Count.cgi
Documentation
The Count.cgi program is a program which, when used within a web page, provides a visual count of the number of hits a certain page has had. In addition, the program can be used to diplay the current time on a web page.
To use the Count.cgi program, simply insert the following HTML tag in your web page where you want the counter to appear:
<img src="/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?df=username.dat" align="absmiddle">Please replace username in the above example with your username on the Montana Internet system. If you are going to use the counter on multiple pages and want each count to be separate, we recommend using filenames such as username.d01 or username.d02. You could also use names such as username.homepage.
After placing the above url in your document, a counter such as the following will appear:
If you are happy with the way the above looks, that is all there is to do.
However, if you'd like to customize the look of your counter, there are some additional options you can set.
The most common would be to change the style of digits. MIC provides a base set of digits which are shown below:
| Style A | 
|
|---|---|
| Style B | 
|
| Style C | 
|
| Style D | 
|
| Style E | 
|
| Style F |  |
| Style G |  |
| Style H |  |
| Style I |  |
| Style J |  |
| Style K |  |
| Style L |  |
| Style M |  |
| Style N |  |
| Style O |  |
| Style P |  |
| Style cd | 
|
| Style cdr | 
|
| Style cdd | 
|
| Style bang | 
|
To use one of these, simply add the parameter dd=style to the html tag listed above.
For example, to use the cd stle of digits, you can use the following tag:
<img src="/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?df=username.dat&dd=cd" align="absmiddle">
Which would result in the following counter:
There are many other parameters you can set. For simplicity sake, these are all listed below. To use them, simply add each to the html tag like the dd was added (separate each with an &). If you have any questions, please send email to admin@mt.net or call us at (406)-443-3347.
| Parameter | Name | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| cache=B expires=X |
These parameters can be used to change the image caching behavior of certain web browsers. | The boolean value of cache
tells the browser whether to cache the image or not. The integer value
of expires specifies the cache expiration duration time in
seconds. If you specify cache=F, the browser will be hinted to cache
the image for the amount of seconds specified with expires parameter.
if cache=F and expires=0, then the browser should not cache the image,
that is whenever you come back to the page, the counter or clock will
be refreshed. Use this feature with discretion as it may increase
load on your system. The expires parameter is meaningless without
cache=F, that means, if cache=T is specified, expires parameter
is ignored and the counter will not generate any HTTP Expires header.
This is the default behavior. The valid values for the boolean parameter
cache is Y,N,F,T 1 or 0. The valid integer range of the expires parameter
is between 0 and 604800 (7 days).
Note, these parameters will work with browsers that support the HTTP Expires header as specified in HTTP specification. By default, most web browsers cache the image received from the counter. That means, if someone visits your page and comes back after a while, the counter or clock does not get refreshed. |
cache=T expires=0
|
| reload=B | Count page reload if the site admin configured
the counter to support it. (Added on: Dec-05-1998) |
If the site admin configured the counter to count reload, users can choose to count reload (default) or ignore reload. The site admin allows count reloading by yes, 1 or true in the [options] section of the configuration file with the keyword count_reload. Note, if the admin decided to ignore reload count (count_reload=No), user preference is ignored. The valid values for the Boolean parameter reload are Y, N, T, F, 1 or 0. | reload=T Count reload if site admin configured to so. |
| cdt=year;month;day;hr;min;sec (Added on: Dec-13-1998) | Show the countdown time to this target date. | The parameter cdt specifies the countdown target date. The valid values for this parameter is 6 integers separated by semicolon. The first integer specifies the year, for example: 2000. The month starts at 1 (January). The first day is 1. Note: in Unix systems, the year can not be less than 1970 as Unix epoch starts starts at 00:00:00 on January 1, 1970, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The range of hr is 0 to 23. The range of min is 0 to 59 and the range of sec is 0 to 59. To count down to Year 2000, the parameter will be: cdt=2000;1;1;0;0;0. If you do not specify any Timezone with the parameter timezone, the countdown will be calculated from the web server time. For example if you like to show the countdown from GMT, specify timezone as: timezone=GMT+0000. | None |
| cdf=year;month;day;hr;min;sec (Added on: Jul-17-1999) | Show the countdown time from this date. | The parameter cdf specifies the countdown from date. The default is to calculate from the current local time or local time of a specific timezone if the parameter timezone is specified. The valid values for this parameter is 6 integers separated by semicolon. The first integer specifies the year, for example: 1999. The month starts at 1 (January). The first day is 1. Note: in Unix systems, the year can not be less than 1970 as Unix epoch starts starts at 00:00:00 on January 1, 1970, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The range of hr is 0 to 23. The range of min is 0 to 59 and the range of sec is 0 to 59. | The local web server time. |
| sdhms=B | Show the day, hr, min, sec in countdown or not. | This parameter affects how the countdown is displayed. The valid values for the Boolean parameter sdhms are Y, N, T, F, 1 or 0. By defualt, the value for this parameter is True, that means the countdown is shows as Day, Hour, Min and Sec. If you just want to show the countdown days, specify F as the value. | sdhms=T |
| sfd=B | Show from date (sfd) below the countdown. | The parameter sfd shows the from date below the countdown. The from date is the time when the program is executed. The time in date is always in 24 hr format. If you use the parameter timezone, the timezone offset will be shown at the end of time. It may be necessary to see this date to make sure that the Counter program actually ran and the browser is not loading the image from cache. Use cache=F&expires=0 to make sure that browser does not cache the image. The valid values for the Boolean parameter sfd are Y, N, T, F, 1 or 0. | sfd=F |
