As such, I whipped up a quick Wordpress plugin (as I often do for these tiny problems), and decided to make this one available to the public. So without further ado, I give you...

Duck's Timestamp Inserter! Ok, it could use a more creative title. Using some pretty simple markup, it allows me to insert the current timestamp, or offsets thereof, into my post content.

<!--ducktime--> becomes 1227176678, while <!--ducktime+5000--> becomes 1227181678 and <!--ducktime-1200--> becomes 1227175478. If you refresh the page, you'll see these all change.

UPDATE: This Plugin is now listed on the WordPress Plugin Repository! You can download Duck's Timestamp Inserter from there - and of course, Ratings are appreciated. I've released it under GPL3. If you find it useful, please consider Donating.

One of my key considerations was using the Server's time, rather than the time of the User's system clock. This meant passing two Timestamps from PHP to Flash, which luckily is very easy to do. I'll walk you through the entire design process here. I'll be using Flash CS3, and ActionScript 2.0.

1. Set up the Document

In Flash, select File, New, and choose "Flash File (ActionScript 2.0)"
Select Modify, Document and change the Document Size. I'll be using 200px by 100px for this example.
Add a New Layer named Actions.
In the Timeline, add a Keyframe to Layer 1 at Frame 2.

2. Add Text Elements

On Frame 1 of Layer 1, use the Text Tool to create a Text Area that will contain the Countdown Time. Start this with a Default Text of 00:00:00:00. If you use a Monospace Font, Alignment won't matter.
Change the Text from 'Static Text' to 'Dynamic Text', and give the Text an Instance Name such as 'time_until'.
To make sure your chosen font is available to the Visitor, we're going to embed part of it. Click the 'Embed' button, and select 'Numerals'. Type a Semi-colon in the 'Include these characters:' field. Click OK.

3. Add Labels

Still in Layer 1/Frame 1, create a new Text Area. Set this area back to Static Text. Enter the text 'sec', and reduce the font size. Center this below the rightmost '00'. Copy (Ctrl+C) this field, and Paste in Place (Ctrl+Shift+V). Move the copied field under the next set of 00s, and change the text to 'min'. Repeat for 'hrs' and 'days' with the remaining 00s.

4. Add our ActionScript

Select Frame 1 of the Actions Layer, and press F9 to load the Actions Window. Add the Code shown in each block below:

 
stop();
 

This stops the Movie from playing, keeping it at Frame 1.

 
this.onEnterFrame = function () {
	var currTime = (Number(timeNow) * 1000) + getTimer();
	var targTime = Number(timeThen) * 1000;
	var timeLeft = targTime - currTime;
 

This begins our function to update the Countdown Timer. timeNow and timeThen are UNIX Timestamp values that will be passed in from the server via the flashvars attribute of the embed tag. We multiply these both by 1000 in order to convert them to a value in milliseconds, rather than seconds. getTimer returns how long the Flash Movie has been running in milliseconds, and is added to our Current Time to produce a countdown effect. timeLeft is simply the difference between these two values.

 
	if (timeLeft <= 0) {
		time_until.text = "00:00:00:00";
		gotoAndStop(2);
		return;
	}
 

If we've reached or past the Target Time of our Countdown, proceed to the second frame of the Movie, and stop there.

 
	var secs = Math.floor(timeLeft / 1000);
	var mins = Math.floor(secs/60);
	var hrs = Math.floor (mins/60);
	var days = Math.floor (hrs/24);
 

Since timeLeft is currently measured in milliseconds, we need to determine how many seconds, minutes, hours, and days that represents.

 
	secs = String(secs % 60);
	mins = String(mins % 60);
	hrs = String(hrs % 24);
	days = String(days);
 

The String function here converts the Numerical values into, well, Strings. The modulus of each timepart is taken so that only the significant portion is kept. We want an hour to appear as "00:01:00:00", rather than "00:01:60:3600".

 
	if (secs.length < 2) secs = "0" + secs;
	if (mins.length < 2) mins = "0" + mins;
	if (hrs.length < 2) hrs = "0" + hrs;
	if (days.length < 2) days = "0" + days;
 

