Timestamp

I'm working on my little social network where people can say what's on their mind and share it with the other users. It's very simple:

PHP Code:

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<script type="text/javascript">
    function clearContents(element) {
      element.value = '';
    }
    </script>
    <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
    function limitText(limitField, limitCount, limitNum) {
        if (limitField.value.length > limitNum) {
            limitField.value = limitField.value.substring(0, limitNum);
        } else {
            limitCount.value = limitNum - limitField.value.length;
        }
    }
    </script>
    <?php
    if ( $_POST['post'] ){
        $publish_message = $_POST['message'];
        $author = $username;
        $timestamp = HERE THE CODE FOR TIMESTAMP SHOULD GO!
                
        if ($publish_message !== ""){
            
            mysql_query("INSERT INTO status VALUES ('', '$publish_message', '$author', '$timestamp')");
            $errormsg = "You're new status has been published.";
            
        }
        else 
            $errormsg = "You need to write something. Daah!";
    }
    ?>
    <div class="content_top">What's on you're mind?</div>
    <div class="content_mid">
    
        <form action="member.php" method="post">
        <table style="margin:0;padding:0;" t>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <?php echo $errormsg; ?>
                </td>
               </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <textarea name="message" onKeyDown="limitText(this.form.message,this.form.countdown,140);" 
    onKeyUp="limitText(this.form.message,this.form.countdown,140);" onfocus="clearContents(this);">What's on your mind?</textarea>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr class="status_left">
                <td>
                    <input class='submit' type='submit' name='post' value='Share' />
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr class="status_right">
                <td>
                    You have <input class="max_characters" readonly type="text" name="countdown" size="3" value="140"> characters left.
                </td>
            </td>
        </table>
        </form>
        
    </div>
    <div class="content_bottom">
    </div>

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You can see $timestamp is where the timestamp code should be.

I've been trying many different methods, but I can't get it to work. I want to publish the timestamp so I can later show how many minutes ago the status was updated.

This is how it looks in MySQL:
http://c2429732.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/14576

Forget about that $timestamp variable.

In your DB you put ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP. That should do everything for you.

In your query, just leave the 'date' parts out of it, and it'll update and include the current timestamp for you.

Another way to do it is in your mysql query, when you're inserting you can use the mysql keyword 'NOW()'.

You don't need PHP to insert the timestamp into mysql, in fact it's better to leave it to mysql.


When fetching the data, you can use the PHP functions to make it look pretty for your users, but that's a different story.

The way I found to show how long ago it was posted (in minuts/hours/etc) is to save the date to the database using time(), then use this function:

PHP Code:

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function time_ago($cur_time){
$time_ = time() - $cur_time;
 
$seconds = $time_;
$minutes = round($time_ / 60);
$hours = round($time_ / 3600);
$days = round($time_ / 86400);
$weeks = round($time_ / 604800);
$months = round($time_ / 2419200);
$years = round($time_ / 29030400);
 
//Seconds
if($seconds <= 60){
 
   $time="$seconds seconds ago";   
 
//Minutes    
}else if($minutes <= 60){
 
   if($minutes == 1){
   $time="one minute ago";
   }else{
   $time="$minutes minutes ago";
   }
 
//Hours
}else if($hours <= 24){
 
  if($hours == 1){
  $time="one hour ago";
  }else{
  $time="$hours hours ago";
  }
 
//Days 
}else if($days <= 7){
 
   if($days == 1){
   $time="one day ago";
   }else{
   $time="$days days ago";
   }
 
//Weeks
}else if($weeks <= 4){
 
  if($weeks == 1){
  $time="one week ago";
  }else{
  $time="$weeks weeks ago";
  }
 
//Months  
}else if($months <= 12){
 
  if($months == 1){
  $time="one month ago";
  }else{
  $time="$months months ago";
  }
 
//Years 
}else{  
 
  if($year == 1){
  $time="one year ago";
  }else{
  $time="$year years ago";
  }  
 
}
return $time;
} 


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Your code would be something like

PHP Code:

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time_ago($n['date']); 


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(Credits to somewhere on the internet for that function, can't remember where I got it)

PHP Code:

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$timestamp = time(); //output: 1234567890 


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For more info about the function time: PHP: time - Manual

You could also change date in the database table to an INT (10). Since time() is always 10 chars long.

To return time() into a string, you can use date(). Or use the example billybombill posted.

PHP Code:

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echo date("Y-m-d H:i:s",$timestamp); //output: 2011-08-09 20:39:56 


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Regards,
Flowan

Here's how I'd do it (quite similar):

PHP Code:

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<?php
function pluralize( $count, $text )
{
    return $count . ( ( $count == 1 ) ? ( " $text" ) : ( " ${text}s" ) );
}

function ago( $datetime )
{
    $interval = date_create('now')->diff( $datetime );
    
    $suffix = ( $interval->invert ? ' ago' : '' );
    
    if ( $v = $interval->y >= 1 )
        return pluralize( $v, 'year' ) . $suffix;
    
    if ( $v = $interval->m >= 1 )
        return pluralize( $v, 'month' ) . $suffix;
    
    if ( $v = $interval->d >= 1 )
        return pluralize( $v, 'day' ) . $suffix;
    
    if ( $v = $interval->h >= 1 )
        return pluralize( $v, 'hour' ) . $suffix;

    if ( $v = $interval->i >= 1 )
        return pluralize( $v, 'minute' ) . $suffix;
    
    return pluralize( $interval->s, 'second' ) . $suffix;
}

---

Used like this:

