What are some best practices for handling user login and logout functionality in PHP to prevent inaccurate online user counts?

To prevent inaccurate online user counts when handling user login and logout functionality in PHP, it is important to update the user status in the database upon login and logout. By updating the user status in real-time, you can accurately track the number of online users at any given time.

// User login functionality
// Update user status to 'online' in the database
function userLogin($userId) {
    // Update user status to 'online' in the database
    $sql = "UPDATE users SET status = 'online' WHERE id = $userId";
    // Execute the SQL query
    // Add code to execute the query here
}

// User logout functionality
// Update user status to 'offline' in the database
function userLogout($userId) {
    // Update user status to 'offline' in the database
    $sql = "UPDATE users SET status = 'offline' WHERE id = $userId";
    // Execute the SQL query
    // Add code to execute the query here
}