Corporate Web Support

 

WWW Homepage Access Counter and Clock

 

1. Introduction

This is a CGI program to keep record of the raw hits of a web page. It generates a GIF image of the number of hits and returns to the browser as an in-lined image. The program also has a run-time option not to show the digit images, this way the hits can be kept without displaying it. The hits can be be monitored without incrementing from a separate page as well. Almost all of the features are run-time options. The hits are no way accurate. Someone can reload the page again and again to increase the hits. However, people like to see how many times someone visited their page. The same program can be used to count hits for any number of web pages for any number of users. The program can be used to display time or date as well. The time or date of any place in the word can be displayed by specifying a timezone string for that location. The date can be formatted in any combination of MMDDYY (Month-Day-Year).

 

2. Features

  • Does not require server-side includes.
  • Uses image strip as well as individual digit images. Using an image strip reduces disk i/o significantly, therefore, it's faster. A program (mkstrip) is supplied to create an image strip from individual digit images.
  • Comma can be displayed after every 3rd digit from right.
  • Any one color of the image can be changed on the fly.
  • Uses netmasks to mask out a range of hosts in the network or the entire network.
  • Automatic datafile creation, strict mode, use of rgb color database can be controlled from the cfg file at run time.
  • Any arbitrary GIF file can be displayed. Frame and other attributes of the counter can be applied to the GIF file.
  • Count 2.0 is backward compatible with Count1.5's URL. One thing to note, the keyword wxh has no meaning in Count 2.0. It was used in Count 1.5 to specify digit dimensions. In Count 2.0 it is not required, because the digit dimensions are determined automatically. Therefore, you can use variable width digit images in this version.
  • Reasonable default for all QUERY_STRING parameters.
  • The same program can be used to display time or date.
  • The time and date of any timezone in the world can be displayed. The time can be displayed in 12 or in 24 hour format.
  • Supports digit images with variable width.
  • Counter can be displayed without incrementing (for monitoring etc.)
  • A literal digit string can be displayed.
  • A random digit string can be displayed.
  • The color of the digits can be negated.
  • The counter can be rotated (only integral of 90 degrees, 90,180,270). The default rotation is 270 degrees.
  • An ornamental 3D frame can be wrapped around the counter image with user defined thickness and color at run time.
  • The frame and transparent color can be a name (e.g. red,green,pink etc.). The color can be specified as a hex string, e.g. ffffff, ff0000 etc. as well as RGB triplets as before.
  • Single program for any number of users for any number of web pages.
  • Any color of the counter image can be made transparent at run time.
  • Style of digits can be specified at run time.
  • Authorized host names can be in the configuration file. Authorized hosts are those which can run the counter remotely. Do not confuse this with visitors from certain hosts.
  • IP filtering through a configuration file at run time. Any number of hosts can be ignored from counting. A netmask can be used to filter out a specific range of host in a network or to filter out the entire network. It's a good idea to ignore your own host or entire domain. Gen-conf program will let you create the configuration file interactively.
  • Data file locking. Data file will not get clobbered by simultaneous Count.cgi processes.
  • Maximum number of digits can be set or counter can be displayed with exact number of digits at run time.
  • User will be able to specify a start-up counter value at run time. This will take effect if the data file does not exist. You will be prompted by the configuration program if you want this feature or not.
  • If you do not want to display the counter but like to keep the hits on your page, sh=0 can be defined in the QUERY_STRING at run time. It will write a 1x1 transparent GIF image to the browser but the counter in the data file will be incremented all right.

3. Digit Styles

The digits used in this program can be individual GIF files or all the digits can be in a single image strip. This gives flexibility of using digits of your choice. In case of individual digit images, they are named as zero.gif, one.gif,.... nine.gif. In case of image strip, the strip is named as strip.gif. At run-time, simply the directory of the images is specified to use a different style. Therefore, a single program can display digits of various styles. Here are the supplied digit styles. All the styles of digits are supplied as a single image strip. Note the order of the digits (you will know about it later).

Style A styleA  
Style B styleB  
Style C styleC  
Style D styleD  
Style E styleE  
  • A suggested use of style E is to make the white color transparent (you will know about transparency later).

