Page Hit Counter – Simple Page View Tracking

[David Karich]

The Page Hit Counter module for ProcessWire implements a simple page view counter in backend. Page views of visitors are automatically tracked on defined templates, with monitoring of multiple page views. This gives you a quick overview of how many visitors have read a news or a blog post, for example, without first having to open complex tools such as Google Analytics. This module quickly provides simple information, e.g. for editors. Or, for example, to sort certain news by most page views. For example for "Trending Topics".

 

Works with ProCache and AdBlockers. With a lightweight tracking code of only ~320 bytes (gzipped). And no code changes necessary! In addition GDPR compliant, since no personal data or IP addresses are stored. Only session cookies are stored without information. 

In addition, there are some options, for example filtering IP addresses (for CronJobs) and filtering bots, spiders and crawlers. You can also configure the lifetime of the session cookies. Repeated page views are not counted during this period. It is also possible to exclude certain roles from tracking. For example, logged in editors who work on a page are not counted as page views.

Sort by hits and access page views (hit value)

Each trackable template has an additional field called phits. For example, you want to output all news sorted by the number of page views.

// It is assumed that the template, e.g. with the name "news", has been configured for tracking.
$news = $pages->find("template=news, sort=-phits");

To output the page views of a tracked page, use:

echo $page->phits;

Example: Reset counter per API

$modules->get("PageHitCounter")->resetPageViews("template=whatever", false);

Example: Tracking a page hit via API and jQuery

If you want to track a template that does not represent a full page to automatically inject a tracking script, you can define allowed API templates in the module that you can track. Below is an example of how you can track a click on news tag using jQuery. This will allow you to find out which keywords are clicked the most. For example, you can sort and display a tag cloud by the number of hits. Suppose your keywords have the template "news_tag". The template "news_tag" was also configured in the Page Hit Counter Module as a trackable API template.

Example PHP output of keywords / tags:

// Required: the data attribute "data-pid" with the ID of the template to be tracked.
echo $pages->find("template=news_tag, sort=-phits")->each("<a href='{url}' class='news_tag' data-pid='{id}'>{title}</a>");

Example Tracking Script with jQuery:

/**
 * Required: Data attribute "data-pid" with the ID of the news tag template
 * Required: Send the POST request to the URL "location.pathname.replace(/\/?$/, '/') + 'phcv1'"
 * Required: The POST parameter "pid" with the ID of the template
 */
$(function(){
    if($('a.news_tag').length > 0) {
        $('a.news_tag').each(function(){
            var tPID = $(this).data("pid");
            if(tPID) {
                $(this).on("click", function(){
                    $.post(location.pathname.replace(/\/?$/, '/') + 'phcv1', {pid: tPID});
                });
            }
        });
    }
});

So simply every click on a tag is counted. Including all checks as for automatic tracking. Like Bot Filtering, Session Lifetime, etc.

Notice: Tracking with URL segments

If the option "Allow URL Segments" is activated on a template, the hits are only counted if the base URL of the page is called. If you want the hit to be counted even when a segment is requested, you MUST configure the segments in the template configuration. How to do this can be found here. If you use dynamic segments, configure them as RegEx. There is currently no other option. The problem is that the Page Hit Counter hooked into the PageNotFound process. If URL segments are allowed but not defined, a 404 is never triggered. This means that the Page Hit Counter cannot be called.

New since 2.0.0: Ignore URL segments

If a template has URL segments configured, each hit on a different segment is counted as a new hit. Enable "Ignore URL segments" so that dynamic segments are not counted individually on the base template / page.

New since 2.0.0: Use cookieless tracking (Experimental)

Enable this option to not use individual cookies for tracking or if you have many different pages you want to track. The limit for cookies is 50 per domain for all cookies on the page. If the option is enabled, PHP session storage is used. Downside: you can't set the lifetime higher than configured in your PHP.ini and the session will be terminated as soon as the browser is closed.

Upgrade note for 2.0.0 from previous versions!

