Users Online

xDeadxBeatx

I solved my cookie problem, now i just need to keep track of the users logged in. I want to do it like the forum way "user1, user2, user3". I have no idea how to do this. Someone please help me out. I use sessions instead of cookies now and i have a logout page to but i have no idea how to track the users and display them.

laserlight

I'm not sure what's the most efficient way to do this, but some implementations I've seen use a database table.
The time the user last accessed the page is recorded.
If the time difference between the current and recorded time is small enough, the user is displayed as online.

xDeadxBeatx

Yes but is there a way to remove them from the database when they exit the page or the session is terminated?

laserlight

If you have some sort of logout function, then yes.

Still, you never know when they exit the page otherwise, or the session expires, so you will not know immediately.

xDeadxBeatx

I know in javascript they have an onunload function and i know how to use it but is there anyway to call php functions using javascript?

laserlight

sort off, if you reload the page or something using JS.

basically, the server must be informed of what is happening clientside.
and of course JS may not be turned on.

xDeadxBeatx

What about like a text file. You know storing the peoples username in a text file and after so many mins their name is removed when the page is reloaded? Could anyone help me out with a basic way to open/write to a file and how to make it remove the name from the file after a couple of mins

laserlight

that is the same idea as using a database

xDeadxBeatx

Ok well i think i have an idea. I'll use the onunload to load a page that removes them from the database by ip address when they exit. Thanks

xDeadxBeatx

Well my idea didnt work. I can do it by logging in then logging out but when you exit the window it still says that your logged on even though your not. Anyone know a way to have your ip removed from the database when you exit the window?

PastorDoug

You might consider a variation of what I do at my own site. I don't use either cookies or sessions, but keep track of everything using database tables. By using timestamps I can timeout a "session" by checking how long it has been since there was a change in the user's history record.

Go to my site and try anything you can think of and you'll find that you can only do what I allow. The access control mechanism is not too complicated and I'm using LINUX. If you want more info let me know and maybe I can help.

xDeadxBeatx

Well unfortunatley your site didnt help me. And also i have no idea how to go about timestamping.

xDeadxBeatx

Can anyone give me an instance of how to timestamp?

PastorDoug

Are you using mysql databases? If so, timestamp is a datatype that can be specified for a column (field). You can have any number of fields with the timestamp datatype, and mysql will normally update the value of the first field everytime the record is modified. What I do is this:

history table .....
.
last_mod timestamp(14);
.
.
started_at timestamp(14);

When a new session is started a new record is created and the ip address of the remote host is stored in the record. At the same time the last_mod field is copied into started_at. From then on, using datetime functions, the lapsed time between the current time and either last_mod or started_at, depending upon what I want to know, can be calculated.

If this makes no sense, let me know what does make a little sense and we'll take it from there.

As you look at what you are trying to do, you need to keep in mind that you only have control over YOUR system, not a remote user's.

phprock

This is what i use for who is online, you might need to modify it or improve it (ie.put all the user id into array, the printout)
Here is the function

function whoisonline()
{
 session_start();
 $id=session_id();
 global $link,$prefix;
 $time=time();
 $timeout=$time-300;
 $ip=$_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"];
 @mysql_query("DELETE FROM ".$prefix."_online where online_time <$timeout",$link);
 if(isset($_SESSION["uid"])){
 $user=$_SESSION["uid"];
 }else{
 $user=0;
 }
  $check=@mysql_query("Select online_user,online_time FROM ".$prefix."_online where online_session='$id'",$link) or die("Error".mysql_error());
  $found=@mysql_num_rows($check);

  if($found==1){
  mysql_query("update ".$prefix."_online  set online_user='$user',online_time='$time' WHERE online_session='$id'",$link) or die("Error".mysql_error());
  }else{
   mysql_query("DELETE FROM ".$prefix."_online where online_session='$id' AND online_ip='$ip'",$link);
   mysql_query("INSERT into ".$prefix."_online (online_user,online_session,online_time,online_ip) values('$user','$id','$time','$ip')",$link) or die("Error".mysql_error());
  }

// Find number of guest online
$guestsql=@mysql_query("select count(online_user) as guest FROM ".$prefix."_online where online_user='0'",$link);
list($guest)=@mysql_fetch_row($guestsql);

// Find number of user online
$usersql=@mysql_query("select count(online_user) as user FROM ".$prefix."_online where online_user !='0'",$link);
list($user)=@mysql_fetch_row($usersql);
//*/
$who=array($guest,$user);
return $who;

}

And here is how i use it

$online=whoisonline();
echo" There are $online[guest] and $online[$user]";

[

parawizard

you could do it so if the user isnt browsing anything on the site

$location in the session = NULL

but if hes browsing something it adds to the database if session turns to nULL delete the location out of the database