Was this the best way to approach shutting down a link after a specific time/date?

dmacman1962

Hi all,

I needed to setup some links and pages to expire after the end of 2005, and here is a snippet of the code I used. I was wondering, was this the best/most efficient way fo achieving this?

//set the end date and time
$end_date = "2006-1-01 00:00:00";

// adjust for server time difference
$hourdiff = "3";
$timeadjust = ($hourdiff * 60 * 60);
$date = date("Y-n-d H:i:s",time() + $timeadjust);

// Test to see if the offer has expired, if yes, then redirect
if ($date >= $end_date) {
header("Location: http://www.xyz.com/offerended.php"); /* Redirect browser */
exit;/* Make sure that code below does not get executed when we redirect. */
} else {
echo " ";
}
// The rest of my HTML code followed this...

The reason I ask, is to always try to take the best approach.

Thanks in advance,

Don

bpat1434

Well, you could have simplified it to this:

if('2005'<date('Y', time()+(3*60*60))
{
  // Redirect
}
else
{
  // Whatever
}

All you wanted to know is if you've passed the 2005/2006 threshold. Well, you can do that with a simple date('Y') call rather than comparing the entire date. We can get away with that because you're basing it upon the year, not a specific date. For a specific date, your code would be correct.

~Brett

Weedpacket

I'd prefer to use header() to send a 410 response, which includes the "offer ended" notice.

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2616.txt
10.4.11 410 Gone

The requested resource is no longer available at the server and no forwarding address is known. This condition is expected to be considered permanent. Clients with link editing capabilities SHOULD delete references to the Request-URI after user approval. If the server does not know, or has no facility to determine, whether or not the condition is permanent, the status code 404 (Not Found) SHOULD be used instead. This response is cacheable unless indicated otherwise.

The 410 response is primarily intended to assist the task of web maintenance by notifying the recipient that the resource is intentionally unavailable and that the server owners desire that remote links to that resource be removed. Such an event is common for limited-time, promotional services and for resources belonging to individuals no longer working at the server's site. It is not necessary to mark all permanently unavailable resources as "gone" or to keep the mark for any length of time -- that is left to the discretion of the server owner.