Version 2.0.0 requires an update in the database schema, so that additionally the date of the last access / hit on the page can be displayed ($page->lastPageHit). To make this possible, you have to do the update via the upgrade module, upload the ZIP itself and do an update directly via the backend AND DO A MODULE REFRESH DIRECTLY AFTER UPLOAD/UPDATE. If you do not do this, you will get an error that a column is missing in the database table.

_______________________________________________________

Background: This module is the result of a customer requirement, where the editors are overwhelmed with analytics or no tracking tools were allowed to be used. However, a way had to be found to at least count page views in a simple form for evaluations. Furthermore, by using ProCache, a way had to be found to count views of a page without clearing the cache.

_______________________________________________________

Pros

• Automatic Page View Tracking
• Lightweight tracking code, only ~320 bytes (gzipped)
• No code or frontend changes necessary
• Works with ProCache! Even if no PHP is executed on the cached page, the tracking works
• Works with browser AdBlockers
• No cache triggers (for example, ProCache) are triggered. The cache remains persistent
• GDPR compliant, session-based cookie only, no personal information
• Filtering of IPs and bots possible
• Exclude certain roles from tracking
• Ability to reset Page Views
• Works with all admin themes
• Counter database is created as write-optimized InnoDB
• API to track events for templates that are not viewable
• No dependencies on libraries, pure VanillaJS (Automatic tracking script)
• Works in all modern browsers
• Pages are sortable by hits

Cons

• Only for ProcessWire version 3.0.80 or higher (Requires wireCount())
• Only for PHP version 5.6.x or higher
• No support for Internet Explorer <= version 9 (Because of XMLHttpRequest())
• No historical data, just simple summation (Because of GDPR)
• Segment URLs can only be counted if the segments are defined

Planned Features / ToDos

• API access to hit values Since version 1.2.1
• Possibility to sort the pages by hits (Request by @Zeka) Since version 1.2.0
• Don't track logged in users with certain roles (Request by @wbmnfktr) Since version 1.1.0
• Possibility to reset the counter for certain pages or templates (Request by @wbmnfktr) Since version 1.1.0
• Better bot filter Since version 1.1.0
• Disable session lifetime, don't store cookies to track every page view (Request by @matjazp) Since version 1.2.1
• Option to hide the counter in the page tree (Request by @matjazp) Since version 1.2.1
• Option to hide the counter in the page tree on certain templates Since version 1.2.1
• API to track events for templates that are not viewable Since version 1.2.2
• Cookieless tracking Since version 2.0.0
• Show last hit Since version 2.0.0
• Ignore URL segments (Request by @bernhard) Since version 2.0.0
• Add hookable method after pageview was tracked (Request by @bernhard) Since version 2.0.0

Changelog

 

2.0.0

• Feature request: Add hookable method after pageview was tracked (___pageViewTracked($pageID)) (Requested by @bernhard)
• Feature request: Ignore URL segments option (Requested by @bernhard)
• New: Cookieless tracking
• New: Show date of last hit
• Update: Botlist
• Enhancement: Documentation improvement

1.2.7

• Feature request: make buildPageListHitCounter-Function public (Requested by @bernhard)

1.2.6

• Bug-Fix: Set the counter of a cloned page to 0
• Enhancement: The function for resetting counters is now available in the module as a public function to reset counters via own scripts on the API side (Request by @VeiJari)
• Enhancement: Documentation improvement API reset

1.2.5

• Bug-Fix: When counting 404 hits, cookies are no longer set. The session lifetime is deactivated for the 404 page
• Enhancement: Documentation improvement regarding URL segments

1.2.4

• Bug-Fix: Resetting the counters on system pages (e.g. 404) does not work (Reported by wbmnfktr)
• Bug-Fix: Tracking endpoint is logged as 404 if module "Jumplinks" is installed (Reported by wbmnfktr)
• Enhancement: Corrected few typos (Merged from Sergio #6 – THX!)

