Cool PHP Download Counter / Tracker

Version 1.1

Created: October 12, 2014
Last Modified: March 8, 2021
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dlc_b

Cool PHP Download File Counter and Tracker. This counter uses a MySQL database to store the amount of downloads for files. It also uses force download and prevents bots from downloading the files and affecting the counter.

Instructions

All of your downloadable files should be in $secret_folder specified in dlcounter.php otherwise bots and users will be able to download the files directly and those downloads will not be counted. This script should not be in $secret_folder.

USAGE:

To stop bots from downloading your files put this honeypot for bots at the very top of your html document. The bots will follow the link and we will be able to track that they are bots and not let them download files and skew the counter results:

<a id="dlc_b" href="dlcounter.php?dlc_b=1">dlc_b</a>
<script type="text/javascript">
document.getElementById('dlc_b').style.display = 'none'; // Hide anchor from real users
</script>

Wherever you have a downloadable file on your page change the link to something like this:

<a rel="nofollow" href="dlcounter.php?file=file.exe">Download file.exe</a>

Wherever you want a counter of the number of downloads for a file on your page put this html code:

Downloaded <span id="file.exe">0</span> times.
<script type="text/javascript" src="dlcounter.php?count=file.exe"></script>
To view download stats on all files, type in browser:
http://www.yourserver.com/dlcounter.php?admin=secretfolder123
dlc_b

Download

Downloaded 0 times.
Please make a donation to reveal the download link.

Edit the following variables in dlcounter.php:

$db_username="your_mysql_username"; 
$db_pw="your_pw";
$server="localhost";
$database="your_mysql_database";

if (!isset($secret_folder))
	$secret_folder = "secretfolder123"; // Make this random and hard to guess. It is like a password
$purge_days = 90; // Purge bot_history and user_history that are older than this many days

One last note: The download stats also can keep track of the HTTP referer page (how the user came to your website). But in order to get the right referring page you need to put the following code at the top of your webpage. If your webpage has an .html extension instead of .php then you also need to make sure that your web server is processing php code in .html files:

<?PHP	
	@session_start();
	if (!isset($_SESSION['refer'])) // Only set refer if it is not set already
		$_SESSION['refer'] = $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'];
?>

History

3/8/2021 - Version 1.1c - Bug Fix - Put inet_pton() inside of escape_string because on the outside mysql sometimes has an error because inet_pton() sometimes puts an unescaped single quote in the string.

4/1/2020 - Version 1.1b - Fixed Warning: "Warning: mysqli_affected_rows() expects exactly 1 parameter" by replacing all instances of mysqli_affected_rows() with mysqli_affected_rows($link) in the script.

3/26/2019 - Version 1.1 - All mysql functions have been converted to mysqli.

1/8/2015 - Version 1.0c - "Yahoo! Slurp" search engine was crawling the rel="nofollow" links and therefore updating the download counter. But only on some pages. Added slurp to dlcounter.php on line 180 to prevent this bot from downloading. Also updated the time from 1 hour to 24 hours for searching in bot_history on line 148 to block previous bots.

10/17/2014 - Version 1.0b - Added extra checking for bots that change their user_agent between each request. Made the download stats appear more appealing by adding user_agent and referer page to same table cell.

9/30/2014 - Version 1.0 - Cool PHP Download Counter / Tracker created.

((( spellific )))
Practice spelling while playing a fun word game!
Click here to play
Speech Recognition Anywhere
  • Type emails with your voice
  • Write documents with your voice
  • Control the Inernet with your voice
  • Chrome Extension
Reconocimiento de voz en cualquier lugar
  • Escribe correos electrónicos con tu voz
  • Escribe documentos con tu voz
  • Controla la Inernet con tu voz
  • Extensión de Chrome
Spracherkennung Allerorts
  • Geben Sie E-Mails mit Ihrer Stimme ein
  • Schreiben Sie Dokumente mit Ihrer Stimme
  • Steuern Sie das Internet mit Ihrer Stimme
  • Chrome-Erweiterung
Reconnaissance de la parole
  • Tapez des e-mails avec votre voix
  • Écrivez des documents avec votre voix
  • Contrôlez l'Inernet avec votre voix
  • Extension Chrome
Riconoscimento vocale ovunque
  • Digita e-mail con la tua voce
  • Scrivi documenti con la tua voce
  • Controlla Internet con la tua voce
  • Estensione Chrome
どこでも
音声認識
  • あなたの声で文書を書く
  • あなたの声でメールを入力してください
  • あなたの声でInernetを制御する
  • Chrome拡張機能
语音识别
无处不在
  • 用你的声音写文件
  • 用您的声音输入电子邮件
  • 用你的声音控制互联网
  • Chrome 扩展程序
語音識別
無處不在
  • 用你的聲音寫文件
  • 用您的聲音輸入電子郵件
  • 用你的聲音控制互聯網
  • Chrome 擴展程序
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User Comments

There are 14 comments.

