Topic views doesn't update on rest API requests

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The discussion revolves around topic views not updating via REST API requests in Discourse version 3.4.0.beta4-dev. jandres reports the issue, noting that even with various headers like Discourse-Visible and Discourse-Logged-In, views aren’t tracked. sam clarifies that API requests don’t track views by design, as views are now managed through the browser pageviews system, excluding API traffic. david confirms this shift, explaining that topic views no longer include API activity. Nima1 offers a solution with a plugin, api-topic-views, which enables API traffic to count as topic views. jandres expresses gratitude for the plugin, which addresses the need for API-based view tracking in mobile apps and integrations.

1

In last Version 3.4.0.beta4-dev I noted that topic views doesn’t update when using rest API requests. Even putting headers likeDiscourse-Visible, X-Requested-With or even more

‘Discourse-Visible’: ‘true’,
‘Discourse-Logged-In’ : ‘true’,
‘Discourse-Present’: ‘true’,
‘Discourse-Track-View’: ‘true’,
‘Discourse-Track-View-Topic-Id’: 2214

I don’t know if this is a bug or is something that is programmed like that. But in previous version this behaviour didn’t happen

I would be very grateful if you could help me with this issue.

Thank you very much

2

Is this something that just happening to me ?

I would really appreciate any help you can give me with this problem. I’ve tried several things without success. I think I’ve set all the possible headers I’ve seen in the reverse engineering I’ve done, and the views still aren’t updating. I think there must be a header I’m missing.

By the way I’m using admin API keys instead of User api keys. I hope this is not a problem

Thank you very much

3

API requests don’t track views, unconditionally, by design.

I guess you are after some feature request here to allow you to track views via our API, recategorizing.

2 Likes
Is it possible to increment pageviews manually?
4

hmmm :thinking:
Thank you @sam but I wonder why before 3.4.0.beta-4 version it did it ?

also if User::last_seen_at is updated why not the views ?

When you say a feature it means a plugin that allow me to track views via API ?

Thank you again

5

@david can you clarify here, is there a change missing from request tracker?

6

Topic views have been migrated to use our “browser pageviews” system. That means that they no longer include any kind of API or crawler requests.

The DISCOURSE_VISIBLE header relates only to the legacy pageviews system.

3 Likes
8

If you need API traffic (mobile apps, integrations, etc.) to count as topic views, I’ve published a small plugin that does exactly that:

:link: api-topic-views
https://github.com/gorfist/api-topic-views

It hooks into TopicsController#show and counts eligible API/User API requests as topic views, with options for custom headers, rate limiting, crawler filtering, and user-aware tracking.

It’s still new and not fully battle-tested yet, but it should work well for most self-hosted setups. Feedback or PRs are very welcome!

1 Like
9

Wow big thank you :+1: @Nima1
I am going to to test it, and I would leave you my feedbacks.

1 Like