1.2.3

• Bug-Fix: Tracking script triggers 404 if pages are configured without slash (#3) Reported by @maxf5
• Enhancement: Reduction of the tracking script size if it's gzipped (~320 bytes)
• Enhancement: Documentation improvement
• Enhancement: Corrected few typos

1.2.2

• New feature: API to track events for templates that are not viewable
• Enhancement: Documentation improvement

1.2.1

• API access to hit values Use $page->phits
• Bug-Fix: No tracking on welcomepage (Reported by wbmnfktr; Thx to matjazp)
• Bug-Fix: Tracking script path on subfolders (Reported by matjazp)
• Bug-Fix: Tracking on pages with status "hidden"
• Enhancement: Change database engine to InnoDB for phits field
• Enhancement: Option to disable session lifetime set session lifetime to 0, no cookies
• Enhancement: Better installation check
• Enhancement: AJAX Request asyncron
• Enhancement: Reduction of the tracking script size by ~20%
• Enhancement: Option to hide the counter in the page tree You can output the counter with the field name "phits"
• Enhancement: Option to hide the counter in the page tree on certain templates
• Enhancement: Option for activate general IP validation
• Enhancement: Reduction of tracking overhead up to ~30ms
• Enhancement: Better bot list for detection

1.2.0

• New feature: Sort pages by hits – New field phits
• Migrate old counter data to new field

1.1.0

• New feature: Exclude tracking of certain roles
• New feature: Reset Page Views
• Better bot filter and detection

1.0.0

• Initial release

Notes
By default, the page views are stored as INT in the database. This allows a maximum counter value of 4.2 billion views (4,294,967,295) per page. If you need more, change the type to BIGINT directly in the database. But I recommend to use Google Analytics or similar tools if you have such a large number of users.

_______________________________________________________

Download GitHub: ProcessWire Page Hit Counter (Version 2.0.0)
PW Module Directory: ProcessWire Page Hit Counter (Version 2.0.0)
Install via ProcessWire (Classname): PageHitCounter

_______________________________________________________

Update information
If you have used version 1.2.1 from the DEV branch, please replace it completely with the new master version.

Old stable version

Download GitHub: ProcessWire Page Hit Counter (Version 1.2.7)

Edited February 12, 2021 by David Karich
New Version 2.0.0

[Zeka]

@David Karich Great module. Just curious is it possible to sort pages by page views?

[David Karich]

2 minutes ago, Zeka said:

@David Karich Great module. Just curious is it possible to sort pages by page views?

Thank you. Not yet, because the data is stored in an extra table.  But I will write the possibility for a future version on the ToDo-List. 🙂 

[Sergio]

31 minutes ago, David Karich said:

Thank you. Not yet, because the data is stored in an extra table.  But I will write the possibility for a future version on the ToDo-List. 🙂 

This module looks very cool, thank you!

I've built a similar solution (although simpler in the config side) where I run a cronjob daily to update the count on a field on each page. It works like a charm, but of course, there are other ways. 

[David Karich]

8 minutes ago, Sergio said:

This module looks very cool, thank you!

I've built a similar solution (although simpler in the config side) where I run a cronjob daily to update the count on a field on each page. It works like a charm, but of course, there are other ways. 

I was just considering this approach, but it did not meet the requirements in my case. It should be live data, due to quick reactions at hot topics of the editors. And since some templates of the page in the ProCache have lifetimes of more than a week or more, an update of pages with a daily CronJob would also delete the cache unnecessarily. But as you already say, many approaches for very special requirements. 🙂

[wbmnfktr]

Wow... that's indeed really nice.

Two things came up while playing around with it.

1. Is it planned to exclude logged-in users from tracking?
   I know that several of my clients publish new content and therefore check the new site over and over again.
   Right now they would create page counts that are kind of fake.
2. Is it planned to reset all or some counters?
   Right now I created ~50 page counts and would like to reset those to zero again.

 

[David Karich]

23 hours ago, wbmnfktr said:

Wow... that's indeed really nice.

Two things came up while playing around with it.

