HOW:number of downloads

[Roozbeh]

Hi

i have a link to file for download.and i want to put a counter wich shows how many people have downloaded this file...how?

my server also accepts fronpage extensions.

thx

[gbaker123]

To track the downloads you could just look at your log files and/or reports. If you are wanting to show visitors how many times then you will need a redirect and will then need to programatically send them the file. If you have some programming experience sticky me and I'll give you more details.

George

[JamesR]

You can use a click tracker to do this.

[jim_w]

For a log file to show the download of a .zip file or a .exe file, at least on UNIX, I was told that a configuration has to be set to do that, and I was not able to set that parameter with my hosting company.

The problem with a click tracker is that if someone, and they will, posts a direct link to the file, it will not register the download.

What I had to do was use a cgi script called ShotGun. It has a text database file with the real link to the download and will keep track of the number of times it was downloaded and the IP of the last downloader. I found out by experimenting, that this script will allow the downloads to show up in the access log.

This script is free and uses a General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. It as available from …

h**p://poeticpollution.net/scripts/ShotGun/

Using this script, I can rename the directory where the download is stored, change the directory name in the text database file, and if a direct link is posted somewhere, it will not work. It takes about 20 seconds for me to change the directory name that I do about one a week. I also posted a notice on the download page that the location of the download changes so posting a link to the download and not the download page will result in a dead link.

[Roozbeh]

well

thank you... iam using that shutgun too....
but what does leeching mean?

[jim_w]

Linking directly. Having a link from their page to your stuff like...

[mydomain.com...]

[mydomain.com...]

etc.