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    4. How to Call the Program

    You can refer to the program from web page like this:

    <img src="/cgi-bin/Count.exe?df=sample.dat" align=absmiddle>

    The string between ? and " is called the QUERY_STRING. Make sure there is no newlines in the <img src= line and no space in the QUERY_STRING. Here in, df=sample.dat, df means datafile and sample.dat is the counter datafile. The counter stores the hits in this file.

    The datafile's are supplied to you in the format of usernameX.dat where username is your username, and X is a number from 1 to 8* (inclusive).

    For example, if your username was chris you would insert:

    <img src="/cgi-bin/Count.exe?df=chris1.dat">

    <img src="/cgi-bin/Count.exe?df=chris2.dat">

    <img src="/cgi-bin/Count.exe?df=chris3.dat">

    (etc...)

    Each on a seperate page, they can used to show of the number of hits on upto 8 pages.

    The counter program has lots of options, you can make it work and look the way you desire. In the query string, you can use the options described in the table below. The options can be separated by a | or a &. You can use either one or combination of both. Here is an example: 

    <img src="/cgi-bin/Count.exe?ft=T&frgb=gold|df=sample.dat" align=absmiddle>

    The options can be in any order and not case sensitive.

    Anyway, look at this Example Page you will get the picture.

     

    5. Counter Options
    Parameter Name Description Default
    display=X Specifies what to display. A valid string can be specified with display= parameter to display counter, clock or date. The valid value for the string parameter X is counter,clock or date For counter, this parameter is not need as counter is the default display type. display=counter
    timezone=X Display time/date of the specified timezone. The parameter timezone= is only significant with display=clock or display=date. Use this parameter if you want to display time or date of another timezone. The timezone must be specified with a negative or positive four digit offset from GMT, for example: timezone=GMT-0500 or timezone=GMT+0000 or timezone=GMT+0530. The routine to display time of various timezones are written in a generic way. Therefore, the unix machines will not be aware of daylight saving time because of the way the routine is written. For example, if daylight saving time is on, to display time of NY, the timezone will be timezone=GMT-0500 instead of timezone=GMT-0400.

    If the clock displays your local time wrong, specify your timezone with that parameter in order to display the correct time.

    		None.
    tformat=X Time format in 12 or 24 hour. This parameter can be used to display time in 12 or 24 hour format. The valid values for the parameter X is 12 or 24. tformat=12
    dformat=X Specifies date format. This parameter is only significant with display=date. The valid value for the string parameter X is any combination of MMDDYY (Month-Day-Year). For example, dformat=ddmmyy, dformat=YYMMDD. dformat=MMDDYY
    istrip=B Use of image strip On/Off The boolean value of istrip specifies whether to use image strip or not. If you specify istrip=F, the program will look for the individual digit image files in the digits/style directory. The valid values for the Boolean parameter istrip are Y, N, T, F, 1 or 0. istrip=T
    ft=X Frame Thickness You can wrap the counter in an ornamental frame of X pixels thick. Use 0 for no frame. Values over 5 make a nice 3-D effect. ft=6
    frgb=R;G;B Frame Color Specifies the color of the frame in RGB (red/green/blue) format. Each color component, R, G, and B is specified as a value between 0 and 256. If you use ft= without a frgb= param, the default color is used.

    If you specify a frgb= without a ft=, then the frame thickness defaults to 5. All the examples show ft=5. The color can be specified as hex string or a name. Do not use a # before the hex string as Netscape. For example, if you want to specify white in hex, use frgb=ffffff. You also can use a color name (e.g. frgb=blue) if the counter configured to do so (look at the cfg file). Look at the color name mapping database for some hints about color name database.

    		frgb=100;139;216 or
    frgb=648bd8
    tr=B Transparency On/Off You can specify if your counter image will have a transparent color with the Boolean B. So tr=Y means there will be a transparent color. It does not matter if the GIF files used for the digits are "transparent"; you must specify explicitly which color to make transparent. If you specify a trgb=, then you do not need to specify tr=Y. If you specify tr=Y and do not specify trgb=, then the default color black will be transparent. The valid values for B are Y, N, T, F, 1, or 0. tr=F
    No Transparency
    md=X Max Digits Defines maximum number of digits to display. Any value between 5 and 10 inclusive are permitted. Padding with leading zeros is automatically done for you; longer counts are truncated to the given X. md=6
    Without padding
    pad=B Padding with 0's Turn padding on/off in conjunction with md= setting. Valid values for the Boolean parameter B are Y, N, T, F, 1, or 0. pad=N
    Without specification of a md=value