1. Is it planned to exclude logged-in users from tracking?
   I know that several of my clients publish new content and therefore check the new site over and over again.
   Right now they would create page counts that are kind of fake.
2. Is it planned to reset all or some counters?
   Right now I created ~50 page counts and would like to reset those to zero again.

 

Good suggestions. 👌 Both functionalities are implemented in the current Dev branch. You can test them here: https://github.com/FlipZoomMedia/PageHitCounter/tree/dev

[wbmnfktr]

Nice! Will give it a try. Hopefully already today.

[wbmnfktr]

Quick update: 

1. excluding specific roles works as expected 🙂 
2. resetting page counts works as expected, too 🙂 

 

But... it won't count visits on the homepage.

Tried the prior version as well with the same result.

Dev console shows Page Hit Counter: View was counted

[David Karich]

1 hour ago, wbmnfktr said:

Quick update: 

1. excluding specific roles works as expected 🙂 
2. resetting page counts works as expected, too 🙂 

 

But... it won't count visits on the homepage.

Tried the prior version as well with the same result.

Dev console shows Page Hit Counter: View was counted

Do I understand this correctly: A counter is displayed and tracked for your homepage template even though you have not configured the template? Or do you use a template for your homepage which is also used for other pages?

Also a quick update: Version 1.2.0 with Sortable selector

Version 1.2.0 is now available on the Dev-Branch, which makes it possible to sort the pages by hits. Please check the upgrade for test environments first, because the DB structure will be changed. Previously tracked data will be taken over, a new fieldtype will be installed. Simply replace all files and trigger a module refresh in the PW.

Infos and download: https://github.com/FlipZoomMedia/PageHitCounter/tree/dev

[wbmnfktr]

1 minute ago, David Karich said:

Do I understand this correctly: A counter is displayed and tracked for your homepage template even though you have not configured the template? Or do you use a template for your homepage which is also used for other pages?

No... not quite, yet.

In the module settings I enabled the homepage template (home).

First try: The homepage page got a counter badge but counts didn't appear. It stayed and stays at zero.

Second try: Tried another template on the homepage but the counter stays at zero. Other pages with that template work as expected.

[David Karich]

17 minutes ago, wbmnfktr said:

No... not quite, yet.

In the module settings I enabled the homepage template (home).

First try: The homepage page got a counter badge but counts didn't appear. It stayed and stays at zero.

Second try: Tried another template on the homepage but the counter stays at zero. Other pages with that template work as expected.

All right. I'll take a look and check. 👍

[matjazp]

Hi, Thanks for this module. Nice and organized code!

is there an option to disable session lifetime, like set it to 0? The minimal value is 1 due to how you check for 0.

I see you are sending ajax requests to location.pathname.substring(1) + "/phcv1" but at least on my localhost location.pathname is /somepage/ so ajax is sent to http://localhost/mypage/mypage//phcv1 Shouldn't you use just location.pathname + "phcv1" ? 

Counter on the home page isn't working as you are passing an int to ctype_digit() function which expects a string. What I find odd is that ctype_digit(1) returns false while ctype_digit(1054) returns true. I'm not sure if ctype_digit is actually needed.

The downside of this script is that sending ajax request put some load to the server itself and at least one findOne(). I'm not sure I like counters on the page list, would prefer table layout somewhere else.

[wbmnfktr]

Looked into it again... 

Good news!

With version 1.2.1 (from dev tree) hits on the homepage will be counted as well.

 

[matjazp]

1.2.1 is working fine, thanks @David Karich . I'm testing reset page views and putting template=basic-page in the selector, it returns a wrong number of pages. Or perhaps you are showing the number of pages that have counter different (larger) than 0?

[David Karich]

On 1/16/2019 at 8:18 PM, wbmnfktr said:

No... not quite, yet.

In the module settings I enabled the homepage template (home).

First try: The homepage page got a counter badge but counts didn't appear. It stayed and stays at zero.

Second try: Tried another template on the homepage but the counter stays at zero. Other pages with that template work as expected.

This problem has now been fixed in version 1.2.1 (master). Thanks for the report.

