CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptajaxtime
RomanG
RomanG

Reputation: 128

AJAX time spent on a website

We do an online survey so we want to calculate the time spent. using javascript and php we have discovered the time spent is not 100% accurate.

The original script is sending server requests every 5 seconds and updates the time in the database.

I made a research and discovered setTimeOut and setInterval are not accurate at all. So what's the best way to do that?

I replaced the Ping function with another one that calculates the difference between previous packet timestamp and now(); however it's not accurate at all.

Please advice if there are any other solutions to the problem described.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 470

Answers (3)

Mike
Mike

Reputation: 4075

If you want to send requests to the server every 5 seconds, you can send the current time (using new Date().getTime()) in the request that is sent from client to server.

Save the time the 1st request was sent in the database. This is the time the user started the survey.

When each subsequent packet arrives, subtract the time the 1st request was send to get the total time the user has spent on the survey so far. When the user clicks the button to finish the the survey you could send a final request indicating the survey is complete.

You may also want to send requests on document blur and focus events. These events track when the user leaves and comes back to your page without closing the page down.

Upvotes: 0

JasonWoof
JasonWoof

Reputation: 4196

I imagine most implementations of setTimeout and setInterval are set to wait at least the amount of time you specify. If you want accurate readings of how long the browser is open, use javascript's date functions to calculate it on the client side, then send to the server.

Upvotes: 2

Patrick Cooper
Patrick Cooper

Reputation: 71

Why don't you listen 'onunload' event of the document and send a single message in order to know when a user is leaving your page. Consider this; When a user starts filling your server you send a message and when he/she leaves your page, you send another one and measure the time between these messages in order to sum up the total time

Upvotes: 2

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