March 30, 2000 - A JavaScript Visitor Counter | WebReference

March 30, 2000 - A JavaScript Visitor Counter

Yehuda Shiran March 30, 2000
A JavaScript Visitor Counter
Tips: March 2000

Yehuda Shiran, Ph.D.
Doc JavaScript

To create your own personal visit counter, copy the cookie function script from Column 8 and paste it in the <HEAD>...</HEAD> portion of your HTML document. Once you do that, you can embed a script that employs the universal cookie functions in your document. Take a look at the following script:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
<!--
// create an instance of the Date object
var now = new Date();
// fix the bug in Navigator 2.0, Macintosh
fixDate(now);
// cookie expires in one year (actually, 365 days)
// 365 days in a year
// 24 hours in a day
// 60 minutes in an hour
// 60 seconds in a minute
// 1000 milliseconds in a second
now.setTime(now.getTime() + 365 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000);
var visits = getCookie("counter");
// if the cookie was not found, this is your first visit
if (!visits) {
  visits = 1; // the value for the new cookie
  document.write("By the way, this is your first time here.");
} else {
  // increment the counter
  visits = parseInt(visits) + 1;
  document.write("By the way, you have been here " + visits + " times.");
}
// set the new cookie
setCookie("counter", visits, now);
// -->
</SCRIPT>

Note that this script can be placed anywhere on the page. It prints the number of times the user has visited your site.

Learn more about Cookies and their usage in Column 8, Crispy JavaScript Cookies.