July 9, 2008 09:05am pdt

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03.10.2008 at 06:13AM PDT, ID: 23228241

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7.8

how to track email open/read

Zones: Miscellaneous Web Development, PHP for Windows, PHP and Databases

Tags: PHP

hi everyone,

i have made a track email php file, which give me the click of images and unsubcribe data regarding my marketing email sent to clients.

what i want is if someone open the email but didnt clcik on anything should come to my database as well

i was told that it is not possible but reading to the following it looks like it is possible:

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/aspnet/etrack.aspx

can some one help me in PHP as how i can achive this in PHP, i dont mind if people dont click on DOWNLOAD IMAGES, as atleast it will give me a rough idea if some do click on download images.

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Question Stats

Zone: Web Development

Question Asked By: ammartahir1978

Solution Provided By: McKirk

Participating Experts: 2

Solution Grade: A

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03.10.2008 at 06:21AM PDT, ID: 21086064

McKirk:

The only way I know is to send HTML mails with an transparent gif image in it. This image is generated by an PHP file. In the mail's HTML I call this PHP script as source for the image (.

Beside generating the gif file the script marks the entry 1234 as seen in the database.

Of course that does not work when the user's client does not load images.

03.10.2008 at 06:32AM PDT, ID: 21086168

ammartahir1978:

hi Mckirk can you please provide me the script, i understand what you are saying but how will i achive it can you provide the script code i mean?

03.10.2008 at 06:59AM PDT, ID: 21086373

McKirk:

unfortunately not as it is our business :-(.

However it is not that difficult. I'll help you.

Do you understand the way it works?

Do you have the code, that tells the database, that somebody has seen a mail?

03.10.2008 at 07:14AM PDT, ID: 21086502

ammartahir1978:

well what i have currently is if someone click on products that put a entery of 1 in the mysql table
and if someone click on unsubscribe that put an enter in table as well, so as far as CLICK And UNSUBSCRIBE is concern i can put a flag of 1 in the table that email is OPEN.

what is not there is when a person open it but doesnt click on email and obviously he/she has downloaded the images as well.

03.10.2008 at 08:44AM PDT, ID: 21087387

McKirk:

Wow, that sounds strage.

How do you generate the mails?

03.10.2008 at 08:46AM PDT, ID: 21087405

ammartahir1978:

html with pictures

03.10.2008 at 09:10AM PDT, ID: 21087655

McKirk:

Do you create them with a php script?

03.10.2008 at 09:13AM PDT, ID: 21087685

ammartahir1978:

no they are created in dreamweaver and then we just add this track.php link in those images

03.10.2008 at 09:20AM PDT, ID: 21087742

McKirk:

Okay. How do you send these mails?

Create a php file which, when opened in the browser, marks a mail as read. That means, you set your value to 1 in the table or insert a new field like "seen" or something.

03.10.2008 at 09:23AM PDT, ID: 21087761

ammartahir1978:

i am sending these emails from linux mail server, and when an email is clicked on products it inserts 1 is CLICKED column and when some one click on unsubcribe it enter 1 in UN_SUM column along with the promotion code.

03.10.2008 at 09:49AM PDT, ID: 21088011

McKirk:

Okay. So you've got the code, that marks a mail as seen ("and when an email is clicked on products it inserts 1 is CLICKED column").

Put this in a new php file and verify that it works.

03.10.2008 at 09:52AM PDT, ID: 21088030

ammartahir1978:

sorry mckirk i didnt get it, put what in new php file???

03.10.2008 at 09:53AM PDT, ID: 21088050

McKirk:

The php code, that puts the "1" into the CLICKED column.

03.10.2008 at 09:54AM PDT, ID: 21088061

ammartahir1978:

yeah it is working and i have tested it already

03.10.2008 at 10:00AM PDT, ID: 21088128

McKirk:

Does it generate any output?

03.11.2008 at 03:55AM PDT, ID: 21094488

ammartahir1978:

what kind of out put you mean ?
if user click on newsletter images it takes user to the website and put a entry in clicked s one, and same goes for unsub, the only difference is it goes to unsub page.

03.11.2008 at 06:18AM PDT, ID: 21095375

McKirk:

Okay, instead of redirecting the user to the sites you create a transparent GIF.

That means, when the script is requested, the database work is done and then the scripts sends an image that is invisible.

If you copy your code here, I guess, I can do the rest.