On 1/16/2019 at 8:59 PM, matjazp said:

Hi, Thanks for this module. Nice and organized code!

is there an option to disable session lifetime, like set it to 0? The minimal value is 1 due to how you check for 0.

I see you are sending ajax requests to location.pathname.substring(1) + "/phcv1" but at least on my localhost location.pathname is /somepage/ so ajax is sent to http://localhost/mypage/mypage//phcv1 Shouldn't you use just location.pathname + "phcv1" ? 

Counter on the home page isn't working as you are passing an int to ctype_digit() function which expects a string. What I find odd is that ctype_digit(1) returns false while ctype_digit(1054) returns true. I'm not sure if ctype_digit is actually needed.

The downside of this script is that sending ajax request put some load to the server itself and at least one findOne(). I'm not sure I like counters on the page list, would prefer table layout somewhere else.

19 hours ago, matjazp said:

1.2.1 is working fine, thanks @David Karich . I'm testing reset page views and putting template=basic-page in the selector, it returns a wrong number of pages. Or perhaps you are showing the number of pages that have counter different (larger) than 0?

All in version 1.2.1 (Master)

• You can now set the session lifetime to 0, which will disable cookies and count each page view
• Thanks for the bug report, the problem with location.pathname is fixed
• The problem was in fact the ctype test. Good found, thanks and fixed
• I have optimized the request a bit, the overhead is reduced
• I've added an option that lets you hide the counters. By accessing the field "phits" you can make your own output according to your ideas
• This is correct, only counters are reset which already have a value greater than 0. I have formulated this differently in the descriptions and in the output to make it clearer and more understandable

Thanks to @matjazp and @wbmnfktr for testing and reporting. 👌

 

[David Karich]

On 1/14/2019 at 4:44 PM, Zeka said:

@David Karich Great module. Just curious is it possible to sort pages by page views?

In version 1.2.1 (Master) it is now possible. Every trackable template has a field called "phits". You can use this field in selectors. Either to sort:

template=news, sort=-phits

or as a value selector, for example:

template=news, phits>=100

For an output in the frontend, simply access the field with:

$page->phits

This makes it very easy to output "trending topics", for example. Select news with a date field in a certain period and sort by "phits".

[David Karich]

Info: All new features and download link will be updated in the first post.

[David Karich]

Version 1.2.2 as new master version available

In version 1.2.2 a new option was introduced which allows to send page hits to templates which are not directly viewable or cannot be tracked automatically. This allows you to implement tracking that best fits your environment. An example with jQuery can be found in the first post.

[David Karich]

Now also available in the ProcessWire Module directory for direct installation via ProcessWire: https://modules.processwire.com/modules/page-hit-counter/ 🙂

[maxf5]

Hi Sir, thanks for the module - great addition!

I always get the 404 errors from the script and those pages dont hit into the counter.
Whats the deal with this "phcv1"?

[David Karich]

29 minutes ago, maxf5 said:

Hi Sir, thanks for the module - great addition!

I always get the 404 errors from the script and those pages dont hit into the counter.
Whats the deal with this "phcv1"?

Thanks for the report. This is because your pages or templates don't end with a slash. I will add it as a bug. 👍 

The "/phcv1" is the request endpoint over which the AJAX requests pass to trigger a counter. In your case the URL should actually be "/produkte/phcv1".

[David Karich]

21 hours ago, maxf5 said:

Hi Sir, thanks for the module - great addition!

I always get the 404 errors from the script and those pages dont hit into the counter.
Whats the deal with this "phcv1"?

The problem is fixed in the current version 1.2.3. Thanks for the report.

[David Karich]

Version 1.2.3 as new master version available

All information about the changelog and bug fixings in the first post.

[loukote]

@David Karich , very useful, thanks! I mainly appreciate that there is no need to modify the template. Above you mention the ProCache module. Do I understand correctly that the counting will work correctly even with the standard PW template cache mechanism?

One helpful feature would be the ability to display the page hits in the page tree only for given roles, that is using permissions. The reason behind is not secrecy but cleanliness, no clutter.

Regards!

~loukote