Countdown Code Options

[IProclaim]

I am sure this is a question I should know, but here goes hoping someone can help me.

I work for a school. We have a state exam we would like to do a countdown on our website. However there are certain "blackout" dates in which we don't attend school. They only want to count instructional days (ie school days). Is there a way to make a counter than would not count certain pre-specified days in an html code?

I do not need anything fancy just ____ days until STAAR Exam and the number to change each day.

Thank you in advance.

[Christian J]

there are certain "blackout" dates in which we don't attend school. They only want to count instructional days (ie school days). Is there a way to make a counter than would not count certain pre-specified days

Sounds you want the counter to change on school days only? That is, from Friday to Sunday it's 10 days left, and only on Monday the counter changes to 9 days?

in an html code?

Not with HTML, you need either javascript or a script on the server (like PHP). To make it wait during non-school days, perhaps the easiest might be to specify those days in an array in the script.

[pandy]

I think it's 9 days between Friday and the next Sunday.

I think the OP wants it to not count the days that aren't school days. To make this have any sense at all, lets change exam day to the following Friday instead. So this Friday you don't want the counter to say "It's seven days left to the exam", you want it to say "It's five school days left to the exam". Did I guess right?

[IProclaim]

Well for example, we have off about 3 weeks for Christmas and 4 days for Thanksgiving, a week spring break. Plus we have weekends off. So the exam on May 2 only has 133 instructional days (as of August 24th, the first day of school). I thought I would have to use Java but the curriculum page is limited and we have been mandated to use html so I am very limited.

But yes, you are correct.

[Christian J]

I think it's 9 days between Friday and the next Sunday.

My 10 days (to the exam) was just an example.

To make this have any sense at all, lets change exam day to the following Friday instead. So this Friday you don't want the counter to say "It's seven days left to the exam", you want it to say "It's five school days left to the exam". Did I guess right?

But it also must halt during the weekend. This may sound like nitpicking, but it's important when writing the script. Using your example:

CODE

End of Thursday: 8 school days left
End of Friday: 7 school days left
End of Saturday: 7 school days left
End of Sunday: 7 school days left
End of Monday: 6 school days left

With javascript you can easily check which weekday a date is, but holidays must probably be specified manually in an array.

Note that javascript gets the user's local date, so someone in another timezone will get an incorrect result if that matters. To get the web server's local time, you need a server-side script like PHP.

[Christian J]

I thought I would have to use Java but the curriculum page is limited and we have been mandated to use html so I am very limited.

Alas this is not possible with HTML alone. Also note that java and javascript are different things. Are you sure you can't use javascript? If you really can't, I guess a serverside script is not allowed either.

[Mhatfield]

Yeah, you could use PHP for this. Make a blacklist of dates which school is not in session, holidays, weekends, etc. Then in PHP you can make a default timezone, but to be frank, that would be unnecessary due to the fact, only people in that region would attend your school, and they all have the same timezone, so that most likely is not an issue. My idea is this.

I just saw that PHP may not be allowed, so I shall wait to post my script to countdown.

[pandy]

My 10 days (to the exam) was just an example.

You said Friday to Sunday.

That is, from Friday to Sunday it's 10 days left

But it also must halt during the weekend. This may sound like nitpicking

No, it isn't nitpicking. Something must be done with holidays. I was only trying to understand what IProclaim wants to do.

[pandy]

I thought I would have to use Java but the curriculum page is limited and we have been mandated to use html so I am very limited.

Are you sure? Will school computers be used for viewing this and they've disabled JavaScript in all browsers? Because JS isn't depending on server features, only the browser it runs in.

Java is a whole nother matter.

[Mhatfield]

Java must have a compiler to, and you must have Java installed on your computers at school for users. Javascript is only dependent on whether or not the users enable it, and/or if the browser even support Javascript.

PHP is only dependent on whether or not the server the website is hosted on, has a PHP server.