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Users Online

By Chad (2003-07-03. 18755 views.)

Display number of people currently viewing your site.

First, i will assume that you have a MySQL database, and that you know how to use it.
The very first step you must take is to dump the following data into your database


<?php


CREATE TABLE joined ( 

ip char(15) NOT NULL, 

hl timestamp(14), 

PRIMARY KEY (ip) 

);

 
?>

The next step is to go to the PHP document where you wish to display the number of people on your site and add the following code ( it looks like a lot, but it's really not. I just like to comment and keep things spaced out to make things easy )
This code can be placed anywhere on the page (i suggest near the top)


<?php
 

<?php 

 // database information

$dbhost="host address";

$dbuser="user name";

$dbpass="password";

$dbname="database name";

 

// disconnected timeout

$timeout = 60;  // in seconds.. you can make it higher or lower.. i suggest keeping it at 1 minute

 

// this will tell apart the people on your site 

$ip=getenv("REMOTE_ADDR");

 

//connect to database

mysql_connect($dbhost,$dbuser,$dbpass); 

 

// remove old connections so that the number doesn't continue to rise like a counter

$strq = "DELETE FROM joined WHERE hl < now()"; 

$qry = mysql_db_query($dbname,$strq); 

$strq = "SELECT count(*) FROM joined WHERE IP='$ip'"; 

$qry = mysql_db_query($$dbname,$strq); 

 

while ( $r = @mysql_fetch_array($qry) ) { 

    $ppl = $r["count(*)"];

} 

 

if ($cpt) { 

// checks for reloads, etc..

    $strq = "UPDATE joined SET hl=hl + $timeout WHERE ip='$ip'";

} else { 

// confirmed user updated into database

    $strq = "INSERT INTO joined (ip, hl) VALUES ('$ip', now()+ $timeout)";

} 

$qry = mysql_db_query($dbname,$strq); 

 

// display the number of connected people 

$strq = "SELECT count(*) FROM joined"; 

$qry = mysql_db_query($dbname, $strq);

 

while ( $result = @mysql_fetch_array($qry) ) { 

    $ppl = $result["count(*)"];

} 

?>

 
?>

Now for the last, and easiest step. Simply add the following lines into your php document where you want the number of connected users to be displayed


<?php


<?php 

echo $ppl;

?>


?>

That's the end of the tutorial. This could also be modified into a makeshift hit counter with a few modifications.. As always, fool around with it. Happy coding.