How to get the number of times an audio file has been played

My aim is to get the total number of listens so I was thinking I could save a ‘listen’ count to the audio file’s post meta using update_post_meta()

Is there a hook that fires each time an audio file is played?

Background: I’m using wp_audio_shortcode() to output the (mediaelement) player.

Refs:

• http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_audio_shortcode

Answers:

Thank you for visiting the Q&A section on Magenaut. Please note that all the answers may not help you solve the issue immediately. So please treat them as advisements. If you found the post helpful (or not), leave a comment & I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Method 1

Yes, the play event fires on the <audio> element, so you could target it eg $('audio.wp-audio-shortcode').on('play', function (event) { //etc });. A number of other events are also available, eg ended, playing, pause.

Here’s some code I’m trialing at the moment that may help you (in “functions.php”):

add_action( 'wp_footer', function () {
    ?>
    <script>
    jQuery(document).ready(function() {
        (function ($) {
            var srcs = []; // Array of sources already sent to cut down on posts to server.
            $('audio.wp-audio-shortcode, .wp-audio-playlist audio').on('play', function (event) {
                // this.src should be the url (guid) of the audio file
                if (this.src && $.inArray(this.src, srcs) === -1) {
                    srcs.push(this.src);
                    $.post( '<?php echo admin_url( 'admin-ajax.php' ); ?>', {
                            action: 'wpse168584_audio_stats',
                            guid: this.src.replace(/?.+$/, ''), // Remove any query vars.
                            nonce: '<?php echo wp_create_nonce( 'wpse168584_audio_stats_' ); ?>'
                        }, null, 'json'
                    );
                }
            });
        })(jQuery);
    });
    </script>
    <?php
} );
function wpse168584_audio_stats() {
    $ret = array( 'error' => false );

    if ( ! check_ajax_referer( 'wpse168584_audio_stats_', 'nonce', false /*die*/ ) ) {
        $ret['error'] = __( 'Permission error', 'wpfm' );
    } else {
        if ( ! isset( $_REQUEST['guid'] ) || ! ( $guid = $_REQUEST['guid'] ) ) {
            $ret['error'] = __( 'Params error', 'wpfm' );
        } else {
            global $wpdb;
            $sql = $wpdb->prepare( 'SELECT ID FROM ' . $wpdb->posts . ' WHERE guid = %s LIMIT 1', $guid );
            if ( $post_id = $wpdb->get_var( $sql ) ) {
                // Use hex format to save space, 8 bytes for IPv4, 32 for IPv6.
                $ip = bin2hex( inet_pton( preg_replace( '/[^0-9a-fA-F:., ]/', '', $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] ) ) );
                if ( ! ( $meta = get_post_meta( $post_id, '_wp_attachment_metadata', true ) )
                || ! isset( $meta['plays_ips'] )
                || ! in_array( $ip, $plays_ips = explode( ';', $meta['plays_ips'] ) ) ) {
                    $plays_ips[] = $ip;
                    // If data getting too big, drop off oldest ip (FIFO).
                    if ( strlen( $meta['play_ids'] ) > 1000 ) array_shift( $plays_ips );
                    // Save as string to save space.
                    $meta['plays_ips'] = implode( ';', $plays_ips );
                    $meta['plays'] = isset( $meta['plays'] ) ? $meta['plays'] + 1 : 1;
                    update_post_meta( $post_id, '_wp_attachment_metadata', $meta );
                }
            }
        }
    }

    wp_send_json( $ret );
}
add_action( 'wp_ajax_nopriv_wpse168584_audio_stats', 'wpse168584_audio_stats' );
add_action( 'wp_ajax_wpse168584_audio_stats', 'wpse168584_audio_stats' );

Then to see the “plays” meta data when you go into admin and edit an audio item (it appears in the read-only meta data box on the top right under bitrate):

add_filter( 'media_submitbox_misc_sections', function ( $arr ) {
    $arr['plays'] = __( 'Play Count:' );
    return $arr;
} );

All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0