[SOLVED] dynamic date tracker for blog posts

[Lambneck]

Hello, I was wondering does anyone knows how to create something to track the time/date of a blog post?

But a dynamic one that works like the one used on twitter where it shows recent posts as something like "2 minutes ago" or "6 hours ago", and then shows older posts as the time and date ex. "12:00 PM May 25th".

 

 

[JonnoTheDev]

The time of the post is recorded in the database. The date calculation uses this field to display how long ago the post was created. Easy. You would use a database query to obtain the most recent posts if you liked using the date field.

[Lambneck]

Ok, but i want the way the time is displayed to change based on how old the post is. Within 24 hours it would display ex. "6 hours ago". After twenty four hours it would display ex. "1:30 PM May 20th".

Im not sure if this is a php question, if it can be done with PHP or not.

[JonnoTheDev]

Of Course. You can write a function to display the date from the database record. You should record as a datetime or a unix timestamp

[Lambneck]

I know how to record the time/date to database and then display it, what Im trying to do here is make it so the way it is displayed changes depending upon whether it is a recent post or not. recent posts being displayed as "...hours ago" and then older posts display simply as their dates they were posted. how to have the time display as "...hours ago" change to date after 24 hours?

[gevans]

<?php

$postedtime = //the time from db as timestamp?

$time_difference = time() - $postedtime;

if($time_difference < (60*60*42)) {
//less than 24 hours
} else {
//more than 24 hours
}

[JonnoTheDev]

There you go. gevans has given some basic code. Just turn it into a function i.e.

 

function postTime($time) {

  return $string;

}

[gevans]

Just in case no one notices I put in 42 instead of 24 (there aren't 42 hours in a day)

[Lambneck]

ugh, I'm not sure I understand.

Should it look anything like the following?

What to echo when it is "//less than 24 hours"?

 

<?php

$postedtime = time()

$time_difference = time() - $postedtime;

if($time_difference < (60*60*24)) {
//less than 24 hours
} else {
echo date("M dS, Y", $row['date']); //more than 24 hours
}

 

[JonnoTheDev]

correct

[Lambneck]

But how to echo the amount of time thats passed since its post? //less than 24 hours

 

[gevans]

You should just have a play, its not hard to work out, here's a start;

 

<?php
echo ceil($time_difference/60); //prints the number of seconds rounded up
echo ceil($time_difference/3600); //prints the number of minutes rounded up

[JonnoTheDev]

Look at the php function manual examples for date / time differences

http://uk2.php.net/manual/en/function.date.php

[Lambneck]

do i need to put more "if" or "else" statements inbetween them or just like the following?

 

<?php

$postedtime = time()

$time_difference = time() - $postedtime;

if($time_difference < (60*60*24)) {
//less than 24 hours
echo (ceil($time_difference/60) . "seconds ago"); //prints the number of SECONDS rounded up
echo (ceil($time_difference/3600) . "minutes ago"); //prints the number of MINUTES rounded up
echo (ceil($time_difference/21600) . "hours ago"); //prints the number of HOURS rounded up
} else {
echo date("M dS, Y", $row['date']); //more than 24 hours
}

[gevans]

That depends on what you want to print out, I do wish you would at least attempt some of this yourself, see neil's last post

 

http://www.phpfreaks.com/forums/index.php/topic,253898.msg1193148.html#msg1193148

 

Just for your information I messed up the commenting

 

echo (ceil($time_difference) . " seconds ago"); //prints the number of SECONDS rounded up
echo (ceil($time_difference/60) . " minutes ago"); //prints the number of MINUTES rounded up
echo (ceil($time_difference/1440) . " hours ago"); //prints the number of HOURS rounded up

[Lambneck]

Sorry, Im trying, but not getting it yet.

what about this?

 

<?php
function postTime($time) 
{
if($time_difference < (60*60*24)) {
//less than 24 hours 
echo (ceil($time_difference) . " seconds ago"); //prints the number of SECONDS rounded up
echo (ceil($time_difference/60) . " minutes ago"); //prints the number of MINUTES rounded up
echo (ceil($time_difference/1440) . " hours ago"); //prints the number of HOURS rounded up
} else {
echo date("M dS, Y", $row['date']); //more than 24 hours
}
return $time;
}

 

 

[JonnoTheDev]

No, miles off and those functions wont work!

 

Use this example and try to learn the date & time functions from the php manual

<?php
function timeDiff($time1) {
$time2 = time();
   	$diff = array('years' => 0, 'months' => 0, 'weeks' => 0, 'days' => 0, 'hours' => 0, 'minutes' => 0, 'seconds' => 0); 
   	foreach(array('years','months','weeks','days','hours','minutes','seconds') as $unit) {
	while(true) {
		$next = strtotime("+1 $unit", $time1);
		if($next < $time2) {
			$time1 = $next;
			$diff[$unit]++;
		}
		else {
			break;
		}
	}
}
return($diff);
}

$postTime  = strtotime("-2 hours");
$diffArray = timeDiff($postTime);

print "<pre>";
print_r($diffArray);
print "</pre>";
?>

[Lambneck]

Ok thanks, I'll play around with it. Appreciate all the help.

[Lambneck]

Still not getting the amount of time to display  ???

 

using:

<?php
function timeDiff($time1) {
$time2 = time();
   	$diff = array('years' => 0, 'months' => 0, 'weeks' => 0, 'days' => 0, 'hours' => 0, 'minutes' => 0, 'seconds' => 0); 
   	foreach(array('years','months','weeks','days','hours','minutes','seconds') as $unit) {
	while(true) {
		$next = strtotime("+1 $unit", $time1);
		if($next < $time2) {
			$time1 = $next;
			$diff[$unit]++;
		}
		else {
			break;
		}
	}
}
return($diff);
}

$postTime  = strtotime("-2 hours");
$diffArray = timeDiff($postTime);

print "<pre>";
print_r($diffArray);
print "</pre>";
?>

 

displays:

Array

(

    [years] => 0

    [months] => 0

    [weeks] => 0

    [days] => 0

    [hours] => 1

    [minutes] => 59

    [seconds] => 59

)

 

 

 

 

[JonnoTheDev]

Yes. Finish it off. Use the array to construct the time.

[Lambneck]

Ah! So frustrating!  ??? I dont know how to do it. Ive been comparing what you wrote to the way its shown in the manual (http://cn.php.net/time), but I still cant figure it out. I guess I'm too new to php for this type of thing. Have any recommended reading that might help me out with this matter?