Countdown block

Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 6:43 pm

I'd like to use something like this in a block.

I've tried every which way I can think of to get the output into a $content var. I've even tried using wheredoc syntax.

Basically, all it is is a function? So, how would these echos be put into a $content var?

Code:







countdown(2008,12,14,12,0);





function countdown($year, $month, $day, $hour, $minute)


{





  // make a unix timestamp for the given date


  $the_countdown_date = mktime($hour, $minute, 0, $month, $day, $year, -1);





  // get current unix timestamp


  $today = time();





  $difference = $the_countdown_date - $today;


  if ($difference < 0) $difference = 0;





  $days_left = floor($difference/60/60/24);


  $hours_left = floor(($difference - $days_left*60*60*24)/60/60);


  $minutes_left = floor(($difference - $days_left*60*60*24 - $hours_left*60*60)/60);





  // OUTPUT





  echo "Today's date ".date("F j, Y, g:i a")."<br />";


  echo " ".date("F j, Y, g:i a",$the_countdown_date)."<br />";


  echo " ".$days_left." days ".$hours_left." hrs ".$minutes_left." mins";


}

Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 7:57 am

Try commenting out the echo's and add the $content outside of the function. For instance the first echo would be:

Code:

$content .= "Today's date ".date("F j, Y, g:i a")."<br />";

Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 7:58 am

Oh yeah obviously paste the code into the Sample Block.

Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 8:46 am

That was the first thing I tried. But I'll try it again.

Code:

<?php





if ( !defined('BLOCK_FILE') ) {


   Header("Location: ../index.php");


   die();


}








//--------------------------


// author: Louai Munajim


// website: www.elouai.com


//


// Note:


// Unix timestamp limitations


// Date range is from


// the year 1970 to 2038


//--------------------------





// countdown function


// parameters: (year, month, day, hour, minute)





$content = '';





countdown(2008,12,14,12,0);





function countdown($year, $month, $day, $hour, $minute)


{





  // make a unix timestamp for the given date


  $the_countdown_date = mktime($hour, $minute, 0, $month, $day, $year, -1);





  // get current unix timestamp


  $today = time();





  $difference = $the_countdown_date - $today;


  if ($difference < 0) $difference = 0;





  $days_left = floor($difference/60/60/24);


  $hours_left = floor(($difference - $days_left*60*60*24)/60/60);


  $minutes_left = floor(($difference - $days_left*60*60*24 - $hours_left*60*60)/60);





  // OUTPUT








  //echo "Today's date ".date("F j, Y, g:i a")."<br/>";


  //echo " ".date("F j, Y, g:i a",$the_countdown_date)."<br/>";


  //echo " ".$days_left." days ".$hours_left." hrs ".$minutes_left." mins";


}





  $content .= "Today's date ".date("F j, Y, g:i a")."<br/>";


  $content .= " ".date("F j, Y, g:i a",$the_countdown_date)."<br/>";


  $content .= " ".$days_left." days ".$hours_left." hrs ".$minutes_left." mins";





?>

( What are those other values i (0, and -1) in the mktime function? And why is the var order different than the function call? )
This is the result ....

Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 8:52 am

Hmm, your image doesn't appear to be displaying.

Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 9:49 am

Hmm... it was looking fine for me. I put the image on another server. Is it working now?

Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 12:02 pm

Variables do not come out of functions for the most part unless you return them.

The content variable in the function could have been named anything.

Code:




<?php





if ( !defined('BLOCK_FILE') ) {


   Header("Location: ../index.php");


   die();


}








//--------------------------


// author: Louai Munajim


// website: www.elouai.com


//


// Note:


// Unix timestamp limitations


// Date range is from


// the year 1970 to 2038


//--------------------------





// countdown function


// parameters: (year, month, day, hour, minute)





if (empty($content)){$content = '';}





$content .= countdown(2008,12,14,12,0);





function countdown($year, $month, $day, $hour, $minute)


{





  // make a unix timestamp for the given date


  $the_countdown_date = mktime($hour, $minute, 0, $month, $day, $year, -1);





  // get current unix timestamp


  $today = time();





  $difference = $the_countdown_date - $today;


  if ($difference < 0) $difference = 0;





  $days_left = floor($difference/60/60/24);


  $hours_left = floor(($difference - $days_left*60*60*24)/60/60);


  $minutes_left = floor(($difference - $days_left*60*60*24 - $hours_left*60*60)/60);





  // OUTPUT








  //echo "Today's date ".date("F j, Y, g:i a")."<br/>";


  //echo " ".date("F j, Y, g:i a",$the_countdown_date)."<br/>";


  //echo " ".$days_left." days ".$hours_left." hrs ".$minutes_left." mins";





  $content = "Today's date ".date("F j, Y, g:i a")."<br/>";


  $content .= " ".date("F j, Y, g:i a",$the_countdown_date)."<br/>";


  $content .= " ".$days_left." days ".$hours_left." hrs ".$minutes_left." mins";





  return $content;


}





?>

Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 12:10 pm

Look up mktime() at the php site. It will tell you what all the variables are for.

Note: if you have php 5.1 or greater the last variable has become deprecated.

Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 12:55 pm

Cheers Palbin. Smile

Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 1:01 pm

Quote:

Variables do not come out of functions for the most part unless you return them.

You rock! I've been trying to understand that concept in programming nuke for a long, long time. So many functions, so few returns. Wink

Countdown block now works great. Except one little thing I'd like to add ... what happens after $the_countdown_date?

Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 6:36 pm

What are you counting down? What would you like to happen?

I like to think the world will end!! ROTFL