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##############################################################################
# Countdown Version 1.21 #
# Copyright 1996 Matt Wright mattw@worldwidemart.com #
# Created 9/1/95 Last Modified 10/8/95 #
# Scripts Archive at: http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/ #
##############################################################################
# If you run into any problems while trying to configure this scripts, help #
# is available. The steps you should take to get the fastest results, are: #
# 1) Read this file thoroughly #
# 2) Consult the Matt's Script Archive Frequently Asked Questions: #
# http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/faq/ #
# 3) If you are still having difficulty installing this script, send #
# e-mail to: scripts-help@tahoenet.com #
# Include any error messages you are receiving and as much detail #
# as you can so we can spot your problem. Also include the variable#
# configuration block that is located at the top of the script. #
# #
# Hopefully we will be able to help you solve your problems. Thank you. #
##############################################################################
# COPYRIGHT NOTICE #
# Copyright 1996 Matthew M. Wright All Rights Reserved. #
# #
# Countdown may be used and modified free of charge by anyone so long as #
# this copyright notice and the comments above remain intact. By using this #
# code you agree to indemnify Matthew M. Wright from any liability that #
# might arise from it's use. #
# #
# Selling the code for this program without prior written consent is #
# expressly forbidden. In other words, please ask first before you try and #
# make money off of my program. #
# #
# Obtain permission before redistributing this software over the Internet or #
# in any other medium. In all cases copyright and header must remain intact.#
##############################################################################
The Countdown script is a somewhat simple script,
which takes the time you give it and tells you the
number of years, months, days, hours, minutes,
seconds until that event will occur. More details on
how to use this script are below.
This script comes with 3 different files:
- countdown.pl - The Perl script which does the
calculation of the time until an event will
occur.
- README - The file that does all the
explaining.
- countdown.html - An example of ways to
incorporate countdown.pl and use it properly.
You will have to do some minimal configuration of the
countdown.pl file.
The countdown.pl file is
the main file in this package. This file needs to be
placed in the server's cgi-bin or have its name
changed to countdown.cgi. Keep in mind the latter
option only works should your server be set up to
treat all .cgi files in a script manner. If you are
not sure about this, consult your system
administrator. Inside the countdown.pl file you can
do one of two things:
- If you plan to just
call the same date every time from this
script, change the @from_date variable to the
date you want it to countdown to. This can
include all the way up to seconds. The format
for this should look like:
@from_date = (yyyy,mm,dd,hh,mm,ss);
Where:
yyyy - The Year in Four Digits.
mm - The first mm is the month number from 1-12.
dd - The Day of the month. Values range from 1-31.
hh - The hour of the day. Values range from 0-23.
mm - The second mm is the minute of the hour from 0-59.
ss - The ss stands for seconds and the value can range
from 0-59.
- If you plan to call
different dates via a html page, you don't
have to worry about setting any variables
inside the script.
At any rate you will probably want to edit the
subroutines &html_header and &html_trailer,
to customize it for your wants/needs.
- If you have defined the @from_date in the
countdown.pl file and you wish to only call the
same value each time, you can simply do the
following:
<a href="http://your.server/cgi-bin/countdown.pl">Countdown ...</a>
When the user clicks on this they will be
taken to a cgi generated page that tells them the
countdown status.
- Should you want to use this counter for various
countdown you can also call a specific date
directly from the link, in the same fashion as
you would have defined @from_date. (See Above for
info on how to define @from_date.) Let's say I
want to countdown to my birthday in 1996. My
birthday is April 15: 4/15, so I would do
something like:
<a href="http://host.com/cgi-bin/countdown.pl?1996,4,15,0,0,0">
Countdown to my birthday!</a>
- Allow users to countdown to their own dates! If
you want to do this you would use the following
syntax
<FORM METHOD=GET ACTION="http://host.com/cgi-bin/countdown.pl">
<INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=""><P>
<INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT>
</FORM>
Then when the user types in his/her query the
program will generate an automatic response. Make
sure to let your users and yourself know that the
format for the query must match the exact same
definition as @from_date. (See Above for info on
how to define @form_date.)
In Some situations it may be impractical to count
out to seconds. Or maybe if you are counting down to
something closer than year, you will want to leave
out the year portion of the countdown since it is
only going to be 0 all the tie anyways. Or maybe the
same goes for month, day, etc... Countdown has a
built in feature to allow you to do this. Instead of
defining all categories in @from_date you can do the
following:
- Say I want to leave out the year in the
countdown to my birthday (From the example
above.) I could also do this:
<a href="http://host.com/cgi-bin/countdown.pl?XX,4,15,0,0,0">
Countdown to my birthday!</a>
When the user gets the returned html
document, the # of years will not be shown.
You can put an 'XX' in any of the fields
(year, month, day, hour, minute, second) and
it will disregard that amount of time.
- You can also define the same way inside of
the countdown.pl. If you are using a standard
countdown, meaning that you see no need for
multiple countdowns, you can set your
@from_date in your Perl script to reflect
this (This concept is also mentioned above).
You can substitute in 'XX' for any amount of
time you don't want. (Be it year, month, day,
hour, minute, or second)
- Will not return a negative value. Often times you
would see a negative number of hours. Instead,
when countdown comes across a negative value, it
simply adds the correct number (12 for months,
appropriate number for days, 24 for hours, 60 for
minutes and seconds). It then subtracts one from
the next highest category so that your time comes
out perfect, and all in positive time. Years will
appear in negative time, because if you are that
far behind, you're messed up! :)
- Calculates number of days in each month,and
recognizes leap years to!
- Notices the difference between 1 hour and 2
hours. So that you get proper English instead of
1 hours. Works the same for other units.
Version 1.0 09/01/95 - Script Created.
Version 1.1 09/03/95 - Improved the script based on suggestions by
Scott Lipcon:
- Added an extra 0 to the seconds and minutes
if the times were less than ten, so the
clock came out looking like 5:00:00 instead
of 5:0:0
- Changed the '.' in the time to a ':' between
seconds and minutes so that clock looks
like: '5:00:00' instead of '5:00.00'
- Corrected the leap year system, so that it
will get leap years correct.
- Commented the file better.
- Edited the README file slightly.
Version 1.2 09/08/95 - Several bugs fixed based on the
obersvations by Elton Taupin.
- Bug fixed that caused current date to be
screwed up when the time was <10 minutes. The problem had something to do with a misplaced colon. Fixed a bug in the countdown portion of the script, which caused an extra date to be displayed on the countdown on certain instances. It was a case of subtracting from $month, instead of $real_month. Version 1.21 Slight bug with 1 too many months fixed.
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