Re: How to track # of file downloads (DB or File)
On Feb 17, 3:23 pm, Samuel DeVore wrote: > Of course if all you want is stats on the file downloads and your > server does that anyway, why not just filter/ collect stats from the > log files? > > Sam D Even if I don't initially start out recording other data, it's probably worth me creating a setup now which can be easily extended later. Adding extra fields would naturally be easier than having to add an extra table and all the related code at that later date. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CakePHP" group. To post to this group, send email to cake-php@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cake-php+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: How to track # of file downloads (DB or File)
Of course if all you want is stats on the file downloads and your server does that anyway, why not just filter/ collect stats from the log files? Sam D On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 2:04 AM, Mike Cook wrote: > > Okay, definitely some food for thought here. > > @Miles J :: As brian states, this would be for stats. It's okay > knowing you have 10 downloads, but knowing the time, day, week, and > month can help in understanding your visitors better. If I do get to > the point of implementing an API then I should also be able to record > which party is drawing which downloads. So on and so forth. > Recording milestones could work, but then I would loose all that > lovely data. To help in page load time I guess I could just gather the > file and author totals for the frontend on a daily/weekly basis - I > don't suppose my visitors would mind/notice :) > > @Alfredo Quiroga-Villamil :: I've only done some small DB projects > before so I'd have to look into this further, but if I want to start > recording other data then this might become a mute point. > > @brian > >> Tens of thousands of updates in a month shouldn't be a problem. I know >> it's all relative, but a table with several thousand records is quite >> tiny, btw. There are apps out there running Postgres or MySQL that >> have many hundreds of millions of records. And, which have tens of >> thousands of updates in a day, if not an hour. > > My DB experience is quite limited so this is good to know. > >> If you're using MySQL, you could consider the innodb engine. The >> myisam engine is very fast for reading but innodb is better suited to >> lots of updates. > > My DB was set up as InnoDB from the outset :-D > >> If you only ever have a single data point for a month you'd limit your >> ability to generate stats. All you'd have is that one total. Anyway, >> in order to do this, you'd still need to save a record for each >> download, rather than incrementing a field for a particular files row. > > I looks like this is the best approach for sure, particularly now > you've got me thinking about recording other data in there too. > > > Thanks > > > --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CakePHP" group. To post to this group, send email to cake-php@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cake-php+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: How to track # of file downloads (DB or File)
Okay, definitely some food for thought here. @Miles J :: As brian states, this would be for stats. It's okay knowing you have 10 downloads, but knowing the time, day, week, and month can help in understanding your visitors better. If I do get to the point of implementing an API then I should also be able to record which party is drawing which downloads. So on and so forth. Recording milestones could work, but then I would loose all that lovely data. To help in page load time I guess I could just gather the file and author totals for the frontend on a daily/weekly basis - I don't suppose my visitors would mind/notice :) @Alfredo Quiroga-Villamil :: I've only done some small DB projects before so I'd have to look into this further, but if I want to start recording other data then this might become a mute point. @brian > Tens of thousands of updates in a month shouldn't be a problem. I know > it's all relative, but a table with several thousand records is quite > tiny, btw. There are apps out there running Postgres or MySQL that > have many hundreds of millions of records. And, which have tens of > thousands of updates in a day, if not an hour. My DB experience is quite limited so this is good to know. > If you're using MySQL, you could consider the innodb engine. The > myisam engine is very fast for reading but innodb is better suited to > lots of updates. My DB was set up as InnoDB from the outset :-D > If you only ever have a single data point for a month you'd limit your > ability to generate stats. All you'd have is that one total. Anyway, > in order to do this, you'd still need to save a record for each > download, rather than incrementing a field for a particular files row. I looks like this is the best approach for sure, particularly now you've got me thinking about recording other data in there too. Thanks --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CakePHP" group. To post to this group, send email to cake-php@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cake-php+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: How to track # of file downloads (DB or File)
On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 7:18 PM, Miles J wrote: > > Well you could save each download with a date... Yeah, this is what I'm saying--that, if a date is required, then simply incrementing a single field in the files table will not work and there needs to be a downloads table. The bonus is that you can then save all sorts of other info, as well. > and have a monthly > cron that runs, calculates the total for that month and saves it to > another table for monthly statistics, then erase all the previous > single date records. But unless your doing by day, week, time etc, > that wouldn't work. If you only ever have a single data point for a month you'd limit your ability to generate stats. All you'd have is that one total. Anyway, in order to do this, you'd still need to save a record for each download, rather than incrementing a field for a particular files row. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CakePHP" group. To post to this group, send email to cake-php@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cake-php+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: How to track # of file downloads (DB or File)
Well you could save each download with a date... and have a monthly cron that runs, calculates the total for that month and saves it to another table for monthly statistics, then erase all the previous single date records. But unless your doing by day, week, time etc, that wouldn't work. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CakePHP" group. To post to this group, send email to cake-php@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cake-php+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: How to track # of file downloads (DB or File)
