PHP making a download counter without leaving the current page

Question

I tried to create a download counter with PHP. The script, I have created, works, but when I click the download link, the script sends me to a blank page. Is it possible to

Answer 1

I'd like to improve the answer of Lawrence Cherone. The download counter, imho, should be transparent so it's more secure, nobody should have access directly to php scripts. Finally I integrated jquery so the counter is updated in real time via ajax... so there is no need to reload the page to see the results...

.htaccess (located in root/files/)

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^(.*).(rar|zip)$ /php/doing_download.php?file=$1.$2 [R,L]

doing_download.php (located in root/php)

count_download.php (located in root/php/)

call_download.php (located in root/php)

static_download.php (located in root/php)

download.js (located in root/jsc/)

$(document).ready(function() {
  $.ajaxSetup({cache: false});
  getStatus();
});
function getStatus() {
  $.getJSON('php/call_download.php', function(data) {
    $('#item1').html(data.item1);
    $('#item2').html(data.item2);
  });
  setTimeout("getStatus()",1000);
}

index.php (located in root/)

File: exampleA.zip  -  Downloaded  Times

File: exampleB.zip  -  Downloaded  Times

File: test.zip

Here, you can download all files and test them!

I hope my answer based on answer of Lawrence Cherone will solve any problem :) @Lawrence Cherone: great job!!!