[RESOLVED] HELP needed for php storing date-time cookie and display

**samyukta** · Oct 31st, 2012, 06:54 AM

hi

i have written this code for creating a php to store current date and time in a cookie and diaplay last visited on

while i compile i get an error as "parse error:syntax error,unexpected ':' in D:\documents\d.php on line 3

<?php
$inTwoMonths = 60 * 60 * 24 * 60 + time();
setcookie(‘lastVisit’, date(“G:i – m/d/y”), $inTwoMonths);
if(isset($_COOKIE['lastVisit'])) {
$visit = $_COOKIE['lastVisit'];
echo “Your last visit was – “. $visit;
}
else
echo “You’ve got some stale cookies!”;
?>

please can anyone help me in correcting this code pllzzz

any help would be appreciated

thanks

**akhileshbc** · Oct 31st, 2012, 10:15 PM

It looks like you copied the code from a Wordpress site, which might have converted the quotes(single and double) with stylish substitutes(curved ones). I just replaced the quotes in your code with normal single and double quotes (the ones that's available in your keyboard). See if it works:

PHP Code:


<?php

$inTwoMonths = 60 * 60 * 24 * 60 + time();

setcookie('lastVisit', date("G:i – m/d/y"), $inTwoMonths);

if(isset($_COOKIE['lastVisit'])) {

  $visit = $_COOKIE['lastVisit'];

  echo "Your last visit was – ". $visit;

}

else

  echo "You've got some stale cookies!";

?>

BTW, welcome to the forums..

One more thing, next time when you post code try to enclose it in CODE tags or PHP tags(if the code you are posting in PHP).
Examples:
[CODE] your code goes here [/CODE]
or,
[PHP] your code goes here [/PHP]

This improves the readability.

**samyukta** · Nov 1st, 2012, 09:01 AM

hi akhilesh

thanks for the warm welcome....really appreciate it....

no i did not copy it from word press as u said...but it was given in our college website which i copied and pasted to work out but the code didnt run and i have no idea regarding from where they have taken it.......

i ran ur corrected code akhilesh but i keep getting only the second sentence which is printed in echo ie

"you have got some stale cookies"

even if i reload the page several times i just keep getting the above msg

i dont get the date and time of the previously visited page......

plz can u help me with this it tried everything but i cant get this code to work

plzzz any help to get this code to work will be really thotfull and helpfull for me plzzzz

**samyukta** · Nov 1st, 2012, 09:37 AM

i have one more program for the same

everything is fine with this program but when i run i get this error as undefined index lvs on line 4

can u plz help me in correcting the code plz

PHP Code:




<?

$dt=date("l,F,j,Y");

$ti=date('g:i A');

if(strcmp($_COOKIE['lvs'],"") == 0)

{

$lst="";

}

else

{

$lst=$_COOKIE['lvs'];

}

$lv = $dt . " at " . $ti;

setcookie("lvs",$lv,time()+3600);

?>

<html>

<head><title>visitors</title></head>

<body>

<?

print "@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@\n";

if ($lst == "")

print "<h3> u hav visited first time</h3>";

else

print "<h3>$lst</h3>";

?>

</body></html>

plz any help will be really very gratefull

**techgnome** · Nov 1st, 2012, 10:02 AM

You can't set and test the cookie in the same code...

http://php.net/manual/en/function.setcookie.php

Originally Posted by PHP_Documentation

Cookies will not become visible until the next loading of a page that the cookie should be visible for. To test if a cookie was successfully set, check for the cookie on a next loading page before the cookie expires. Expire time is set via the expire parameter. A nice way to debug the existence of cookies is by simply calling print_r($_COOKIE);.

you should have your isset check FIRST.... set a flag... then set the cookie (if I remember right, it has to be set BEFORE any output is sent) ... and then after setting it, check your flag and send out the appropriate output.

-tg

**samyukta** · Nov 1st, 2012, 10:19 AM

Originally Posted by techgnome

You can't set and test the cookie in the same code...

http://php.net/manual/en/function.setcookie.php

you should have your isset check FIRST.... set a flag... then set the cookie (if I remember right, it has to be set BEFORE any output is sent) ... and then after setting it, check your flag and send out the appropriate output.