Displaying first 50 comments.

1. Posted By: Freebies - - April 3, 2015, 5:14 am
Nice Code.It really Helps.
PHP Download Counter Script

2. Posted By: Jean-Paul Zimmermann - - June 18, 2015, 6:46 am
This is really a great and professional job

Thanks a lot

3. Posted By: MASSIMO - info@cie.cr - March 28, 2020, 3:46 pm
Hi,
The file is not downloading the link file, it opens directly as text, it also gives errors

Warning: mysqli_affected_rows() expects exactly 1 parameter, 0 given in /home/XXXXX/XXX/miembros/dlcounter.php on line 242

Warning: mysqli_affected_rows() expects exactly 1 parameter, 0 given in /home/XXXXX/XXXXX/miembros/dlcounter.php on line 256
1
Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/XXXXX/XXXX/miembros/dlcounter.php:242) in /home/cietesting/revit/miembros/dlcounter.php on line 277

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/XXXXX/XXXXXX/miembros/dlcounter.php:242) in /home/XXXXX/XXXXX/miembros/dlcounter.php on line 278

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/XXXXX/XXXX/miembros/dlcounter.php:242) in /home/XXXXX/XXXXX/miembros/dlcounter.php on line 279
����JFIFdd��Ducky

4. Posted By: Jeff - - March 28, 2020, 7:28 pm
Hi MASSIMO,

Can you send a link to a test website you have set up? Also you might try changing all the lines with mysqli_affected_rows() to this:

if (mysqli_affected_rows($link)==0)

It should be on lines 189, 242, 255 and 397.

Jeff
www.seabreezecomputers.com/

5. Posted By: MASSIMO - - March 31, 2020, 10:10 am
Hi,

Now Working perfect.

Thanks!

Massimo

6. Posted By: Jeff - - March 31, 2020, 10:11 am
Hi Massimo,

You're welcome! Thank you for the update!

Jeff
www.seabreezecomputers.com/

7. Posted By: Evans Ifendu - - July 1, 2020, 4:08 am
I want to use on mp3 files. Where exactly should the mp3 files be?

8. Posted By: Jeff - - July 1, 2020, 10:31 am
Hi Evans Ifendu,

There is a line near the top of the script that looks like this:
$secret_folder="secretfolder123";

So you would create a folder on your server with any random secret name you want and then change the variable above to that folder name and then you would put the files to be downloaded in that secret folder.

Jeff
www.seabreezecomputers.com/

9. Posted By: wpduta - - May 28, 2021, 11:58 pm
Nice Code. It really helps to my website

10. Posted By: KazMar - - June 25, 2021, 12:53 am
Your script is wonderful. Thank's for the great job

11. Posted By: Memon - - June 19, 2022, 8:24 am
I want to implement this count number of times download has been hit I even downloaded the dlcounter.php file but I am not sure how to implement this can anyone help me with this as I am working on very important project. Please reply ASAP


12. Posted By: Jeff - - June 19, 2022, 7:15 pm
Hello Memon,

The instructions are on the website and in the dlcounter.php file. Can you specify what you need help with? Edit the dlcounter.php file and enter your Mysql database information and $secret_folder as shown in the file. Then upload dlcounter.php to your server. Then edit the download links on your html files as shown in the instructions.

Jeff
http://www.seabreezecomputers.com/

13. Posted By: Thomas - tomany@gmx.de - November 21, 2022, 4:29 am
Hi,

just downloaded and installed the script. If i call /dlcounter.php?file=Program.pdf it just see a with blank page, now download. In the history the visit/ download is counted.

The file is saved in the secret-folder of course.

In the code i see @include('realsettings.php'); - i dont have this file, after purchasing i just got dlcounter.php

Thanks for help
Thomas




14. Posted By: Jeff - - November 21, 2022, 12:18 pm
Hi Thomas,

You don't need realsettings.php unless you want to use it for your custom variables instead of editing dlcounter.php. It is a text file that looks similar to this:

<?php
$db_username="mysql_username";
$db_pw="mysql_pw";
$database="mysql_database";
$secret_folder="secretfolder123";
?>

Can you send me a link to your download page? That might help me understand your issue. Also, what is your file structure? Is it something like this?


public_html
|- 📂downloads
| |- index.php
| |- dlcounter.php
|- 📂secretfolder123
|- Program.pdf


If it is similar then you would set the secret folder like this:
$secret_folder="../secretfolder123";
The ../ is because secretfolder123 is up one directory from dlcounter.php.
And make sure that your file, Program.pdf really begins with a capital P or it won't find it because file names are case sensitive.

Jeff
http://www.se