In
order to access our homepage hit counter, you will need
to notify the technical support department to have your
domain name added.
| Table
of Contents |
Frequently
Asked Questions |
- Does
not require server-side includes.
-
The maximum number of digits the counter can count
and display can be very high. By default the maximum
number of hits can be (10^80)-1, which is a very large
number, that is if data is not edited by hand, practically
it is impossible to overflow the coutner.
(new in this release)
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The counter can count with image= parameter if df=
parameter is specified.
(new in this release)
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Consecutive "Reload" from the same host will not increment
the counter. This feature can be turned off at compile
time if desired.
(new in this release)
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"cache" and expires" parameters can be used to change
the caching behavior of certain browsers.
(new in this release)
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Comma can be displayed after every 3rd digit from
right.
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Any one color of the image can be changed on the fly.
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The same program can be used to display time or date.
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The time and date of any timezone in the world can
be displayed. The time can be displayed in 12 or in
24 hour format.
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Supports digit images with variable width.
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Counter can be displayed without incrementing (for
monitoring etc.)
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A literal digit string can be displayed.
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A random digit string can be displayed.
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The color of the digits can be negated.
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An ornamental 3D frame can be wrapped around
the counter image with user defined thickness and
color at run time.
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The frame and transparent color can be a name (e.g.
red,green,pink etc.). The color can be specified as
a hex string, e.g. ffffff, ff0000 etc. as well as
RGB triplets as before.
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Style of digits can be specified at run time.
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Maximum number of digits can be set or counter can
be displayed with exact number of digits at run
time.
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User will be able to specify a start-up counter value
at run time. This will take effect if the data
file does not exist. You will be prompted by the configuration
program if you want this feature or not.
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If you do not want to display the counter but
like to keep the hits on your page, sh=0 can be defined
in the QUERY_STRING at run time. It will write
a 1x1 transparent GIF image to the browser but the
counter in the data file will be incremented all right.
All the following styles of digits are supplied for
use within your webpages.
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Style A |
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Style B |
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Style C |
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Style D |
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Style E |
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You can refer to the program from web page like this:
<img src="http://counter.expiry.com/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?df=sample.dat"
align=absmiddle>
The string between ? and " is called the QUERY_STRING.
Make sure there is no newlines in the <img src=
line and no space in the QUERY_STRING. Here in, df=sample.dat,
df means datafile and sample.dat is
the counter datafile. The counter stores the hits
in this file. This datafile is supplied. You must
specify a datafile with df like df=count.dat.
The counter program has lots of options, you can make
it work and look the way you desire. In the query
string, you can use the options described in the table
below. The options can be separated by a | or a &.
You can use either one or combination of both. Here
is an example:
<img
src="http://counter.expiry.com/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?ft=T&frgb=gold|df=sample.dat"
align=absmiddle>
The
options can be in any order and not case sensitive.
Anyway, look at this
Example Page you will get the picture.
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| 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 hints 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,
ff 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 browser
supports the HTTP Expires header as specified
in HTTP specification. By default, most web browsers
caches the image got 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 |
|
display=X |
Specifies what to display. |
A valid string can be specified with display= parameter
to display counter, clock or date. The valid value
for the string parameter X is counter, clock or
date For counter, this parameter is not need as
counter is the default display type. |
display=counter |
|
timezone=X |
Display time/date of the specified timezone. |
The parameter timezone= is only significant with
display=clock or display=date. Use this parameter
if you want to display time or date of another timezone.
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. |
dformat=MMDDYY |
|
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. |
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 |
|
md=X |
Max Digits |
Defines maximum number of digits to display. Any
value between 5 and 10 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 |
Padding with 0's |
Turn padding on/off in conjunction with md= setting.
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
With specification of a md=value
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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
(0;255;255 cyan)
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. 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 on each invocation
|
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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 |
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Counters will try to return an image in any event. That
is, even if it fails for some reason, it will write
the error messages in GIF format. The text error messages
also will be written to the counter log file defined
with LOG_FILE in the directory defined with LOG_DIR
in the config.h file. The program Count-config
asked about these if you remember.
If you see any of these images, please check the Counter
log file you defined with LOG_DIR and LOG_FILE.
If the program could not create the log file, it will
write the error messages to stderr. Please contact
an Expiry System Administrator for assistance.
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1. Why does the counter show "888888" all the time?
Answer:
The counter is running in strict mode (look at count.cfg
file). When the counter runs in strict mode, if the
browser does not return the environment variable HTTP_REFERER,
the counter will display the image 888888 instead
of serving the counter. The environment variable HTTP_REFERER
should contain the web page running the counter. Some
browsers does not return this variable in <img
GET method.
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2. The counter seems to display random number. What's
the problem?
Answer:
If you do not specify a datafile with df= parameter,
the counter will display a random number.
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3. I get an error message "Host foo.com is not authorized".
What's the problem?
Answer:
Please contact an Expiry System Administrator to have
your domain name added to the counter permissions
file.
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4. How can I reset the counter?
Answer:
To reset the counter, contact an Expiry System Administrator
to do it for you.
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5. What's the maximum number of hits the counter
can handle?
Answer:
By default compile time option, it can handle digits
up to 80 character long. Now a pop quiz, if
a site gets one million hits/day, in which year the
counter will overflow?
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6. The counter does not seem to increment, what's going
on?
Answer:
It's a feature in the new release. It will only increment,
if the visitor's IP and the one in the datafile (last
visitor) differs. It's there to handle if people press
"Reload" button continuously. If you do not like it,
too bad -- it's a good feature, really!
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