{"id":1238,"date":"2011-03-03T23:20:51","date_gmt":"2011-03-04T06:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/?p=1238"},"modified":"2014-03-18T23:48:04","modified_gmt":"2014-03-19T06:48:04","slug":"flash-actionscript-3-countdown-timer-set-to-servertime-php-the-countdown-you-cant-cheat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/flash-actionscript-3-countdown-timer-set-to-servertime-php-the-countdown-you-cant-cheat","title":{"rendered":"Flash Actionscript 3 Countdown Timer Set To Servertime (PHP) – The Countdown You Can’t Cheat"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been itching to do one for a long time since I keep being asked to do countdown timers… Then there’s always that pesky deadline that keeps me from actually not cutting corners and doin’ it fo’ realz. So dundid I didit! A countdown timer set to server time via PHP!
\n(…You know, it should work, but I didn’t test it through n’ through, just threw the servertime integration together this evening :S ).<\/p>\n

Source files up for grabs HERE!<\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n

The deal is if you do a countdown in Flash, the Flash Date object is set to the user’s system clock. If you decide to set your system time to… lets say… the year 2090 and beyond (or whatever) the countdown (of course) detects that the target date is so totally over.
\nMany clients think they’re sneaky and try to break your shit that way and then think that users will do the same.
\nDeal is no one cares, or really cares to try that, and if they do they know why the timer reads 00:00:00, BUT there are occasions where you’ll just want to do that (like in the case of ARG’s… or when the unexpected is expectable!)…
\nIt’s Flash. There are always occasions where you’ll want to make an exception to the rule and do some weird experimental wizardry.<\/p>\n

In AS you have two instances of the Date Object you need. One is the current date and one is the target date.
\nThe current date is what you need to pass the server time too. From then on the rest is just classic countdown timer stuff… calculate target – current time left, break it down to seconds, minutes, hours, days, turn that to strings, blah, blah, etc…
\nI’m not the greatest PHP-ist in the world. In fact I get by. So this was (don’t laugh) a bit hard for me because it’s simple. Too simple!
\nLike any amateur, I tend to over complicate things when I don’t know what I’m doing… so, in trying to get the PHP date output to match that which Flash accepts, I was feeding it every combination of formats and date constants (D, d M Y H:i:s etc) under the sun.
\nTurns out you just need “r”.
\nLike so:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
<?php<\/span>\r\n$date<\/span> =<\/span> date<\/span>("r"<\/span>, time<\/span>());\r\necho<\/span> $date<\/span>;\r\n?><\/span>\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
Update the .as file with the URL to your .php file.<\/p>\n
Load that into Flash (via URLRequest), make sure it’s a string, and pass that string (in this case var loadedDateString:String) to the Date object via Date.parse.
\nLike so:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
var<\/span> currentDate:Date<\/span> =<\/span> new<\/span> Date<\/span>(<\/span>Date.<\/span>parse<\/span>(<\/span>loadedDateString));<\/span>\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
That’s basically it.<\/p>\n
Here’s a working example:<\/p>\n
\"Flash<\/a>
\n–Click to view<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
It’s a Counter.as class (view the AS HERE – right click + save as<\/a>).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
package<\/span> {<\/span>\r\n\r\n\timport<\/span> flash.display.MovieClip<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\timport<\/span> flash.events.Event<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\timport<\/span> flash.events.TimerEvent<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\timport<\/span> flash.utils.Timer<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\timport<\/span> flash.events.TextEvent<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\timport<\/span> flash.net.URLLoader<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\timport<\/span> flash.net.URLRequest<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\r\n\tpublic<\/span> class<\/span> Counter extends<\/span> MovieClip {<\/span>\r\n\r\n\t\t\/\/Strings (Current count)<\/span>\r\n\t\tprivate<\/span> var<\/span> sec:String<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\tprivate<\/span> var<\/span> min:String<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\tprivate<\/span> var<\/span> hrs:String<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\tprivate<\/span> var<\/span> d:String<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\/\/ (Previous count to check flip animation against)<\/span>\r\n\t\tprivate<\/span> var<\/span> old_sec:String<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\tprivate<\/span> var<\/span> old_min:String<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\tprivate<\/span> var<\/span> old_hrs:String<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\tprivate<\/span> var<\/span> old_d:String<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\/\/for holding the php servertime<\/span>\r\n\t\tprivate<\/span> var<\/span> loadedDateString:String<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\/\/<\/span>\r\n\t\tpublic<\/span> function <\/span>Counter<\/span>(<\/span>year:<\/span>Number<\/span>,<\/span> month:<\/span>Number<\/span>,<\/span> date:<\/span>Number<\/span>):<\/span>void<\/span> {<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\/\/url loader & timer<\/span>\r\n\t\t\tvar<\/span> ldr_servertime:URLLoader<\/span> =<\/span> new<\/span> URLLoader<\/span>();<\/span>\r\n\t\t\tvar<\/span> timer:Timer<\/span>=<\/span>new<\/span> Timer<\/span>(<\/span>1000<\/span>);<\/span>\r\n\t\t\ttimer.