Hi,

I was told by statcounter that to use their code on a php redirect page I should create a page with statcounter code on it such as statcounter.html then add it to my page. However, I don't know where to add it and it may be several days before I get a reply from them. So I'm curious if my php code currently looks like this:

<?php
header( 'Location: http://www.example.com' ) ;
?>

would the "include" line then be added so it looks like this?:

<?php
header( 'Location: http://www.example.com' ) ;
include 'statcounter.com.html';
?>

Or would I add it elsewhere? I want to make sure the redirect still works, and the click is tracked as well.

Thanks,
Chris

The include() and require() functions basically copies the code/text from the given address and pastes it where the include was made (look at php.net). I dont know how this statcounter is suppose to be used but I can guarantee that you should not include anything after your redirect. Since the user will be redirected from the page any code after the redirect will not be run.

Originally Posted by lizciz

I can guarantee that you should not include anything after your redirect. Since the user will be redirected from the page any code after the redirect will not be run.

This isn't the case. The script isn't halted by calling header; it will finish executing even if you redirect the user.

What you shouldn't do after calling header is send any output to the user. If the file you're including is going to send output (and I'm guessing from the .html extension it is) then it won't have any affect.

Originally Posted by NullPointer

This isn't the case. The script isn't halted by calling header; it will finish executing even if you redirect the user.

What you shouldn't do after calling header is send any output to the user. If the file you're including is going to send output (and I'm guessing from the .html extension it is) then it won't have any affect.

Oh, I didn't know that, thanks!

Thanks for the input, folks.

I was finding that:

<?php
header( 'Location: http://www.example.com' ) ;
include 'statcounter.com.html';
?>

(end of paste)

wasn't working. The redirect still worked, but clicks were not measured. I changed the code (on a whim) to:

<?php
header( 'Location: http://www.example.com' ) ;
?>
include 'statcounter.com.html';

(end of paste)

and now it appears to be working. Please let me know if there's something wrong with this format but at this point it appears to be both tracking clicks and properly redirecting.

Originally Posted by celife

PHP Code:

<?php
header( 'Location: http://www.example.com' ) ;
?>
include 'statcounter.com.html';

(end of paste)

and now it appears to be working. Please let me know if there's something wrong with this format but at this point it appears to be both tracking clicks and properly redirecting.

If the call to include is outside of the PHP tags then it isn't being parsed; the literal string "include 'statcounter.com.html';" would be output to the browser if it weren't for the fact it is after the redirect.

I'm not sure how the click tracking is working, but based on the code you posted that file is not being included properly.

Thanks for your feedback. I'm not sure if this makes a difference but the only content on the .html page is invisible statcounter code. I don't know anything about .php coding, but so far the most recent format I listed does seem to do the trick. My only concern is that all of the affiliate code link in the redirect may not be passed along in this format.

Originally Posted by celife

I'm not sure if this makes a difference but the only content on the .html page is invisible statcounter code.

It doesn't make a difference, but based on the code you posted, that code isn't being sent to the browser. The include line is PHP code so it should be inside the PHP tags.

I should have pointed this out before, but you can't have any output prior to calling header(), and as I already pointed out, any output after a redirect has no affect. In other words you shouldn't have any output before or after calling header() in this case.

In order to have the code in the statcounter file be sent to the browser and have the page redirect you would need to use a javascript redirect.

Thanks Nullpointer

Just to echo the point above about scripts continuing to execute after a header call - I did comment on this on several posts but nobody seemed to care - and there will have been some very dodgy results and puzzled php newbies!

To make sure you get what you think you're getting, do an exit(); immediately after a header relocation.