PHP Code:

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//.. load the row from mysql.. ($row['date'])
$datetime_elapsed = ago(new DateTime($row['date']));
//..
echo '<p style="font-size:10px;"><em>'. $datetime_elapsed .'</em></p>'; 


---

The above might print something like, "30 seconds ago", "1 hour ago", or "2011 years ago"


Functions from PHP.net; PHP: DateTime::diff - Manual

I used Billy's script, but it only says seconds ago? It doesn't give any number... This is how status.php looks:

PHP Code:

---

<?php

function time_ago($cur_time){
        $time = time() - $cur_time;
         
        $seconds = $time_;
        $minutes = round($time / 60);
        $hours = round($time / 3600);
        $days = round($time / 86400);
        $weeks = round($time / 604800);
        $months = round($time / 2419200);
        $years = round($time / 29030400);
         
        //Seconds
        if($seconds <= 60){
         
           $time="$seconds seconds ago";   
         
        //Minutes    
        }else if($minutes <= 60){
         
           if($minutes == 1){
           $time="one minute ago";
           }else{
           $time="$minutes minutes ago";
           }
         
        //Hours
        }else if($hours <= 24){
         
          if($hours == 1){
          $time="one hour ago";
          }else{
          $time="$hours hours ago";
          }
         
        //Days 
        }else if($days <= 7){
         
           if($days == 1){
           $time="one day ago";
           }else{
           $time="$days days ago";
           }
         
        //Weeks
        }else if($weeks <= 4){
         
          if($weeks == 1){
          $time="one week ago";
          }else{
          $time="$weeks weeks ago";
          }
         
        //Months  
        }else if($months <= 12){
         
          if($months == 1){
          $time="one month ago";
          }else{
          $time="$months months ago";
          }
         
        //Years 
        }else{  
         
          if($year == 1){
          $time="one year ago";
          }else{
          $time="$year years ago";
          }  
         
        }
        return $time;
        }  
    
    $now_date = date('Y-m-d h:i:s');
    $events = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM status ORDER BY date desc LIMIT 10");
    
    while($row = mysql_fetch_array($events))
      {
      $status_id = $row['id'];
      $status_message = $row['message'];
      $time = $row['date'];
      $author = $row['author'];
        
      echo "<div class='box'><b><a href='profile.php?username=$author'>$author</a></b>";
      echo "<div class='message'>$status_message</div>";
      echo "<div class='info'>";
      echo time_ago($n['date']);  
      echo "</div></div>";
      }
    ?>
    <br>

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheNikolas

I used Billy's script, but it only says seconds ago? It doesn't give any number... This is how status.php looks:

PHP Code:

---

<?php

function time_ago($cur_time){
        $time = time() - $cur_time;
         
        $seconds = $time_;
        $minutes = round($time / 60);
        $hours = round($time / 3600);
        $days = round($time / 86400);
        $weeks = round($time / 604800);
        $months = round($time / 2419200);
        $years = round($time / 29030400);
         
        //Seconds
        if($seconds <= 60){
         
           $time="$seconds seconds ago";   
         
        //Minutes    
        }else if($minutes <= 60){
         
           if($minutes == 1){
           $time="one minute ago";
           }else{
           $time="$minutes minutes ago";
           }
         
        //Hours
        }else if($hours <= 24){
         
          if($hours == 1){
          $time="one hour ago";
          }else{
          $time="$hours hours ago";
          }
         
        //Days 
        }else if($days <= 7){
         
           if($days == 1){
           $time="one day ago";
           }else{
           $time="$days days ago";
           }
         
        //Weeks
        }else if($weeks <= 4){
         
          if($weeks == 1){
          $time="one week ago";
          }else{
          $time="$weeks weeks ago";
          }
         
        //Months  
        }else if($months <= 12){
         
          if($months == 1){
          $time="one month ago";
          }else{
          $time="$months months ago";
          }
         
        //Years 
        }else{  
         
          if($year == 1){
          $time="one year ago";
          }else{
          $time="$year years ago";
          }  
         
        }
        return $time;
        }  
    
    $now_date = date('Y-m-d h:i:s');
    $events = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM status ORDER BY date desc LIMIT 10");
    
    while($row = mysql_fetch_array($events))
      {
      $status_id = $row['id'];
      $status_message = $row['message'];
      $time = $row['date'];
      $author = $row['author'];
        
      echo "<div class='box'><b><a href='profile.php?username=$author'>$author</a></b>";
      echo "<div class='message'>$status_message</div>";
      echo "<div class='info'>";
      echo time_ago($n['date']);  
      echo "</div></div>";
      }
    ?>
    <br>

---

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The $n['date'] was an example, in your case it would be time_ago($time);

Quote:

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Originally Posted by billybombill

The $n['date'] was an example, in your case it would be time_ago($time);

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I changed that, still doesn't work.. :S

because his script has nothing to do with your problem perhaps

Use spn's example cause if you want difference in time you should use the datetime library
Posted via Mobile Device

SPN's function has an error in it I think...

Code:

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Call to undefined method DateTime::diff()

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LiteBB - Index Page

I tried using it on my own script :/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CelsiusDegrees

SPN's function has an error in it I think...

Code:

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Call to undefined method DateTime::diff()

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LiteBB - Index Page

I tried using it on my own script :/

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What version of PHP are you using?

PHP 5.3 parses this fine.