-tg

thanks for the reply

can u just help me coding the program....i m completely a noob in php.....

can u just correct the code what i have posted to make it work or help me build a new one which displays the date and time of the last visit

plz i m not into php and this code is driving me nuts....

plz any help will be appreciated in getting this code to run correctly

**penagate** · Nov 1st, 2012, 09:15 PM

If you aren't interested in learning, I suggest you hire someone to write the code for you. On this site, you could try the Project Requests section (for unpaid work), or Open Positions (for paid work), but I think you would get more responses elsewhere.

**samyukta** · Nov 2nd, 2012, 12:22 AM

i know u r the moderator of this section....

u dont have to be so rude by giving such a reply for a request...

i have the code and everything is working fine there is just one error which i have pointed out and so i needed someone who is into php to solve the error......

thats wat i have even mentioned in my post...

it dosent mean that i m not interested in learning or something......if someone corrected me with the code i would have learnt where is the mistake i made.....

and this is not such a job that i should hire someone to write the code for me....

thanks anyways for the suggestion....

one more thing consider this as a request plz dont be so rude or give such a lame answer to anyone who is not so good in programming like u guys.....we all r just learning and we asked u guys for a simple help since we are not good in these languages....!!

hope u understand

**penagate** · Nov 2nd, 2012, 02:06 AM

OK, noted. As the moderator, may I offer you some advice in turn? If so, I suggest you drop the SMS-style abbreviations and invest some time in capitalising and punctuating your writing: it's a sign of respect to the people who will read your posts and will go a long way towards helping you get the responses you want.

techgnome offered an explanation for your problem above. He also said, "if I remember right, it has to be set BEFORE any output is sent", which is correct. Here's a quote from the manual page he linked to:

Like other headers, cookies must be sent before any output from your script (this is a protocol restriction). This requires that you place calls to this function prior to any output, including <html> and <head> tags as well as any whitespace.

Note the mention of whitespace. I see you have a blank line at the beginning of your last code snippet. Make sure that is not present in the actual script file because it will cause the setting of the cookie to fail.

**samyukta** · Nov 2nd, 2012, 02:55 AM

The blank line was a mistake while copying and pasting it from notepad to the reply....i don't have that in my program....only one single error is present as "undefined index lvs on line 4" ...apart from that the code works perfectly fine....so i needed someone to help me figure out where is the mistake that's all.... so i m in need of some help....

**akhileshbc** · Nov 2nd, 2012, 03:37 AM

Try this code:

PHP Code:


<?php
$dt=date("l,F,j,Y"); //date (eg: Friday,November,2,2012). For more info: http://php.net/manual/en/function.date.php
$ti=date('g:i A');   //time (eg: 2:01 PM)
$lv = $dt . " at " . $ti; //appending the date and time (eg: Friday,November,2,2012 at 2:01 PM)
if(!isset($_COOKIE['lvs']))    //check whether the cookie value is not set
{ 
    $lst="";    
    setcookie("lvs",$lv,time()+3600); //since it is not set, we are setting the cookie
} 
else    //if the cookie was set
{
    $lst=$_COOKIE['lvs'];    //retrieve the value from the cookie and save it it in the varibale "$lst"
}
?> 
<html> 
<head><title>visitors</title></head> 
<body> 
    <?php
    print "@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@\n"; 
    if ($lst == "")
        print "<h3> u hav visited first time</h3>"; 
    else 
        print "<h3>$lst</h3>"; 
    ?> 
</body>
</html>

Have a look at this to get the idea of cookies: http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_cookies.asp

**techgnome** · Nov 2nd, 2012, 06:30 AM

OK, I swear that code wasn't there when I posted.... anyways... this line is the problem:
strcmp($_COOKIE['lvs'],"")

if the lvs item in the cookie doesn't exist, it returns a null value... which you then try to pass to the strcmp ... you need to check to see if it EXISTS first before you can pass it off to something else.
akhileshbc has kindly provided the code which will do that.

-tg

**samyukta** · Nov 2nd, 2012, 09:33 AM

Thanks a lot akhilesh and tg...

you guys are really helpful......you guys made this code work at last thanks again guys....you rock....!!!

thanks a million....

**samyukta** · Nov 2nd, 2012, 11:20 AM

and by the way just wanted to say sorry to penagate....i didn't wanted to say what i have said in my post....its just that i got a little out of mind when i read your reply.....so its my sincere apology to you and no offence was meant....

**penagate** · Nov 2nd, 2012, 07:40 PM

No worries. Glad you got it sorted.

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