Extension:HitCounters

**MediaWiki extensions manual**
HitCounters; Release status: stable
Implementation	Database, Data extraction, MyWiki
Description	Provides a page views functionality
Author(s)	Mark A. Hershberger (MarkAHershbergertalk)
Latest version	0.4
MediaWiki	>= 1.43.0
PHP	7.3.19+
Database changes	Yes
Composer	mediawiki/hit-counters
Tables	hit_counter; hit_counter_extension
License	GNU General Public License 3.0 or later
Download	Download extension ; Git [?]: Browse repository (Phabricator · GitHub); Gerrit code review; Git commit log; Download source tarball;
	Parameters $wgDisableCounters; $wgHitcounterUpdateFreq; $wgEnableAddPageId; $wgEnableAddTextLength;
	Added rights hitcounter-exempt
	Hooks used AbuseFilter-builder; AbuseFilter-computeVariable; AbuseFilter-deprecatedVariables; AbuseFilter-generateTitleVars; LoadExtensionSchemaUpdates; MagicWordwgVariableIDs; PageViewUpdates; ParserFirstCallInit; ParserGetVariableValueSwitch; SkinAddFooterLinks; SpecialStatsAddExtra;
	Translate the HitCounters extension if it is available at translatewiki.net
Vagrant role	hitcounters
Issues	Open tasks · Report a bug

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The HitCounters extension displays the view count in the page footer and the most viewed pages on a special page called PopularPages. The extension provides page views statistics that were removed in MediaWiki 1.25 .

About

Benefits

This extension provides feedback in the form of audience measurement to editors. Knowing the rough size of one's audience as an editor allows editors to identify and improve popular articles. HitCounters' special page PopularPages also allows editors to focus on improving those articles with the highest traffic and helps readers discover a project's most curated content.

HitCounters extension enables determining the wikiFactor, a rough measure of a wiki website's popularity.

HitCounters extension is minimally intrusive concerning data security and privacy concerns. The extension handles metrics on the server side, so aggregated data stays within the site's security boundary. The extension does not inject JavaScript to be executed by the client and does not ask a client to download additional un-audited code. The extension does not track users who visit a page. As such, there's no need for special handling of "Do Not Track" browser requests or Global Privacy Control settings. It also does not use third-party services and has no dependencies that can cause conflicts. Other extensions can cause problems during a Composer update.

Differences from former core MediaWiki implementation

Before MediaWiki 1.25, the page views counting functionality was in core MediaWiki. This extension is based on that same code but was deliberately made lighter to speed up processing time. Many lines of superfluous code were removed. Also, the old MediaWiki core code performed numerous database queries on every page hit; these have all been removed. This change may lead to some inaccuracies in the data.

The core differences that wiki administrators need to know are:

The hit counts are stored in the cache.
The visible hit count at the bottom of each page is updated only once daily. (Pages with a hit count of less than 100 are updated once per minute.)
That hit is ignored if you refresh your browser on a wiki page.

What counts as view?

According to tests conducted by several MediaWiki operators, a view is counted if a page is accessed (action=view), as well as action=render and when accessing a page revision .

A view is not counted with the other actions, such as action=raw, action=edit, action=info.

Migration

If you are migrating from a version of MediaWiki 1.25 and earlier to a newer version, you must ensure to follow the advice and documentation outlined in this version of the documentation.

Installation

Download and move the extracted HitCounters folder to your extensions/ directory.
Developers and code contributors should install the extension from Git instead, using:
```
cd extensions/
git clone https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/mediawiki/extensions/HitCounters
```
Add the following code at the bottom of your LocalSettings.php file:
```
wfLoadExtension( 'HitCounters' );
```
Run the update script which will automatically create the necessary database tables that this extension needs.
Configure as required.
Done – Navigate to Special:Version on your wiki to verify that the extension is successfully installed.

Vagrant installation:

If using Vagrant , install with vagrant roles enable hitcounters --provision

You can also use Composer to install this extension.

Configuration

Name	Description	Default
$wgDisableCounters	When set to `true`, it disables the notice in the pages footer saying `This page has been accessed 256 times.` as well as the Special:PopularPages.	`false`
$wgHitcounterUpdateFreq	Sets how often page counters should be updated.	`1`
`$wgEnableAddPageId`	When set to `true`, it adds the `PageId` to the special page "PopularPages".	`false`
`$wgEnableAddTextLength`	When set to `true`, it adds the `TextLength` to the special page "PopularPages".	`false`

$wgGroupPermissions['sysop']['hitcounter-exempt'] = true;
Exclude user group page views from counting.

Fork

There is a fork of this extension that offers custom settings to the user:

REL1_38-v0.5.7 is backward compatible with MediaWiki 1.38.0.