| display=X | Specifies what to display. | The valid values for X is: counter, clock, date, countdown, image or version. If the value is countdown and if the countdown time is not specified with parameter cdt, the countdown to year 2000 is assumed. See also: cdt. Note: If you specify display=image and if you specify a datafile with df parameter and if incr is true, then counter will be incremented in the datafile. This will help some people who do not like to show the counter, instead they can show an image. You can use incr=F from another page to monitor the counter. | display=counter |
| timezone=X | Display time/date of the specified timezone. | The parameter timezone= is only significant
with display=clock, display=date
or display=countdown Use this parameter if
you want to display time or date of another timezone or calculate
countdown in reference to a timezone to a target date. 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. To show the full year in the display instead of two digit year specify YYYY instead of YY, for example dformat=MMDDYYYY. To show full year you can also use the parameter fy. | dformat=MMDDYY |
| fy=B | Show the full year (fy) in the date instead of only two digit year. | This boolean parameter indicates whether to show all the year digits instead of default two digits in the date. By the way the program will display all the year digits by default from Year 2000. The valid values for the boolean parameter fy are Y,N,T,F,1 or 0. See also: dformat. | fy=F |
| 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=4 |
| frgb=R;G;B or frgb=RRGGBB (in hex) |
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 255. 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 is 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 |
| trgb=R;G;B or trgb=RRGGBB (in hex) |
Transparency Color | Specifies the color to be made transparent in RGB (red/green/blue) format. Each color component, R, G, and B is specified as a value between 0 and 255. If you use tr= without a trgb= param, the default color is used. 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 trgb=ffffff. You also can use a color name (e.g. trgb=blue) if the counter is configured to do so (look at the cfg file). Look at the color name mapping database for some hints about color name database. If you use trgb= then tr=Y is not needed. | trgb=0;0;0 or trgb=000000 |
| md=X | Max Digits | Defines maximum number of digits to display. Any value between 5 and 80 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 | Left padding with 0s | Turn padding on/off in conjunction with md= setting. It also affects padding hour in clock. 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 |
| 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. Visit the digit mania page for other styles of digits. | 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. Note that no path in the GIF file is allowed. All attributes of the counter apply to the image. This parameter is used for compositing counter image with the GIF image. The default alignment is top-center and the default offset is 2 pixels from the top of the GIF image. If you want to composite clock, date or contdown, specify so with the display paramter. | 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 or srgb=RRGGBB (in hex) prgb=R;G;B or prgb=RRGGBB (in hex) |
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 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 |
| 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 or angle=X |
Rotate X degrees | Makes it possible to rotate the counter image X degrees. The possible values of X are 90, 180, 270 and 360. Note 360 is meaningless as the counter will come back to the original 0 degrees. Note: Microsoft MS Explorer interprets °rees as the degree character (it's gotta be a bug in IE), so use angle to be safe. | 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 |
| xy=x;y | composite the counter image to a base image at the location x,y | When a base image is specified with image parameter, the parameter xy can be used to composite the counter image on the base image at location x,y. x is positive towards right and y is positive downward. The co-ordinate of the upper left corner of the base image is 0,0). See also: align. | xy=1;1 |
| align=X | composite the counter/clock/countdown image with a base image and align the counter image. | This option can be used to composite the counter on a base image (specified with image with known width and height. This way, you will be able specify the width and height of the counter image in the <img src= tag while calling the counter. The implication is, if the counter is the first thing in a large table, the browser will not have to wait to calculate the width and height of the counter image before loading the rest. The valid value for the parameter align is topleft, topcenter, topright, midleft, midright, midcenter, bottomleft, bottomcenter and bottomright. The parameter offset can be used to specify the offset in pixels from the edge of the base image. Note: xy parameter has higher precedence than align. Therefore, if both xy and align is specified xy will take the precedence. See also: xy. | align=bottomcenter |
| offset=N | Offset of the counter image in pixels from the edge of the base image while compositing the counter with an image. | The parameter offset is used with parameter align to specify the offset of the counter image in pixels from the edge of the base image while compositing the counter/clock image with an base image. If align=topleft, the the offset is counted from the top and left edge of the base image. If align=topcenter, the offset is counted from the top edge of the base image. If align=topright, the offset is counted from the top and right edge of the base image. If align=midleft, offset is counted from the left edge of the base image. If align=midcenter, offset is ignored. If align=midright, offset is counted from the right edge of the base image. If align=bottomleft, offset is counted from the left and bottom edge of the base image. If align=bottomcenter, offset is counted from bottom edge of the base image. If align=bottomright, offset is counted from the right and bottom edge of the base image. The valid value for the paramter N is a positive integer. See also: xy. | offset=2 |
