[thelist] Tracking users & CSV files

[Paul Bennett]

mysql offers the ability to read a csv file right into a db table 
(designed with the same columns as the file naturally). From there you 
can let php and mysql do their magic...

phpmyadmin offers this easily through it's interface
table > 'sql' tab > 'insert data from a text file into a table'

if you don't have phpmyadmin installed, google for the 'load data 
infile' mysql command

Paul B

Tim Burgan wrote:

> Hello,
>
>
> I'm trying to use PHP to track users paths on my website. The purpose 
> of the tracking is to test results from search engine clicks and how 
> much success is directly related to Google AdWords.
>
>  1. I want to track where users come from.
>         * If from a search engine, I what to know what keywords were 
> used.
>         * Same as above for tracking if Google AdWords was used.
>         * If somewhere else, just record 'other'.
>  2. Also track whatever else. Such as click on a particular link, or
>     purchase a certain item.
>
> AdWords provides a good CSV file in the form:
> <http://www.timburgan.com/csv.gif>
>
> What I want to do with this CSV file, is for PHP to read it, read what 
> keywords how what results on a specific day (given in the 
> Click-Thru-Rate column), and then for my website tracking to add to 
> the CSV results and show which users from Google AdWords (by detecting 
> the keywords they used, and the date) then go on to do whatever I 
> decide to track.
>
>
> How would I go about doing something like this? I'm quite confident in 
> my PHP programming, but I need a hand in planning and figuring out how 
> I actually go about doing this (as a flowchart, or in pseudocode maybe)?
>
> How do I track information from users in relation to how they get to 
> my site, and the keywords they used?
>
> How do I go about reading a CSV file, and interpreting the information 
> in it, then taking those results and combining them with my tracking 
> results to produce a graph showing which Google AdWords clicks are 
> turning into specific results within my site?
>
>
> Thanks for your time. I appreciate any ideas and assistance.
>
> Regards
>
> Tim Burgan
>
>