XtGem.com

This uses a xt:filelist function XtCat image counters and a dynamic target page with xt:widgets xt:get variables a little css and a meta refresh code
to create download hit counters.
It does NOT use ANY javascript.
The code is rather complex due to parts being coded as a xt:filelist template where the reserved characters
< > & "
must be converted to their html entity equivalents
< > & "
Also the image code requires that & characters are triple encoded as
&amp;amp;
to prevent validator warning hits.

The Code

Start with a normal xt:filelist function

<xt:filelist sort_type="name" sort_dir="asc" folder="/YOUR_FOLDER" filter="-index*" template="" />

The Template

Then start constructing the template code

This is the code BEFORE it is encoded
it is NOT the final code

The Inner Holder

First comes the code for the <div> that holds each entry

The Counter Image

Next is the code to produce the actual counter image.
It is really a call to a PHP function on the XtCat site that creates the image on the fly.
By default the image has a transparent background and black text
wd = width of image

<img src="http://xtcat.xtgem.com/content/images/tools/counter/index.png?wd=50&site=<xt id=url type="domain" />&xtuser=YOUR_XTCAT_USERNAME&idstring=.file_name. &key=YOUR_XTCAT_KEY" alt="•" />

Other image parameters

six digit hex code for the background color

bg=hhhhhh

six digit hex code for the text color

tc=hhhhhh

The link

This is the link to the download target page. It sets the name of the file as a variable.

<a href="DOWNLOAD_TARGET_PAGE?file=.file_name."> .file_name_parsed.</a>

Then close the inner holder

</div>

The Final Code

Here is the final code with the correct encoding.
Set your own values where the code is in UPPERCASE

The Download Target Page

The XtCat widget creates and increments the counter using the name of the file in the Xt:get variable
type="none" means the counter is hidden

<xt:widget tool="Counter" type="none" idstring="{_$file|dummy}" key="YOUR_XTCAT_KEY" xtuser="YOUR_XTCAT_USERNAME" id="xt.c.a.t." />

The actual download is accomplished using a meta refresh code

Then a little css style in the <body> tag to hide the page

The Complete Code

This Is the complete code for the target page.
Copy it to a blank PLAIN TEXT file with your chosen name
Set your own values where shown NOTE:If you wish to have different download pages pointing to the same list of files with a separate set of counters or just want to identify a particular list
add a identifier to the idstring parameter in BOTH the image code and the counter widget on the target page for that list ie:

idstring=.file_name.1

and on the target page

idstring="{_$file|dummy}1"