Sending the correct referrer info

willl

Hi,

We are sending out an e-shot to some old clients.

In this email shot will be some links to our agent's website. Our agent's website uses the $_SERVER["HTTP_REFERER"] function to log any new business sourced from us.

Now because the link will be coming from an e-mail, it will need to be redirected from our webserver so the correct referrer is logged.

I was initially using the

header("Location: $link");

to redirect which wasn't being logged, I presume because no headers were sent to the browser before forwarding the visitor to the correct page.

I then tried using javascript

location.href = "<?php echo $link; ?>";

so that headers would be sent but this still didn't work.

I was wandering whether you guys might have any suggestions. Would a meta re-direct send the correct referrer info?

Thanks

Will.

bogu

Set-up a session before redirect and read that session ...

MarkR

Many browsers don't include a page in the referrer if it's displayed only briefly (especially if it's a redirect, which isn't displayed at all). This is a feature, not a bug.

If you want the referrer to show you, provide them with your own page with a link to click on. This is a reliable way to do it.

However, I would be dubious about any agent which uses referrer soley as a method of paying you commission, because many browsers don't send a referrer header at all. You're going to miss out on commission.

Mark

willl

Thanks Mark, there is clearly a more important issue here.

Thanks for your comment.

Would you know of any browsers which do not send this information by default?

Thanks

Will.

MarkR

In Opera, referrer sending can be turned off easily in the GUI.

In Mozilla, there is a hidden option to disable it.

In any browser, an "Application firewall" or "Antivirus" application (especially under win32) may intercept the request and remove "Referer". These applications do so unilaterally and typically without the user's knowledge or consent, in the name of "security". Many users have these applications installed.

Some proxy servers, transparent proxies or other corporate gateways might also remove referrer headers.

Although most browsers do send them, it's common for a server not to receive them.

Mark