Best way to track (direct) file downloads

Question

What is the best method to track direct file downloads?

Google Analytics only works with javascript, can't track direct file downloads.

Best would be a secure and own hosted solution.

Answer 1

Feel free to use :)

.htaccess:

RewriteEngine on    
RewriteRule ^(.*).(rar|zip|pdf)$ http://xy.com/downloads/download.php?file=$1.$2 [R,L]    

mysql:

CREATE TABLE `download` (
    `filename` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
    `stats` int(11) NOT NULL,
    PRIMARY KEY  (`filename`)
)

download.php

<?php

mysql_connect("localhost", "name", "password")
or die ("Sorry, can't connect to database.");
mysql_select_db("dbname"); 
$baseDir = "/home/public_html/downloads"; 
$path = realpath($baseDir . "/" . basename($_GET['file'])); 

if (dirname($path) == $baseDir) {
if(!is_bot())
mysql_query("INSERT INTO download SET filename='".mysql_real_escape_string(basename($_GET['file']))."' ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE stats=stats+1");


header("Cache-Control: public");
header("Content-Description: File Transfer");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=" . basename($_GET['file']));
header("Content-Length: ".filesize($path));
header("Content-Type: application/force-download");
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary");
ob_clean();
ob_end_flush();
readfile($path);    
}

function is_bot()
{

    $botlist = array("Teoma", "alexa", "froogle", "Gigabot", "inktomi",
    "looksmart", "URL_Spider_SQL", "Firefly", "NationalDirectory",
    "Ask Jeeves", "TECNOSEEK", "InfoSeek", "WebFindBot", "girafabot",
    "crawler", "www.galaxy.com", "Googlebot", "Scooter", "Slurp",
    "msnbot", "appie", "FAST", "WebBug", "Spade", "ZyBorg", "rabaz",
    "Baiduspider", "Feedfetcher-Google", "TechnoratiSnoop", "Rankivabot",
    "Mediapartners-Google", "Sogou web spider", "WebAlta Crawler","TweetmemeBot",
    "Butterfly","Twitturls","Me.dium","Twiceler");

    foreach($botlist as $bot)
    {
        if(strpos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],$bot)!==false)
        return true;    // Is a bot
    }

    return false;
}

?>