DISCLAIMER: I did something like this a LONG time ago, so here is the ugly old code (That I'm not going to put effort into making look nicer / not when I first started programming as this is just to give you an idea of how it can be done, and not to spoon feed any specific code).
$timeout = time() - (20);
$sessid_exist = mysql_query("SELECT sessid FROM bw_sessions WHERE sessid='" . session_id() . "'") or die (mysql_error());
$sessid_check = mysql_num_rows($sessid_exist);
if ($_SESSION['bw_username']) {
$sql = mysql_query("UPDATE bw_sessions SET timestamp='" . time() . "', username='" . $_SESSION['bw_username'] . "' WHERE sessid='" . session_id() . "'");
} else {
if($sessid_check > 0){
$sql = mysql_query("UPDATE bw_sessions SET timestamp='" . time() . "' WHERE sessid='" . session_id() . "'");
} else {
$sql = mysql_query("INSERT INTO bw_sessions (id, username, sessid, timestamp, ip)
VALUES(null, '', '" . session_id() . "', '" . time() . "', '" . $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] . "')") or die (mysql_error());
}
}
$sql = mysql_query("SELECT distinct sessid FROM bw_sessions WHERE username='' AND timestamp >= '$timeout' ORDER BY timestamp DESC") or die (mysql_error());
$sql2 = mysql_query("SELECT distinct sessid,username FROM bw_sessions WHERE username!='' AND timestamp >= '$timeout' ORDER BY username DESC") or die (mysql_error());
$num_guests = mysql_num_rows($sql);
$num_reg = mysql_num_rows($sql2);
?>
<font size='1'>Currently Online: <br>
<?=$num_guests;?> Guests<br>
<?=$num_reg;?> Registered users
You just need to make a table and hold session_id's.. then query that table for any "recent" activity. If you want real time updates, put code above (modified to your table design) in "online.php" and call it via jquery every x seconds, or however you decide to do it.