WWW Homepage Access Counter and Clock!

For Unix, NT/Win98, OS/2, VAX VMS and Amiga

[Count Release 2.5]     Example Page

Count 2.5 Last Updated: Jul 17, 1999

       



Table of Contents
  • What's new (in 2.5)?
  • Introduction
  • Features
  • Digit styles (all platforms)
  • How to call the program from web page (all platforms)
  • Counter options (all platforms)
  • Compositing with an image
  • Examples (all platforms)
  • Error messages (all platforms)
  • Copyright (all platforms)
  • Acknowledgments
  • Contact CommUnities OnLine

    What's new (in 2.5)
    Please look at the Section Features for all the features.

  • A new parameter cdf is added, to specify countdown from date so that the difference between two dates can be shown if you specify the target date witht he parameter cdt.
    (Jul-17-1999)

  • Fixed some memory related bugs. Modified the Commaize() funtion, it had a memory free related bug. remote_ip var had dangling memory read problem. All memory related bugs were fund by Parasoft's insure++.
    (May-26-1999)

  • Compositing the counter on a base image had many bugs. All are fixed I think. Now you can composite counter, clock or countdown image on a base image (previously only counter image could be composited). Left padding the counter while compositing was not working either. The align keyword had more values now, namely topleft, topcenter, topright, midleft, midcenter, midright, bottomleft, bottomcenter and bottomright. A new keyword offset can be used with align to specify the offset (in pixels) of the counter image from the edge of the base image.
    (May-16-1999)

  • The meaning of image parameter is changed. Now this parameter is used for compositing the counter, clock, date or countdown image. If no display paramter is used, the default is to composite the counter image.
    (May-16-1999)

  • A new boolean keyword sdhms (show day hr min sec) is added, so that only days in countdown can be displayed.
    (May-16-1999)

  • A new parameter display=version is introduced to show the version of the counter. A command line flag -version also can be used to find out the version of the counter.
    (May-16-1999)

  • Yes it includes the Buffer Overflow security fix (Fixed on: Oct-17-1997 in Count 2.3).
  • Introduction

    This is a CGI program to keep record of the raw hits of a web page. It generates a GIF image of the number of hits and returns to the browser as an in-lined image. The program also has a run-time option not to show the digit images, this way the hits can be kept without displaying it. The hits can be be monitored without incrementing from a separate page as well. The program can also can display time and date of any timezone. It has a option to countdown to a specific date (past or future). Almost all of the features are run-time options. This program started as a fun-to-play-with CGI program but due to enormous interest, feature request, input from thousands of you, it has turned in to the most configurable hit counter on the whole World Wide Web and it's free. The program runs on almost all Known Unix platforms, Windows NT, OS/2, VMS and Amiga.
    Features

  • Countdown to a specific date (past or future). Countdown can be done in reference to local server time or any timezone with the parameter timezone. Two new keywords are added: display=countdown and cdt=year;month;day;hr;min;sec. If display=countdown is used and no cdt is specified, the default countdown to Year 2000 is assumed. The current time and date can be displayed below the countdown if the sfd=T is used. Please look at the Options section and FAQ Question# 28 for details. Also look at the Examples section to see how it looks.
    (new in this release)

  • Count or ignore Consecutive reloading a page from the same host. A user can choose when browser reloads a page the counter will count or ignore reload with parameter reload=T or F.
    (new in this release)

  • The counter image can be composited with a base image to a specific location. New keyword: xy=x;y (Sub-image x and y co-ordinate). The parameter align can be used to specify the width and height of the counter image in the <img src= tag while calling the counter. The implication is, if the counter is the first thing in a large table, the browser will not have to wait to calculate the width and height of the counter image before loading the rest. Please look at the Examples section to see how it works.
    (new in this release)

  • 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 (99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999), that is if data is not edited by hand, practically it is impossible to overflow the counter.

  • The counter can count with image= parameter if df= parameter is specified.

  • Date in clock is Year 2000 safe. Note, you will not see full year in the counter until the year 2000 arrives unless you use the parameter fy, or specify YYYY with the option dformat.

