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If I want to measure the usage of "C" (Website or a SPECIFIC BLOG on a website), will "A" (Proprietary program) only be able to track "C"'s data and visitor count or can it track "B" (3rd party program) which is accessing "C" , as well? If not, will tracking "C" be enough for this scenario, as in, does "B" leave a record or a "hit" of visiting "C" even though "B" isn't technically using an HTTP browser link to access "C"?

And IF this is all possible, then can this also be updated in Real-Time? (ie. I look at a program telling me the number of visitors on a specific blog on a website, and it could possibly tell me with a counter, how many people, as of 9:47AM, have viewed this blog post and/or how many people are still currently viewing 'this' blog post.

What I have tried:

I have tried nothing to solve this problem. This is a new idea I am currently discovering and would like the opinion of an expert coder/programmer for feedback on the possibility of my query.
Posted
Updated 24-Jan-18 8:56am
v3
Comments
David_Wimbley 24-Jan-18 15:44pm    
Are you trying to monitor traffic externally from the website itself. Meaning i want to build a console application that monitors traffic on codeproject.com?

Also, your portion about count/track "B" isn't clear. What kind of 3rd party program are you talking about tracking? Ex: Are you trying to track firefox and its usage?

Some of what you are asking, i would think, would have to access the server logs itself.

For example "does "B" leave a record or a "hit" of visiting "C" even though "B" isn't technically using an HTTP browser link to access "C"?" that portion, off the top of my head would require access to the server logs itself to see any and all HTTP requests made if they were done say via say...an API request.

If this is all on your personal server, some of what you are asking is do-able. If this is not on your server nad you are trying to monitor someone elses box without permission, I would say probably not but I'm not exactly clear with what you are wanting to accomplish.
Member 13641608 24-Jan-18 18:01pm    
Thanks David for your reply. To answer your first question, yes I would be interested in building a program to monitor traffic on websites owned by others, assuming that is legal. The website would not be owned or operated by me, but I have seen programs that do claim to track other website's traffic like Similarweb.com or Semrush.com.

Basically I am looking at a website that displays news articles. I would like to create an external program that would run on my computer that, as soon as I type in the URL address/link to the article, populates it with information of how many people have visited this article (within the past 30 minutes, hour, day) and how many are still currently viewing it, if possible.

The portion about "A" tracking "B" which is accessing "C" would be programs like Equityfeed, which are stock screening programs that post information about stocks as well as links to news articles. Another similar program that I use disseminates these news articles in two ways; one is a pop up in the internet browser like a hyperlink, the other is a pop-up that is separate from a browser URL in that it doesnt open a new tab on your browser if you one is already present but creates a new window without an address bar -- although perhaps this is also similar to the first. I can only explain it at best as their own program window and the news article itself is displayed in it which is why I was wondering if other users used this program if a program used to track website traffic could track traffic generated from third party programs, as well.

My main intent is to find out how many other people are viewing the same news article as I am.
David_Wimbley 24-Jan-18 18:49pm    
Yea, I think to do what you are describing I think gets into a grey area. You essentially have to get users to visit Site A to obtain say...a tracking cookie or browser local storage to try and do what you are asking. Some big websites have had news break that they track you even when your not logged into their site.

I think the only proper way to do this is to get permission from the sites directly which they would have to effectively give you access to something of the equivalent of google analytics. As for the third party calls, I don't know enough about how the third party apps access the sites but if they are using an API then don't think you have much opportunity in the way of tracking that either.

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