Resetting variable every 24 hrs

mitcho

Hi,

i am making a flash program for pocket pc, and i need to find out how many times the user has opened the flash application in a day (the more times the program is used in a day the "happier" the program gets).

so to do this (the pocket pc with wireless access) call a PHP page with the get url command which will increase a counter integer in a text file and display it.

i have written the following code to do this at the moment.

<?php

$f = fopen("./counter.txt", "r");
$data = fread($f, filesize("./counter.txt"));
fclose($f);

$count = (int) $data;
echo $count;
$count++;

$f = fopen("./counter.txt", "w");
fwrite($f, $count);
fclose($f);
?>

basically i need a way to reset the value to ZERO at the end of each day, whether this is calculated as 24 hrs or what im not sure.
I really have no idea how to do it so if any one knows how to reset a value based on time then help is appreciated.

Best Regards---Mitcho

kubis

set up a cron job which does: echo "0" > counter.txt

mitcho

I'm sorry i really dont understand what you mean by cron job? can you explain it in more detail perhaps with sample code please?

perhaps this should be moved to newbs section!

planetsim

Perhaps this may shed a little light

mitcho

ok i have read up on cron tabs. but this still doesnt help much.

i have a php file online and a textfile with a value that is incremented.

what is a cron file? is it a text of php file? how do i ensure it is called?

do i have to have 2 seperate php files, one that clears the text file - which is called by the cron file every 24 hrs?

as i said this may need to be moved to newbies as my level of expertise is minimal.

sfullman

Hi There:

this should be easier if you need to get this done:

instead of just storing an increment integer in the file store the integer on the first line, and the date on the next line. Get both pieces of information like this:

$info=file('myfile.txt');
$count=$info[0];
$date=$info[1];
if($date=date('Y-m-d')){
     //you would increment the integer
}else{
     //change the date in the file to today's date, and start the integer count at 1
}

That should be easy to understand as well as to do, and you don't need to bother cron.

Sam

mitcho

thanks that solved it. thanks for the thinking refresh.