PHP odometer - count up meter

[tisrach]

I need to create a PHP counter that counts up. Not based on hits but increments by x, every xx seconds. Any help?

[bradgrafelman]

Can you tell us more about the purpose of this counter? E.g. is it going to be displayed statically on a webpage, or is it going to be updated on that page (e.g. via Javascript)?

If it's only for display purposes (or even otherwise), it might be simpler to store the starting timestamp and then simply calculate its value on demand (e.g. "(now - start_value) / xx" where "xx" is your "every xx seconds" from above).

[tisrach]

it will appear on a homepage, as a changing meter depicting £££ total savings but the increments are to be £1 every 15 seconds.

Thank you

[bradgrafelman]

In that case, it sounds like my suggestion above might be the simplest to implement. Store the timestamp when the timer was initialized to 0, and then calculate the current amount via the example formula I posted above.

You could then use a Javascript timer to update the number by 1 every 15 seconds once the page is loaded.