An approach to this could also be setting up a trigger in your database. This way you wouldn't need any code. You would let mysql for example do the work for you. Then you can use a neat little trick in mysql and call a "group by with rollup" and get the grouping plus the count. I hope that helps. Regards, Alfredo On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 5:49 PM, brian wrote: > > On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 5:44 PM, Miles J wrote: >> >> Well just think of it this way. What are you going to do with the >> dates for each recorded download? > > statistics > > > > --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CakePHP" group. To post to this group, send email to cake-php@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cake-php+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: How to track # of file downloads (DB or File)
On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 5:44 PM, Miles J wrote: > > Well just think of it this way. What are you going to do with the > dates for each recorded download? statistics --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CakePHP" group. To post to this group, send email to cake-php@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cake-php+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: How to track # of file downloads (DB or File)
Well just think of it this way. What are you going to do with the dates for each recorded download? --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CakePHP" group. To post to this group, send email to cake-php@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cake-php+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: How to track # of file downloads (DB or File)
On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 5:02 PM, Mike Cook wrote: > > There's never guarantees of having huge traffic but I do expect to get > a considerable amount, the number of files available will also grow to > several thousand within a year or so - there's certainly potential of > having tens of thousands of downloads per month. Tens of thousands of updates in a month shouldn't be a problem. I know it's all relative, but a table with several thousand records is quite tiny, btw. There are apps out there running Postgres or MySQL that have many hundreds of millions of records. And, which have tens of thousands of updates in a day, if not an hour. > This actually makes me wonder if I should be recording the date of > each - how would the DB handle reading/writing such a large table each > time someone views the details? Perhaps I should consider just > recording milestones with dates. If you're using MySQL, you could consider the innodb engine. The myisam engine is very fast for reading but innodb is better suited to lots of updates. However, if you just want to insert a record for each download that's made, myisam should be fine. I doubt you'd see any performance difference between inserting a new record into a doewnloads table (because you want to store each individual datetime) or updating/incrementing a field in the files table. >> > NOTE: there's a good chance I will provide an API in the future for >> > third-parties to access the file database. Would this affect the >> > design decisions now? >> >> Do you mean the model/controller, or the actual table? > > There are third-parties (iPhone/Web) who could take a feed of my files > and make them downloadable directly to their own app. Exactly how this > would be programmed I'm not sure yet, this is something I've never > done before and I am also new to Cake. I guess we shall see how I > tackle that one :) It would still need to go through your controller to get the file. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CakePHP" group. To post to this group, send email to cake-php@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cake-php+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: How to track # of file downloads (DB or File)
There's never guarantees of having huge traffic but I do expect to get a considerable amount, the number of files available will also grow to several thousand within a year or so - there's certainly potential of having tens of thousands of downloads per month. This actually makes me wonder if I should be recording the date of each - how would the DB handle reading/writing such a large table each time someone views the details? Perhaps I should consider just recording milestones with dates. > > NOTE: there's a good chance I will provide an API in the future for > > third-parties to access the file database. Would this affect the > > design decisions now? > > Do you mean the model/controller, or the actual table? There are third-parties (iPhone/Web) who could take a feed of my files and make them downloadable directly to their own app. Exactly how this would be programmed I'm not sure yet, this is something I've never done before and I am also new to Cake. I guess we shall see how I tackle that one :) --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CakePHP" group. To post to this group, send email to cake-php@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cake-php+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: How to track # of file downloads (DB or File)
On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 3:45 PM, Mike Cook wrote: > > I want to track the number of file downloads and I'm wondering if any > here have thoughts on how best to do this. > > At the moment I have a separate Files table for the details that > stores information such as; filename, filesize, version, > first_downloaded and downloads. > > Is incrementing the 'downloads' field here the best way to record it? In a really basic, low-traffic setup, this might be ok. > Should I use a completely separate table or perhaps even a flat file? You've already got a database so a file would be needlessly complicating things as well as slowing things down. > I'm considering recording the date/time of each download, would this > affect the decision? The key here is "each download". So, you'll want to record them all, individually, in their own table. > Now, not only do I want to record file downloads but I also want to > know how may total downloads a particular author has achieved. Should > I increment a field in the author table at the time of the file > download or, process the 'Files' table to calculate this number on the > fly? - I guess that would mean adding an author_id to the Files table. Create a downloads table to store the datetime and file_id. You can total all downloads for files associated with a particular author by getting the IDs for all files with a particular author_id, and the sum for each in the downloads table. > NOTE: there's a good chance I will provide an API in the future for > third-parties to access the file database. Would this affect the > design decisions now? Do you mean the model/controller, or the actual table? --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CakePHP" group. To post to this group, send email to cake-php@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cake-php+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
Re: How to track # of file downloads (DB or File)
I do the same thing with my downloads. http://www.milesj.me/resources/script/commentia On the "download" action. I find the file in the database, I increment its download count if it exists and then I use the Media view to force a download. Your on the right track. As for the author part, if the downloads have a user_id, you can just do a SUM() on all downloads that belong to a user. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CakePHP" group. To post to this group, send email to cake-php@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cake-php+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cake-php?hl=en -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