<\/span>addEventListener<\/span>(<\/span>TimerEvent.<\/span>TIMER<\/span>,<\/span> count);<\/span>\r\n\t\t\ttimer.<\/span>start<\/span>();<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\/\/Date object - !!!Months are counted from 0!!!<\/span>\r\n\t\t\tvar<\/span> targetDate:Date<\/span>=<\/span>new<\/span> Date<\/span>(<\/span>year,<\/span>month,<\/span>date);<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\/\/count timer - magic happens here<\/span>\r\n\t\t\tfunction <\/span>count<\/span>(<\/span>e:<\/span>TimerEvent<\/span>):<\/span>void<\/span> {<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\/\/load php<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tldr_servertime.<\/span>load<\/span>(<\/span>new<\/span> URLRequest<\/span>(<\/span>"http:\/\/PATHTOFILE.COM\/servertime.php"<\/span>));<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tldr_servertime.<\/span>addEventListener<\/span>(<\/span>Event.<\/span>COMPLETE<\/span>,<\/span> onLoaded);<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\/\/load the php servertime and pass it to loadedDateString for later parsing<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tfunction <\/span>onLoaded<\/span>(<\/span>evt:<\/span>Event<\/span>)<\/span> {<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\tloadedDateString=<\/span>ldr_servertime.<\/span>data<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t}<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\/\/current date feed it loadedDateString and parse it... like a boss<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tvar<\/span> currentDate:Date<\/span>=<\/span>new<\/span> Date<\/span>(<\/span>Date.<\/span>parse<\/span>(<\/span>loadedDateString));<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\/\/calculate<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tvar<\/span> timeLeft:Number<\/span>=<\/span>targetDate.<\/span>getTime<\/span>()-<\/span>currentDate.<\/span>getTime<\/span>();<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\/\/remaining time to seconds, minutes, hours and days<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tvar<\/span> seconds:Number<\/span>=<\/span>Math.<\/span>floor<\/span>(<\/span>timeLeft\/<\/span>1000<\/span>);<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tvar<\/span> minutes:Number<\/span>=<\/span>Math.<\/span>floor<\/span>(<\/span>seconds\/<\/span>60<\/span>);<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tvar<\/span> hours:Number<\/span>=<\/span>Math.<\/span>floor<\/span>(<\/span>minutes\/<\/span>60<\/span>);<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tvar<\/span> days:Number<\/span>=<\/span>Math.<\/span>floor<\/span>(<\/span>hours\/<\/span>24<\/span>);<\/span>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\tseconds%=<\/span>60<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tminutes%=<\/span>60<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\thours%=<\/span>24<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\/\/numbers to strings <\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tsec=<\/span>seconds.<\/span>toString<\/span>();<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tmin=<\/span>minutes.<\/span>toString<\/span>();<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\thrs=<\/span>hours.<\/span>toString<\/span>();<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\td=<\/span>days.<\/span>toString<\/span>();<\/span>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\/\/if single digit "0" infront<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tif<\/span> (<\/span>sec.<\/span>length<\/span>&<\/span>lt;<\/span>2<\/span>)<\/span> {<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\tsec=<\/span>"0"<\/span>+<\/span>sec;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t}<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tif<\/span> (<\/span>min.<\/span>length<\/span>&<\/span>lt;<\/span>2<\/span>)<\/span> {<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\tmin=<\/span>"0"<\/span>+<\/span>min;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t}<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tif<\/span> (<\/span>hrs.<\/span>length<\/span>&<\/span>lt;<\/span>2<\/span>)<\/span> {<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\thrs=<\/span>"0"<\/span>+<\/span>hrs;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t}<\/span>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\/\/SET OLD\/NEW VALUES FOR FLIP ANIMATIONS<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\told_d=<\/span>txt_day.