub\WWWroot\st-homeperfect\Counters\defaultasp.txt

The defaultasp.txt is the file that it should be creating.

This is the complete code:

<%
file=request.servervariables("PATH_INFO")
file = replace(file,"/","")
file = replace(file,".","")
if file="" then
file="otros"
end if
Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Wfile=server.mappath("\") & "\Counters\" & file & ".txt"
response.Write(Wfile)
'on error resume next
Set a = fs.OpenTextFile(Wfile)
hits = Clng(a.ReadLine)
hits = hits + 1
a.close

if error then
hits = 1
end if

Set a = fs.CreateTextFile(Wfile,True)
a.WriteLine(hits)
a.Close
%>

Number of hits: <% =hits %>

Not sure where to go from here

Cheers

Adam

Imar · August 14th, 2003, 06:52 AM

Hi there,

You'll need to create the file before you can write to it.

Use the following (FSO) code to determine whether the file exists or not, and create it if it doesn't:

Code:

Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") 
If fso.FileExists(file) = False Then
  fso.CreateTextFile file
End If
Set myFile = fso.GetFile(file)
Set ts = myFile.OpenAsTextStream(ForAppending, TristateUseDefault)
ts.Write "Some Text"
Set ts = Nothing
Set myFile = Nothing
Set fso = Nothing

This code uses a TextStream object(ts) which you can get by using the OpenAsTextStream method on a File object.

Check out the FileSystemObject documentation for more information.

Cheers,

Imar

---------------------------------------
Imar Spaanjaars
Everyone is unique, except for me.

Adam H-W · August 14th, 2003, 07:29 AM

Hi Imar

Thanks for that - I put that code in but I get an error on the third line where the code reads: fso.CreateTextFile file

The error message is Invalid procedure call or argument

Do I need to set some permissions?

thanks

Adam

dkittell · August 14th, 2003, 07:47 AM

Hello Adam H-W, in order to write to a file on a server you typically have to set the permissions of the specific folder to allow a script to write within that folder. On most servers the CGI folder is automatically setup to allow you to write.

---
David Kittell
Web Developer
TBF Graphics
803 S. Washington Ave.
Saginaw, MI 48601
(989) 752-5540
http://www.tbfgraphics.com

Imar · August 14th, 2003, 08:19 AM

Hi Adam,

A few additions / remarks to my previous message:

1. Use Server.CreateObject instead of CreateObject
2. Define constants or variables for ForAppending, TristateUseDefault (values of 8 and -2 respectively)
3. If you are using anonymous access to your website, make sure that the IUSR_MachineName account has sufficient rights to the folders where you want to write your files.
4. Make sure, that if you have a product like Norton Anti Virus, the Script Blocking feature is not enabled. Once you have that on, it won't allow you to write files using ASP.

HtH

Imar

---------------------------------------
Imar Spaanjaars
Everyone is unique, except for me.

Imar · August 14th, 2003, 09:37 AM

Hi Adam,

The code you sent me has a few flaws. First of all, you try to create a new file, without assigning a filename to the variable file.

Secondly, the rest of the code will probably not work properly too, because you are not checking the existence of the file.

Here's in pseudo code what you should do:

Code:

Declare an instance of the FSO
Use the FSO to see if the file exists (FileExists method)
If TheFileExists Then
    Open it and read the number in it
    NumOfHits = Read a line from the file
Else
    Create a new file
    NumOfHits = 0
End If

NumOfHits = NumOfHits + 1

At this point, the file exists and you have the number of hits in NumOfHits, so you can write to the file again, and save NumOfHits to it.

Check the FileSystemObject reference I pointed you to for more details. It has some great examples on this stuff that will make it easy to develop your solution.

HtH

Imar

---------------------------------------
Imar Spaanjaars
Everyone is unique, except for me.

Adam H-W · August 14th, 2003, 11:24 AM

thanks Imar, will try that out

regards

Adam