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Logging Custom Information to a Database

Creating your own logging tables in MySQL, matched up with snippets of PHP code, can help you to capture access-related information for specific pages of your site. Using this information, you can create customized reports. This method can be much less cumbersome than wading through Apache log files, especially when you are just searching for a subset of access information.

Creating the Database Table

The first step in your custom logging method is to create the database table. The following table creation command will create a table called access_tracker in your MySQL database, with fields for an ID, page title, user agent, and date of access:

							mysql> create table access_tracker (
							-> id int not null primary ...