Help for simple PHP script Options

[denmarks]

I know hardly anything about PHP and am trying to create a very simple script. It is the beginning of a web counter.
There is a file named count.log that has a single line in it with a zero (0).
I want to read the file and create a gif displaying the number.
One is then added to the count and it is written back to the log file.

The gif displays but I do not believe the the log is read or written. The value of 0 appears which is what I initialize the log file to.

CODE

<?php
$count_file = 'count.log';
$my_img = imagecreatefromgif ("count.gif");
$textcolor = imagecolorallocate($my_img, 0, 0, 0);
$count = 0;
file_get_contents($count_file, $count);
imagestring($my_img, 4, 2, 3, "Counter $count", $textcolor);
$count = $count + 1;
file_put_contents($count_file, $count);
header( "Content-type: image/png" );
imagepng( $my_img );
imagedestroy( $my_img );
?>

[denmarks]

Thanks for your help but it still doesn't increment. It is probably my host. I will check with them some day. I have also posted the question at the 1and1 forum and am still waiting for a response.

It increments and displays the .png with no error. Also, when I inserted my 2 lines for error checking I got actual error messages, don't remember them now.

I must be missing something on the server. I get errors with

ini_set('display_errors', 'On');
error_reporting(E_ALL);

but if I leave out ini_set... there is no error.

I read about a php.ini file. Do I need that? Also I can not find a php log file to look for errors.

[CharlesEF]

I must be missing something on the server. I get errors with

ini_set('display_errors', 'On');
error_reporting(E_ALL);

but if I leave out ini_set... there is no error.

I read about a php.ini file. Do I need that? Also I can not find a php log file to look for errors.

The php.ini file should be in the same directory that PHP was installed in, I have never heard of anyone needing to create the file themselves. The 'php-errors.log' file should be in your temp directory, the php.ini file points to the directory.

Are you running the script from a local web server OR from your online web server?

[denmarks]

I must be missing something on the server. I get errors with

ini_set('display_errors', 'On');
error_reporting(E_ALL);

but if I leave out ini_set... there is no error.

I read about a php.ini file. Do I need that? Also I can not find a php log file to look for errors.

The php.ini file should be in the same directory that PHP was installed in, I have never heard of anyone needing to create the file themselves. The 'php-errors.log' file should be in your temp directory, the php.ini file points to the directory.

Are you running the script from a local web server OR from your online web server?

I have my own webspace. I do not install PHP. I do not have a temp directory. It is being run from an online web server (1and1)

[CharlesEF]

I guess you should ask your hosting company where the INI and ERROR files are located. I can login to my account and have access to that information.

If you really want to learn PHP you should install a web server on your local computer. That way you KNOW when a script works correctly and can talk to your hosting company about it. I know nothing about 1and1.