These lines add 'zero-fill' to each value, ensuring that they are 2 digits long. If you need a 3-digit field for days, try replacing the last line with:

 
	while (days.length < 3) days = "0" + days;
 

Lastly, we need to output our time to the screen, and close our function.

 
	time_until.text = days + ":" + hrs
		+ ":" + mins + ":" + secs;
}
 

5. Add our 'Times Up!' Frame

In the Timeline, select Layer 1, Frame 2. Add whatever Text or Graphics you'd like here. This will appear when the Target Time has been reached.

6. Publish the .SWF

First, save the Document - Flash will publish to the same folder as the Document by default. Next, go File, Publish Settings... and detoggle the HTML file - we're going to need to customize it anyway, and I prefer my code a little less bloated than Flash's output. Only the .swf output should be enabled. Click Publish, and there should now be a .swf in the same folder as your Document.

7. Test it out!

Load the .swf file in a browser, and... it'll likely skip straight to Frame 2. Since no timestamps were supplied via flashvars, both timeNow and timeThen are undefined, which causes our timeLeft to evaluate to zero.

Luckily, testing the timer is very simple. In your browser window, simply add the two values to the .swf file's address. Just use a small number for timeNow, and a larger number for timeThen. The URL should be something like:
file:///C:/local_path/flashtimer.swf?timeNow=5&timeThen=18000

If you've done that correctly, you should now have a working countdown timer! The last step is loading this from your website, using PHP to pass in the timestamps required.

8. The PHP/HTML Document

Since you'll likely be adding this to part of another document, I'll only cover the necessary HTML here.


<embed src='flashtimer.swf' width='200' height='100'
flashvars='timeNow=<?=time();>&timeThen=1230163200'
type='application/x-shockwave-flash' />

Note that timeNow is passed in as the current Timestamp by PHP when the page loads. In this example, timeThen is Christmas Day 2008, a timestamp I simply generated using Epoch Converter.

The result will look something like this:

You'll obviously want to improve on the timer visually to match your site, or the occasion you're counting to. Oh, if you want to be really lazy, you can just Download the .FLA file. I don't mind, really

9. Using with Wordpress

If you're placing your Countdown Timer in a Wordpress post (like mine), you may have some difficulty using PHP to add the timestamp. Luckily, I whipped up a quick Wordpress Plugin to do just that. Duck's Timestamp Inserter is a small, free plugin that can output timestamps into Wordpress content.

For the third time now, I've scrapped a code-from-scratch web project and elected to use WordPress instead. For CoHLCD's site, I'm building the entire Theme from scratch, rather than using an existing Theme to template from. I think this is actually turning out to be a faster approach than restyling an already-designed template. With a little .htaccess tweak, I was even able to use my PHP-based Stylesheet.

I'll likely write a tutorial soon about creating WordPress Themes - it's honestly easier than I expected it to be, and hopefully I can help someone else discover the same.

I'll probably look for a used/broken G15 or G11, and just swipe the keytops from it. However, this definitely pushed this to the end of the project list.

Sheeb's Tau Battlesuits are nearly completed, as is the Necron 'Hand of Despair' Terrain piece. I'll be making some related terrain pieces soon, and creating templates so others can make the same Hand.

I'm going to be out of town all weekend, so the list itself won't really get knocked down all that much for a while. Ah well, I deserve a *few* days off

I repaired The Nightbringer, and also gave it a coat of Matte Varnish - hopefully that'll negate any minor scratch repairs for the near future.

The core of the G15 is essentially completed - I just have to resurface the Memory keys and the Mute/Backlight keys, and then the main Keyboard assembly can be put back together. I've already reattached the LCD. The keytops are still proving fairly resilient to my common methods of chemical paint stripping - I'm pretty sure it's going to come down to manually sanding each key, which is a pretty daunting task on a 122+ key Keyboard.

