Marking new stuff...

Anon

I just finished an administration system for my site, but with a large list of demos, for example, a user can't really tell what are the recent additions, and if there are any. My admin system is quite simple, it opens a file and writes the html to link to the actual demo page, then sorts it all alphabetically, then opens up another file and writes the content.

I need a good way to show demos that were added in the past 3 days. If you have any suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated.

Anon

Record the date with the entry in the file, associated some hoe (on the same line?) then parse that out and compare it with what you want (a 3 day timespan)..

Anon

Uhhh... that went in one ear and out the other... Can you elaborate on that?

Anon

Give me an example of the format of your flat-file and I'll whip something up.

Anon

Thanks, here a few of the links for the link list file (named demo-list.txt)

<li><a href="/downloads/demos.php?game=4x4Evolution&download=0">4x4 Evolution</a></li>
<li><a href="/downloads/demos.php?game=BeetleBuggin&download=0">Beetle Buggin</a></li>
<li><a href="/downloads/demos.php?game=BoarderZone&download=0">Boarder Zone</a></li>

(the comment at the beginning of each line is to sort it automatically...

here is a data file...

<?php
$demo = "4x4 Evolution";
$publisher = "Terminal Reality";
$developer = "Terminal Reality";
$site = "http://www.4x4evolution.com/";
$os = "Windows 95/98";
$system = "Pentium 166";
$ram = "32";
$description = "blah blah.";
$shortdescription = "blah blah.";
$directX = "Required";
$dlsize = "32.8";
$dlname = "4x4_Evolution.exe";
?>

I hope that what you mean...

I can show you the actual page that displays the demo or list if you need that...

Anon

Within the comment, after the name, write out the date in the format yyyy/mm/dd. Then when you read the file, you can look at the data and only include the line if it's recent.

Anon

I would still like to have all of the links in the list, no matter how old or new they are.

Anon

Ah, when you originally said:

I need a good way to show demos that were added in the past 3 days.

I guess I assumed you were omitting the older items. So how exactly are you presenting them, or wanting to? Newest links first, strict alphabetical order but with new links highlighted, or???

Anon

Its strictly alphabetical order, and I would just like to mark the demos added in the last 3 days with a little "NEW!!" image.

Anon

Then write them as I suggested, with the date following the title in the comment, and when you are reading in the file analyze the date and if it's "new" according to your definition, write out the <img> for the NEW icon.