  • Uses image strip as well as individual digit images. Using an image strip reduces disk i/o significantly, therefore, it's faster. A program (mkstrip) is supplied to create an image strip from individual digit images.

  • Comma can be displayed after every 3rd digit from right.

  • Any one color of the image can be changed on the fly.

  • Any arbitrary GIF file can be displayed. Frame and other attributes of the counter can be applied to the GIF file.

  • Reasonable default for all QUERY_STRING parameters.

  • The same program can be used to display time or date.

  • 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.

  • Supports digit images with variable width.

  • A literal digit string can be displayed.

  • A random digit string can be displayed.

  • The color of the digits can be negated.

  • The counter can be rotated (only integral of 90 degrees, 90,180,270). The default rotation is 270 degrees.

  • An ornamental 3D frame can be wrapped around the counter image with user defined thickness and color at run time.

  • 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.

  • Any color of the counter image can be made transparent at run time.

  • Style of digits can be specified at run time.

  • IP filtering through a configuration file at run time. Any number of hosts can be ignored from counting. A netmask can be used to filter out a specific range of hosts in a network or to filter out the entire network. It's a good idea to ignore your own host or entire domain.

  • Data file locking. Data file will not get clobbered by simultaneous Count.cgi processes. NOTE, locking may not work if the counter's datafile is on a NFS partition.

  • Maximum number of digits can be set or counter can be displayed with exact number of digits at run time.

  • 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 properly.
  • Digit Styles (all platforms)
    The digits used in this program can be individual GIF files or all the digits can be in a single image strip. This gives you the flexibility of using digits of your choice. If you have individual digit images, they are named as zero.gif, one.gif,.... nine.gif, colon.gif, am.gif, pm.gif, comma.gif, dash.gif, d.gif, h.gif, m.gif and s.gif.If you have an image strip, the strip is named as strip.gif. At run-time, the directory of the images is simply used to specify a different style. Therefore, a single program can display digits of various styles. Here are the supplied digit styles. I will not supply individual digit images anymore. All the styles of digits are supplied as a single image strip. Note the order of the digits (you will know about it later).

    Style A styleA designed by the author. D, H, M, S segment added by Andrew Taylor
    (digits/A/strip.gif)
    Style B styleB Borrowed from HTML-access counter. (digits/B/strip.gif)
    Style C styleC designed by benjamin@pop3.oro.net
    (digits/C/strip.gif)
    Style D styleD designed by the author
    (digits/D/strip.gif)
    Style E styleE designed by the author
    (digits/E/strip.gif)
    Style cd stylecd made by the author on SGI with GIMP running on Linux. D,H,M and S are needed for countdown option.
    (digits/cd/strip.gif)
    Style cdr stylecdr Contributed by Mike Casper.
    (digits/cdr/strip.gif)
    Style cdd stylecdd Contributed by Sebastian Hartman
    (digits/cdd/strip.gif)
    Style bang stylebang Bangla digits. Made with GIMP by the author.
    (digits/bang/strip.gif)

    How to call the program? (all platforms)

    If your web server is running on On Unix, you can refer to the program from web page like this:

    If the web server is running on Unix:

        <img src="/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?df=sample.dat" align="absmiddle">
    

    The string after the ? mark is called the QUERY_STRING. Make sure there are no newlines in the <img src= line and no space in the QUERY_STRING. 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. If you configured the counter to allow automatic datafile creation (look at count.cfg file), you can specify a datafile with df like df=count.dat. The file count.dat will be created for you if the permission to the data directory is correct.

    If you configured not to allow automatic datafile creation (good thing), you have to create this file in the data directory. Change directory (cd) to the data directory and type:

        echo "1" > count.dat
    
    In NT, go to Command Prompt from Start->Programs and do the same.

    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 but I prefer to use & as some browser may not like |. Here is an example:

    <img src="/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?ft=4&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.

