show/hide recurring content based on server time

[n23]

New here, and know nothing about PHP. But I believe PHP is what I need to accomplish this task.

I need to show/hide some content (in my case a graphical button), based on a recurring weekly event. My client is doing a live streaming video cast every Thursday from 3-4. She wants a button to appear ("click here to tune in LIVE!") for just that duration of time. When her show is over at 4:00, the button disappears until the next Thursday at 3:00 (This is all in US Central Time).

Of course I could do this manually each week, but that is inefficient and unreliable, so I'm looking for a way to automate this task.

I have been searching for hours and have come up empty. The one thing that was closest was this thread:

http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=103041

which sounds like what I need to do, but it is using javascript instead of PHP. I would be fine with javascript, except that it uses the web visitor's computer clock, which could be inaccurate and doesn't handle the fact that vistors could be in a different time zone. I need it to be based on the server's clock instead.

So, can anybody point me in the right direction using PHP to do this? Again, I know very little about PHP, so please be patient with me.

Thanks in advance.

[NogDog]

<?php
if(date('l') == 'Thursday' and date('G') == 15) {
?>
<button type="button" onclick="blah blah blah">
<img src="click.png" alt="watch video" />
</button>
<?php
}
?>

If your server is not in the same time zone, you may want to first use date_default_timezone_set() to set the desired time zone.

[n23]

Thanks NogDog. I will see if this helps and report back either way. However, does this address the issue of having the button disappear when the show is over at 4:00? As mentioned, I don't know much about PHP, but I don't see anything in your code that appears to address that part. How can I set a duration, or expiration date?

[NogDog]

It will only show if the hour is 15 (3pm), so it will show from Thursday 15:00:00 until Thursday 15:59:59.

[n23]

Oh great, thanks! I'm so grateful for your help. Is there a way to be more specific though? The only reason I ask is because she has another show that starts on the half hour, 11:30 am -12:30 pm that she also wants to do this for. I assume the same code won't work for that one, without modifying it somehow...

[NogDog]

You might want to make a function that can be used for any case:

<?php
/**
 * Determine if current time is within specified weekday and time window
 * @return bool
 * @param string  $dayName       'Monday', 'Tuesday',...
 * @param int     $startHour     0-23
 * @param int     $startMinute   0-59
 * @param int     $endHour       0-23
 * @param int     $endMinute     0-59
 */
function isInTimeWindow($dayName, $startHour, $startMinute, $endHour, $endMinute)
{
   $dayName = ucfirst($dayName);
   list($dayNow, $timeNow) = explode('|', date('l|Hi'));
   return (
      ucfirst($dayName) == $dayNow and
      $timeNow >= sprintf('%02d%02d', $startHour, $startMinute) and
      $timeNow <= sprintf('%02d%02d', $endHour, $endMinute)
   );
}
// Sample usage:
if(isInTimeWindow('thursday', 16, 30, 17, 30))
{
?>
<button>Test</button>
<?php
}
?>