03.11.2008 at 08:52AM PDT, ID: 21096941

ammartahir1978:

here you go

                       
         
           
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             Function MySQLConnect()
	{
		$success= mysql_connect($GLOBALS["DB_Server1"], $GLOBALS["DB_Username1"], $GLOBALS["DB_Password1"]);
 
 
		if (!$success)
		{
			echo mysql_errno().": ".mysql_error()."<BR>";
		}
	}
 
	Function MySQLQuery($query)
	{
		$success= mysql_db_query($GLOBALS["DB_DBName1"], $query);
 
		if(!$success)
		{
			echo mysql_errno().": ".mysql_error()."<BR>";
		}
 
		return $success;
	}
 
 
	////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
	//                        SHOW BE IN A CONNECTION FILE (END)
	////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
	
	/*
	Table Name and Fields
 
	--- tblRecord ---
	
	id
  	customer_email
  	date_time
  	promotion_code
  	is_clicked
  	is_unsubscribed 
	
	*/
	
	// Open connection with database
	MySQLConnect();
	
	$date = date('Y-m-d h:m:s'); 
	
	$email = $_GET["email"];
	$pcode = $_GET["pcode"];
	$clicked = $_GET["clicked"];
	$unsubscribe = $_GET["unsubscribe"];
	
	////////////// For Click /////////////////
	
	if($_GET["clicked"] == 1)
	{
	$insQuery = "insert into tblRecord
	values(null,'$email','$date','$pcode',$clicked,0)";
	$ins_rst = MySQLQuery($insQuery);   
	
	//Print "<BR>Clicked -- Inserted";
	//Print "<BR>Please Continue....[Redirection]";
	
	// replace the link with your promotional page
	header( 'Location: domain.com' ) ;
 
	}
	
	////////////// For Unsubscribed /////////////////
	
	elseif($_GET["unsubscribe"] == 1)
	{
	$insQuery = "insert into tblRecord
	values(null,'$email','$date','$pcode',0,$unsubscribe)";
	$ins_rst = MySQLQuery($insQuery);   
 
	header( 'domain.com' ) ;
 
	//Print "<BR>Unsubscribe -- Inserted";
	//Print "<BR>Please Enter Your Email Address....";
 
	}
	
?>
           
         

Open in New Window

03.11.2008 at 08:58AM PDT, ID: 21097022

ammartahir1978:

db script

                       
             CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `tblrecord` (
  `id` int(50) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `customer_email` varchar(250) character set latin1 collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL,
  `date_time` datetime NOT NULL,
  `promotion_code` varchar(250) character set latin1 collate latin1_general_ci NOT NULL,
  `is_clicked` int(1) NOT NULL,
  `is_unsubscribed` int(1) NOT NULL,
  `Is_open` int(2) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`id`)

Open in New Window

03.11.2008 at 08:59AM PDT, ID: 21097030

ammartahir1978:

hi Mckirk the value of open will go in is_open column, when clicked on UNSUB,PRODUCT and yes when only open

03.11.2008 at 12:04PM PDT, ID: 21098911

McKirk:

Okay, and now you replace the first

header( 'Location: domain.com' ) ; // Thats when you redirect the user the the page

with that code:

Header("Content-type: image/gif");
$im=imagecreatefrompng("tracker.png");
imagepng($im);
imagedestroy($im);

Of course you have to create a tracker.png file (I made one that's 1x1 pixel and transparent).

Now you can use your php script in that way (in HTML):

You use it as before except that you put it in the source of an image tag.
Every time, somebody loads that image, it will call the script. That will do the database work and show an image, that nobody can see.

Accepted Solution

03.11.2008 at 12:20PM PDT, ID: 21099082

ammartahir1978:

sorry Mckirk i am a bit dumb can you please put it in my code, and also the image i am to create in the logo of the company

03.11.2008 at 03:48PM PDT, ID: 21101279

ammartahir1978:

can you please put it in my code and yes i can create an image like 1x1 pixel, doesnt it have to be png or can be jpg.?