    pad=Y
    With specification of a md=value

    dd=A Digit Directory Denotes directory of a specific styles of digits. Four styles of digits are supplied. They are kept at the directories A,B,C and D respectively. dd=A
    My green led digits
    image=gif_file Display this GIF file You can display any GIF image specified with this parameter. The location of this file is determined by the dd= parameter. All attributes of the counter applly to the image. None
    comma=B Display comma after every 3rd digit from right. The boolean value of parameter comma specifies whether to display comma after every 3rd digit from right. If you use this parameter as true, the left padding with zeros will be turned off. comma=F
    srgb=R;G;B
    prgb=R;G;B     		Change a color of the image to a target color on the fly. Any one color of the image can be changed to a different color on the fly. srgb stands for source color, that is the color to change. prgb stands for pen color, that is the target color. The values for srgb and prgb can be colon separated color components (e.g, srgb=255;0;0), a hex value (e.g. srgb=ff0000) or a color name (e.g. srgb=red). The color name can be used if you configured the counter to do so (look at the cfg file). srgb=00ff00
    (0;255;0 green)

    prgb=00ffff
    (0;255;255 cyan)

    With chcolor=T

    chcolor=B Change a color of the image. This parameter is usually used to change the default green color to cyan. That is if you specify chcolor=T, and you want to change green to cyan, then you do not need to specify srgb and prgb parameters. 1x1 GIF is displayed. The valid values for the Boolean parameter B are Y, N, T, F, 1, or 0 chcolor=F
    st=X Start Count This parameter is used to set the initial value of the counter to some number X. This is only valid if you decided to allow automatic datafile creation. It is a bad practice to allow automatic datafile creation, however it makes site maintaining easier. The automatic datafile creation option is specified in configuration file and can be changed at run time. Note that this parameter has no effect if the datafile already exists. If you want to change the counter value in a existing datafile, hand edit the file. The minimum value for st is 1. st=1
    Count starts at 1
    sh=B Show digits Used to turn display of digits on or off according to the Boolean B. When sh=T, counter will be displayed and incremented, this is the default behavior.

    If sh=F no digits will show, but the counter will still increment; instead of digits a transparent 1x1 GIF is displayed. The valid values for the Boolean parameter B are Y, N, T, F, 1, or 0

    		sh=Y
    df=data_file Datafile to store count Specifies the name of the file for storing the count in. The file must be allocated to you as was mentioned in the "Authorizations" section above. You can use df=random to display a random number.

    One special use of the parameter is df=RANDOM. This returns a random number using the fractional portion of the host's time of day clock as a seed for the generator. Unlike all other WWWcounter parameters, the file name provided is case-sensitive, except for the value random. Or Random, or rANDOM, etc.

    		df=random
    if no datafile is specified
    incr=B Increment Count Makes it possible to display the current count without incrementing the count. This can be used to examine the count for reporting or other purposes without adding to the count. Valid values for the Boolean parameter B are Y, N, T, F, 1, or 0. incr=T
    Increment the counter on each invocation
    lit=X Display literal Makes it possible to display a given, predetermined string. The valid values for the string X are digits, a,p,: and - None
    negate=B Negate the color Makes it possible to negate the color of the counter digits. Note that the Frame is exempted from negating. Valid values for the Boolean parameter B are Y, N, T, F, 1, or 0. negate=F
    Do not negate
    degrees=X Rotate X degrees Makes it possible to rotate the counter image X degree. The possible values of X is 90, 180, 270 and 360. Note 360 is meaningless as the counter will come back to the original 0 degree. degrees=270
    With rotate=Y and without degrees=X
    rotate 270 degrees clockwise
    rotate=B Rotate On/Off The Boolean value B turns on or off rotating. If you use degrees= setting, rotate is not needed. Valid values for the Boolean parameter B are Y, N, T, F, 1, or 0. rotate=F
    Do not rotate

    6. Examples & Copyright

    If you would like more examples, you may wish to read the origional example page.

     

    Copyright Information

    Copyright 1995-1996 by Muhammad A Muquit. Permission to use, copy, modify and sell this program for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that this copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation. If the program is included in a book, publication or in a software distribution media for sale, the author must be notified about it. No binary only distribution is allowed. All distributions must include the source and this copyright notice.

    THIS PROGRAM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY. THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR Muhammad A. Muquit BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.