    Counter options (all platforms)
    [Originally written in HTML table by Kevin]

    Keywords
    align - align counter image on a base image.
    cache - and expires are used to change caching behavior of the browsers.
    chcolor - change one color of the counter image.
    cdt - countdown target date.
    cdf - countdown from date.
    comma - show comma after 3rd digits from right.
    dd - digit directory.
    degrees or angle - rotation angle of the image.
    df - counter data file.
    dformat - date format.
    display - counter, clock, date, countdown or image.
    frgb - Frame color.
    ft - Frame thickness
    fy - Full year (all digits).
    image - Display a GIF image.
    incr - Increment the counter or not.
    istrip - Use strip.gif or not.
    lit - Show literal string.
    md - Maximum number of digits to display.
    negate - Show the negative image of counter.
    offset - Offset from the counter image from the edge of the base image while compositing.
    pad - Left pad with zeros or not.
    reload - Count page reload or not.
    rotate - Rotate the counter image.
    sdhms - Show the day, hr, min, sec in countdown or not.
    sfd - Show "from" date while showing countdown.
    sh - Show the counter of keep it hidden.
    srgb, prgb - Change source color to pen color.
    st - Start count number.
    timezone - Show time of that time zone.
    tformat - Time format, 12 or 24 hr.
    tr - Transparency On or Off.
    trgb - Transparency color.
    xy - Composite the counter at x,y location of a base image.
    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 tells 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, if 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 browsers that support the HTTP Expires header as specified in HTTP specification. By default, most web browsers cache the image received 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

    reload=B Count page reload if the site admin configured the counter to support it.
    (Added on: Dec-05-1998)
    If the site admin configured the counter to count reload, users can choose to count reload (default) or ignore reload. The site admin allows count reloading by yes, 1 or true in the [options] section of the configuration file with the keyword count_reload. Note, if the admin decided to ignore reload count (count_reload=No), user preference is ignored. The valid values for the Boolean parameter reload are Y, N, T, F, 1 or 0. reload=T
    Count reload if site admin configured to so.
    cdt=year;month;day;hr;min;sec (Added on: Dec-13-1998) Show the countdown time to this target date. The parameter cdt specifies the countdown target date. The valid values for this parameter is 6 integers separated by semicolon. The first integer specifies the year, for example: 2000. The month starts at 1 (January). The first day is 1. Note: in Unix systems, the year can not be less than 1970 as Unix epoch starts starts at 00:00:00 on January 1, 1970, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The range of hr is 0 to 23. The range of min is 0 to 59 and the range of sec is 0 to 59. To count down to Year 2000, the parameter will be: cdt=2000;1;1;0;0;0. If you do not specify any Timezone with the parameter timezone, the countdown will be calculated from the web server time. For example if you like to show the countdown from GMT, specify timezone as: timezone=GMT+0000. None
    cdf=year;month;day;hr;min;sec (Added on: Jul-17-1999) Show the countdown time from this date. The parameter cdf specifies the countdown from date. The default is to calculate from the current local time or local time of a specific timezone if the parameter timezone is specified. The valid values for this parameter is 6 integers separated by semicolon. The first integer specifies the year, for example: 1999. The month starts at 1 (January). The first day is 1. Note: in Unix systems, the year can not be less than 1970 as Unix epoch starts starts at 00:00:00 on January 1, 1970, Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The range of hr is 0 to 23. The range of min is 0 to 59 and the range of sec is 0 to 59. The local web server time.
    sdhms=B Show the day, hr, min, sec in countdown or not. This parameter affects how the countdown is displayed. The valid values for the Boolean parameter sdhms are Y, N, T, F, 1 or 0. By defualt, the value for this parameter is True, that means the countdown is shows as Day, Hour, Min and Sec. If you just want to show the countdown days, specify F as the value. sdhms=T
    sfd=B Show from date (sfd) below the countdown. The parameter sfd shows the from date below the countdown. The from date is the time when the program is executed. The time in date is always in 24 hr format. If you use the parameter timezone, the timezone offset will be shown at the end of time. It may be necessary to see this date to make sure that the Counter program actually ran and the browser is not loading the image from cache. Use cache=F&expires=0 to make sure that browser does not cache the image. The valid values for the Boolean parameter sfd are Y, N, T, F, 1 or 0. sfd=F
    display=X Specifies what to display. The valid values for X is: counter, clock, date, countdown, image or version. If the value is countdown and if the countdown time is not specified with parameter cdt, the countdown to year 2000 is assumed. See also: cdt. Note: If you specify display=image and if you specify a datafile with df parameter and if incr is true, then counter will be incremented in the datafile. This will help some people who do not like to show the counter, instead they can show an image. You can use incr=F from another page to monitor the counter. display=counter
    timezone=X Display time/date of the specified timezone. The parameter timezone= is only significant with display=clock, display=date or display=countdown Use this parameter if you want to display time or date of another timezone or calculate countdown in reference to a timezone to a target date. 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. To show the full year in the display instead of two digit year specify YYYY instead of YY, for example dformat=MMDDYYYY. To show full year you can also use the parameter fy. dformat=MMDDYY
    fy=B Show the full year (fy) in the date instead of only two digit year. This boolean parameter indicates whether to show all the year digits instead of default two digits in the date. By the way the program will display all the year digits by default from Year 2000. The valid values for the boolean parameter fy are Y,N,T,F,1 or 0. See also: dformat. fy=F
    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. You also can use a color name (e.g. frgb=blue) if the counter is configured to do so (look at the cfg file). Look at the color name mapping database for some hints about color name database.