03.11.2008 at 04:03PM PDT, ID: 21101345

ammartahir1978:

this is my email which goes to client

                       
         
           
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             <html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<title>Untitled Document</title>
</head>
 
<body>
<DIV class=ExternalClass id=MsgContainer>
  <DIV class=EC_Section1>
    <P class=EC_MsoNormal></P>
    <P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN lang=EN-GB 
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">If you are having trouble viewing this email <A 
href="http://imagehost.domain.com/emails/KeepRecordSystem/KeepTrack.php?email=malinasir@yahoo.com&pcode=12345&clicked=1" 
target=_blank><SPAN style="COLOR: hotpink">click here</SPAN></A><BR>
      To ensure that you continue to receive our newsletters, please add <A 
title=mailto:longtallsally@ec2i.biz href="mailto:longtallsally@ec2i.biz"><SPAN 
style="COLOR: palevioletred">longtallsally@ec2i.biz</SPAN></A> <SPAN 
style="COLOR: black">to your address book.</SPAN></SPAN></P>
    <DIV align=center>
      <TABLE class=EC_MsoNormalTable id=EC_Table_01 style="WIDTH: 459pt" cellSpacing=0 
cellPadding=0 width=612 border=0>
        <TBODY>
          <TR>
            <TD 
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; PADDING-TOP: 0cm"><P class=EC_MsoNormal><A 
href="http://imagehost.domain.com/emails/KeepRecordSystem/KeepTrack.php?email=malinasir@yahoo.com&pcode=12345&clicked=1" 
target=_blank><SPAN style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><IMG id=EC__x0000_i1025 
height=57 
src="images/valentines_email_em_01.jpg" 
width=331 border=0></SPAN></A></P></TD>
            <TD 
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; PADDING-TOP: 0cm"><P class=EC_MsoNormal><A 
href="http://imagehost.domain.com/emails/KeepRecordSystem/KeepTrack.php?email=malinasir@yahoo.com&pcode=12345&clicked=1" 
target=_blank><SPAN style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><IMG id=EC__x0000_i1026 
height=57 
src="images/valentines_email_em_02.jpg" 
width=151 border=0></SPAN></A></P></TD>
            <TD 
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; PADDING-TOP: 0cm"><P class=EC_MsoNormal><A 
href="http://imagehost.domain.com/emails/KeepRecordSystem/KeepTrack.php?email=malinasir@yahoo.com&pcode=12345&clicked=1" 
target=_blank><SPAN style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><IMG id=EC__x0000_i1027 
height=57 
src="images/valentines_email_em_03.jpg" 
width=130 border=0></SPAN></A></P></TD>
          </TR>
          <TR>
            <TD 
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0cm; PADDING-LEFT: 0cm; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0cm; PADDING-TOP: 0cm" 
colSpan=3><P class=EC_MsoNormal><A 
href="http://imagehost.domain.com/emails/KeepRecordSystem/KeepTrack.php?email=malinasir@yahoo.com&pcode=12345&clicked=1" target=_blank><SPAN style="TEXT-DECORATION: none"><IMG id=EC__x0000_i1028 
height=347 
src="images/valentines_email_em_04.jpg" 
width=612 border=0></SPAN></A></P></TD>
          </TR>
        </TBODY>
      </TABLE>
    </DIV>
    <P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><STRONG><SPAN 
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">*Valentine's Day Offer</SPAN></STRONG><B><SPAN 
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><BR>
      </SPAN></B><SPAN 
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Offer available in stores ONLY.<BR>
      Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer. </SPAN></P>
    <P class=EC_MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN 
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Offer excludes jewellery.</SPAN><BR>
      <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt">Offer applies to full price items ONLY and is valid ONLY for 14/02/2008<BR>
      </SPAN><BR>
      Long Tall Sally are now up on <A 
href="http://imagehost.domain.com/emails/KeepRecordSystem/KeepTrack.php?email=malinasir@yahoo.com&pcode=12345&clicked=1" 
target=_blank><STRONG><SPAN 
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; COLOR: rosybrown; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Facebook</SPAN></STRONG></A><SPAN 
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">become a fan and help us celebrate tall women!</SPAN><SPAN 
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt"><BR>
      </SPAN><SPAN 
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Like what you see? Join us on<SPAN style="COLOR: cadetblue"> </SPAN><STRONG><U><SPAN 
style="COLOR: rosybrown; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">M</SPAN></U></STRONG></SPAN><A 
title=http://natmags.ecircle-solutions.com/re?l=6m6to5I1uk8ahhIb 
href="http://imagehost.domain.com/emails/KeepRecordSystem/KeepTrack.php?email=malinasir@yahoo.com&pcode=12345&clicked=1" 
target=_blank><STRONG><SPAN 
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; COLOR: rosybrown; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">ySpace</SPAN></STRONG></A><SPAN 
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> <BR>
      </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><BR>
      </SPAN>&l