Countdown Plugin [library support]

[Lynx]

Okay. Looks like you'll need Wormopolis to help on this, as I've got this:


<countdown class="countdown" title="Test" timestamp="May 18 2017 6:30 PM -4" message=""></countdown>


in a Sidebar Redux and it's working fine.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful, adm1n0.



NOTE: I did notice that you had "May 12" as the date - maybe because the date has passed it is no longer valid? Have you tried putting in a date (like May 16 or May 17) that hasn't passed to see if it works? Since today is May 15, maybe the May 12 is returning the invalid date. Just a guess, but maybe worth checking.

[adm1n0]

No need to say sorry, thank you for your help Lynx! Much appreciated!

Yes, I've changed the date from May 12 to May 17

[Lynx]

Is it working for you now, adm1n0?

[adm1n0]

May 15, 2017 11:10:41 GMT -8 Lynx said:

Okay. Looks like you'll need Wormopolis to help on this, as I've got this:


<countdown class="countdown" title="Test" timestamp="May 18 2017 6:30 PM -4" message=""></countdown>


in a Sidebar Redux and it's working fine.

It's working!!!!! I don't understand why or how, but the countdown works now.

The only difference between your code and mine is the message="" ? So I guess that must be in the code to make it work?

Anyway, Lynx thank you so much!

[Lynx]

Glad it's working for you now, adm1n0!

Wormopolis will have to answer that question in regards to needing the message="" or not, as I don't know the answer to that one.

[Peter]

Wormopolis ,

Posting this here as I came across this issue a few times when debugging on a few forums that use your plugin.

Custom self closing tags are not supported. You will need to tell people / alter instructions to declare a closing tag as it's not supported in the spec (aka void elements). Due to the way the engine handles them (Firefox 53.0.2 in my case), it breaks the structure of the page, as it considers it an open tag due to it not being an actual void element from the spec.

w3c.github.io/html/single-page.html#void-element

[Wormopolis]

May 15, 2017 11:22:16 GMT -8 adm1n0 said:

May 15, 2017 11:10:41 GMT -8 Lynx said:

Okay. Looks like you'll need Wormopolis to help on this, as I've got this:


<countdown class="countdown" title="Test" timestamp="May 18 2017 6:30 PM -4" message=""></countdown>


in a Sidebar Redux and it's working fine.

It's working!!!!! I don't understand why or how, but the countdown works now.

The only difference between your code and mine is the message="" ? So I guess that must be in the code to make it work?

Anyway, Lynx thank you so much!

the message attribute is indeed a requirement, but if you dont want a message, then dont put anything between the quotes. I guess I can make it ignore the message if not present in the next upgrade.

May 16, 2017 7:41:59 GMT -8 Peter said:

Wormopolis ,

Posting this here as I came across this issue a few times when debugging on a few forums that use your plugin.

Custom self closing tags are not supported. You will need to tell people / alter instructions to declare a closing tag as it's not supported in the spec (aka void elements). Due to the way the engine handles them (Firefox 53.0.2 in my case), it breaks the structure of the page, as it considers it an open tag due to it not being an actual void element from the spec.

w3c.github.io/html/single-page.html#void-element

yeah originally it seemed to work fine as a standalone tag, but I guess things changed while I was away. I already updated the instructions in the plugin as well as the demo tags to include the </countdown> tag to immediately follow the opening tag.




I guess thats what innovation gets me...

[Blue]

Hi, I was wondering if it was possible for the plugin to close the thread once the countdown has finished or for to to automatically make a post in the thread stating it has finished?

Wormopolis, Lynx

[Chris]

1. A plugin may not automatically alter user content or forum data absent human action.
   
2. a plugin must obey instructions given to it through admin panel except where such instructions would conflict with the first law
   
3. A plugin must protect its own data as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law

So "automatically" making a post or closing a thread would violate the first law, a user has to physically be present to interact with user content such as posts or forum data such as the status of a thread.

[Wormopolis]

Agreed. even locking a thread wouldnt be possible without some sort of user input. even if you made it SEEM like the thread was locked aftera time limit, there would be easy ways around it.

[Blue]

Chris, Ah I didn't know about that. Thank you!

Wormopolis,
Ah okay, Would it then be possible to have when the countdown ends that it shows the username of the last poster so "(Username) was last poster"? in countdown or would that still be needing user input?

[Wormopolis]

It really depends on WHERE the countdown is showing. If the countdown in on a page where that thread is and the past poster data is available that it can copy that data and replace it, it can be done with a small code edit. however if you have the countdown in a global scope, meaning it shows EVERYWHERE and that thread data isnt somewhere on the page it can look for it, then no. However you can always manually enter what you want it to display when it ends where you have the tag.

[sunshine]

Wormopolis

hi there! we've been using your super helpful countdown plugin on our forum this week for an auction event which is ending today. most of the auction threads have ended by now and a couple members are complaining about the times displaying incorrectly for them even when the coding was done correctly. for example, we had one countdown that was set for 11pm the user's time and i checked that it had been set correctly, however after it ended, a member responded saying that at 10:53 the countdown displayed as only having 20 seconds left which caused them to stop bidding as they assumed they had won. however at that time there would have been 7 minutes left. this has happened to a few booths and i told them i would check up on it. is there any reason why this might have happened?

thank you!

[Wormopolis]

Well it uses the clients time to determine how much time is left, since the server doesnt actually send time data every second. so even if the server sends out a timestamp on page load, if their own clock was off by 7 seconds it would calculate that the event time is off. There wouldnt be a way for me to have it poll the server time after the page load.

I could maybe have it compare server time to local time to see how far off their time is, but if the page takes a while to load then the server timestamp is going to already be different than the exact time the plugin runs.

[slip1974]

I'm sorry, but you need a plugin guide for dummies. Just going on about codes is not good enough. Need a step by step manual with pictures if necessary for the more difficult plugins. If I'm going to install the countdown timer, does the code go in the header and footer section? Global or Main?