<\/span>text<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\told_hrs=<\/span>txt_hour.<\/span>text<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\told_min=<\/span>txt_min.<\/span>text<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\told_sec=<\/span>txt_sec.<\/span>text<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\/\/SET TEXT;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\ttxt_day.<\/span>text<\/span>=<\/span>d;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\ttxt_hour.<\/span>text<\/span>=<\/span>hrs;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\ttxt_min.<\/span>text<\/span>=<\/span>min;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\ttxt_sec.<\/span>text<\/span>=<\/span>sec;<\/span>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\/\/flip animation<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tif<\/span> (<\/span>old_sec!=<\/span>sec)<\/span> {<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\tmc_ov_sec.<\/span>gotoAndPlay<\/span>(<\/span>1<\/span>);<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t}<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tif<\/span> (<\/span>old_min!=<\/span>min)<\/span> {<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\tmc_ov_min.<\/span>gotoAndPlay<\/span>(<\/span>1<\/span>);<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t}<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tif<\/span> (<\/span>old_hrs!=<\/span>hrs)<\/span> {<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\tmc_ov_hrs.<\/span>gotoAndPlay<\/span>(<\/span>1<\/span>);<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t}<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tif<\/span> (<\/span>old_min!=<\/span>min)<\/span> {<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\tmc_ov_hrs.<\/span>gotoAndPlay<\/span>(<\/span>1<\/span>);<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t}<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tif<\/span> (<\/span>old_d!=<\/span>d)<\/span> {<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\tmc_ov_d.<\/span>gotoAndPlay<\/span>(<\/span>1<\/span>);<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t}<\/span>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\/\/IS OVER?<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\/\/check if current date has passed target date so it doen'st keep counting past the due date<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\tif<\/span> (<\/span>currentDate>=<\/span>targetDate)<\/span> {<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\ttimer.<\/span>removeEventListener<\/span>(<\/span>TimerEvent.<\/span>TIMER_COMPLETE<\/span>,<\/span> count);<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\/\/just 00 the text fields so it looks "over"<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\ttxt_day.<\/span>text<\/span>=<\/span>"00"<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\ttxt_hour.<\/span>text<\/span>=<\/span>"00"<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\ttxt_min.<\/span>text<\/span>=<\/span>"00"<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\ttxt_sec.<\/span>text<\/span>=<\/span>"00"<\/span>;<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t}<\/span>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t}<\/span>\r\n\r\n\t\t}<\/span>\r\n\r\n\t}<\/span>\r\n}<\/span>\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
To use, simply create an instance of it, feed it the date you want it to count down to (format is YEAR, MONTH, DAY) and attach it to the stage via addChild.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
var<\/span> _counter:Counter<\/span> =<\/span> new<\/span> Counter<\/span>(<\/span>2011<\/span>,<\/span>4<\/span>,<\/span>11<\/span>);<\/span>\r\naddChild(<\/span>_counter);<\/span>\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
Just make sure you have the movieclip (in the library) linked to the class.
\nSelect the clip > Properties and in ‘Class’ point it to ‘Counter’.<\/p>\n
\"Flash<\/p>\n
That’s it!<\/p>\n
Source files up for grabs HERE!<\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ve been itching to do one for a long time since I keep being asked to do countdown timers… Then there’s always that pesky deadline that keeps me from actually not cutting corners and doin’ it fo’ realz. So dundid I didit! A countdown timer set to server time via PHP! (…You know, it should work, but I didn’t test it through n’ through, just threw the servertime integration together this evening :S ). Source files up for grabs HERE! The deal is if you do a countdown in Flash, the Flash Date object is set to the user’s system...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-resources"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1238"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/www.nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3029,"href":"http:\/\/www.nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions\/3029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nathalielawhead.com\/candybox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}