The Necron Hand of Despair is basically complete. It needs a little more paint, and some texturing on the base, but other than that it's tabletop-ready. I'll produce a PDF of the final plans hopefully in the next week or two, and I'll take construction photos whenever I get around to building a second one.

And that's about it so far. The last few days haven't been quite as eventful, list-wise. I blame our weekly D&D night

On top of that, I had the brilliant idea of giving the main plastic pieces (which were spraypainted with Krylon Fusion yesterday) a quick Clear Coat. Bad idea. It caused a fair bit of the Krylon Fusion to bubble up, and now I have to strip the paint off these as well.

So basically, the only part that's gone right in this whole project has been replacing the Blue LEDs with Red Ones - assuming you don't count the small soldering iron burn I self-inflicted. Hopefully this project turns around soon!

Now I just need to give my mom a quick tutorial on blogging with WordPress!

As an interesting side note, I found a small bug in my 'Display Category Children' sidebar widget, which I resolved as well. I may end up releasing this Widget soon, since it can be rather helpful, despite being really simple.

I've got the new Red LEDs installed in my G15, and I've began painting the outer frame. Unfortunately, it was rather humid outside today, so the spray paint's finish isn't quite as smooth yet as I'd hoped. Hopefully a few minutes with a fine detail sandpaper, and a light second coat will correct the problem.

The G15 keys are a different matter entirely. In their original form, the keys are a transparent plastic, and everything except the letter/symbol on the keytop is then painted black, allowing the letter to glow through. Since this is one of the early "oops, we forgot to lacquer the keytops" edition the keyboard, about half of the black paint has been rubbed off, which is why I choose to refinish the keyboard in the first place.

Since this format will be nearly impossible to replicate, I've chosen to strip the keys all down to their transparent plastic, and replace the lettering, which will be the only opaque region on each key. Unfortunately, the keys seem very resilient to my usual paint-stripping methods.

After spending the afternoon soaking in a jar of Simple Green, I took my trusty old toothbrush to the keys, and.... nothing at all happened. I suppose the next step is to try Brake Fluid, which I've had better success stripping paint with from stubborn plastic surfaces. Unfortunately, my jar of Brake Fluid is at work right now.

I haven't hit anything else on the list yet today - KotOR and the Keyboard have been more time-consuming than I had hoped.

In an attempt to simplify, destress, and just generally improve my life, I've resolved to complete as many of these projects as possible in the coming weeks/months, especially before I take on anything new.

I'm going to chronicle these projects here at Life According to Duck; hopefully by doing so, I'll be somewhat more motivated to complete them than I have been in the past. So without further ado, here's The Great To-Do List:

• Refinish my old Logitech G15 - ~60% On Hold
• Complete CoHLCD v2.0
• Complete the CoHLCD v2.0 Website - Layout converted to Wordpress Theme
• Paint Sheeb's Tau
• Move HexGirl.ca to HotBodSquads.com
• Complete ourHomeCookbook.com
• Complete WiiFitBuddy.com
• Complete EvolveThisPage.com
• Complete HeroSpot.com
• Complete mmoSpark.com
• Clean the Hermit Crab tank, and sell it
• Finish my Doomsday Monolith Conversion ~50%
• Assemble, Wire, and Paint my Monolith Phalanx
• Paint approx. 66 Necron Warriors ~ 10%
• Finish painting 4 Necron Destroyers - Stripped existing paint job
• Repair my damaged Nightbringer model
• Beat Knights of the Old Republic
• Create a Necron 'Ghost Rider' for MiniWarGaming's 40K Death Race
• Build Necron Terrain pieces - Obelisks, Pyramids, Hand of Despair
• Create a Necron 'Tombguard' (think Necron Defiler)

That's all that comes to mind right now - I'm sure there's more that should be on the list, but it's rather daunting already. Now, let's see what I can actually accomplish!

That said, I heard a bit of news on the radio today that, while upsetting, just made me realize how good we have it here.

Yesterday, the City of St. Catherines experienced its first homicide of the year. Just a few days shy of August, and there's only been ONE murder in a city with a metropolitan population of over 300,000.

I don't think I'll lose any sleep tonight.