How to implement a Tracking Pixel that counts the Page Views?

Question

I want to implement a tracking pixel in my pages and email like this:

<img src="someurl/tracking.js">

What do I have to write in my tracking.js in order to get the code executed? Can I use JQuery inside this code?

Answer 1

The src attribute of the img tag can be either absolute image URL or relative image URL. You cannot just run arbitrary JavaScript that way. Use instead

<script src="someurl/tracking.js"/>

Answer 2

I found the answer in this blog post: http://grooovygeorge.wordpress.com/2012/12/13/serving-a-blind-gif-from-a-string-in-grails/

 import org.springframework.security.core.codec.Base64

class TrackingController {


private static final String PIXEL_B64 = "R0lGODlhAQABAPAAAAAAAAAAACH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw=="
private static final byte[] PIXEL_BYTES = Base64.decode(PIXEL_B64.getBytes())


def track() {

 // track the request here...
 // send the GIF image
 response.setContentType("image/gif")
 response.outputStream << PIXEL_BYTES
 return // this statement is required.
}
}