Thread

I have read the User Guide for views tracking and had it working. Now for some reason it no longer works. I don’t think I did anything to to break it but I am asking for help to figure it out.

Here is the code I am using:

{exp:channel:entries channel="training" limit="1" dynamic="yes" status="NOT closed" track_views="one"}

My understanding is that since I am limiting the output to just a single entry, the views tracking would work.

Please help me understand the problem.

Hi Ken,

Please confirm the version and build of EE that you are using. Are you outputting the {view_count_one} tag on that template and it is not updating? These variables will only update on a single entry page and not just any template that is displaying only one entry. Single entry pages are ones that show only a single entry, specified by the ID number or URL Title in the URL. Is that the case on this site?

Cheers

Greg

Hi Greg,

Please confirm the version and build of EE that you are using.

ExpressionEngine v2.1.1 - Build:  20101020

Are you outputting the {view_count_one} tag on that template and it is not updating?

Correct, and it is also not updating the database.

These variables will only update on a single entry page and not just any template that is displaying only one entry. Single entry pages are ones that show only a single entry, specified by the ID number or URL Title in the URL. Is that the case on this site?

Yes, this is the case. I am using the URL title in the URL.

Also, while we are on the subject, I don’t understand why this is a restriction. In my opinion a view is a view and if told to track the view in the entries tag it should count it. But that isn’t the purpose of the thread so I digress.

Thanks, as always, for the help.

UPDATE:

If I install the Pages Module and input the path and template into the entry, the view counting will work. This is far from an ideal fix however.

Hi, Ken-at-Trinity - I can’t replicate the problem you’re having with view counting not working on a single entry page. Are you displaying the entry with http://example.com/index.php/templategroup/template/name-of-entry or something similar?

Are you displaying the entry with http://example.com/index.php/templategroup/template/name-of-entry or something similar?

I am displaying the entry with http://www.example.com/index.php/templategroup/category/categoryname/name-of-entry

Ken-at-Trinity,

that might be where your issue lies, as in you are not using a typical single entry URL.

It should be in the format like Sues. You may have to rethink your structure here.

I am using a typical single entry page that uses categories and the “category” keyword to call a category via it’s name vice it’s id. This is using built in functionality. I’m confused.

Are you saying that if you use categories that you can’t use view tracking? I guess I need to go through the actual code to see how you guys perform view tracking. The limitations of this method of view tracking absolutely boggles my mind. Especially since this platform is so extensible. I love using EE2 but this feature is something that every CMS should have available and should be easily accessible.

I am really not trying to rant - I am merely flabergasted about finding such a huge limitation. I preach EE2 and it’s abilities and I suppose that if there are no planned changes to this function then the best I can do is take the time to build some sort of plugin to do it. Unfortunately that means that I have to delay some functionality for my client which is never good for business.

Are you saying that if you use categories that you can’t use view tracking?

In a way, yes. View tracking counts how often a particular entry is viewed: how do you do that if you’re showing more than one entry at a time? Increase the counter for all articles?

The built-in view tracking will only work with single-entry type pages. If you’re showing a whole category, or an index of the last 10 articles or whatever, that won’t affect tracking.

Yes ... if I put the tag in to count the views in a template then it should count the views. If I don’t want to count the views the I will leave out the tag.

Unfortunately that’s not how it currently works. Perhaps you might want to make a Feature Request?

Disappointed, but I understand. Please close this thread.

Hey guys,

It seems that all I needed to do to get the functionality that I needed was to use the information found here:

http://ellislab.com/expressionengine/user-guide/general/hidden_configuration_variables.html#relaxed_track_views

I set relaxed_track_views to yes and magically it all works.

Thanks for all the dialog and help. See you on the next question.

Very glad to see you found a solution 😊