    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
    trgb=R;G;B
    or
    trgb=RRGGBB (in hex)
    Transparency Color Specifies the color to be made transparent 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 tr= without a trgb= param, the default color is used. 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 trgb=ffffff. You also can use a color name (e.g. trgb=blue) if the counter is configured to do so (look at the cfg file). Look at the color name mapping database for some hints about color name database. If you use trgb= then tr=Y is not needed. trgb=0;0;0 or
    trgb=000000
    md=X Max Digits Defines maximum number of digits to display. Any value between 5 and 80 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 Left padding with 0s Turn padding on/off in conjunction with md= setting. It also affects padding hour in clock. 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

    dd=A Digit Directory Denotes directory of a specific styles of digits. Four styles of digits are supplied. They are kept at the directories A,B,C and D respectively. Visit the digit mania page for other styles of digits. dd=A
    My green LED digits
    image=gif_file Display this GIF file You can display any GIF image specified with this parameter. The location of this file is determined by the dd= parameter. Note that no path in the GIF file is allowed. All attributes of the counter apply to the image. This parameter is used for compositing counter image with the GIF image. The default alignment is top-center and the default offset is 2 pixels from the top of the GIF image. If you want to composite clock, date or contdown, specify so with the display paramter. None
    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. The file must be allocated to you as was mentioned in the "Authorizations" section above. 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
    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
    degrees=X
    or
    angle=X
    Rotate X degrees Makes it possible to rotate the counter image X degrees. The possible values of X are 90, 180, 270 and 360. Note 360 is meaningless as the counter will come back to the original 0 degrees. Note: Microsoft MS Explorer interprets &degrees as the degree character (it's gotta be a bug in IE), so use angle to be safe. degrees=270
    With rotate=Y and without degrees=X
    rotate 270 degrees clockwise
    rotate=B Rotate On/Off The Boolean value B turns on or off rotating. If you use degrees= setting, rotate is not needed. Valid values for the Boolean parameter B are Y, N, T, F, 1, or 0. rotate=F
    Do not rotate
    xy=x;y composite the counter image to a base image at the location x,y When a base image is specified with image parameter, the parameter xy can be used to composite the counter image on the base image at location x,y. x is positive towards right and y is positive downward. The co-ordinate of the upper left corner of the base image is 0,0). See also: align. xy=1;1
    align=X composite the counter/clock/countdown image with a base image and align the counter image. This option can be used to composite the counter on a base image (specified with image with known width and height. This way, you will be able specify the width and height of the counter image in the <img src= tag while calling the counter. The implication is, if the counter is the first thing in a large table, the browser will not have to wait to calculate the width and height of the counter image before loading the rest. The valid value for the parameter align is topleft, topcenter, topright, midleft, midright, midcenter, bottomleft, bottomcenter and bottomright. The parameter offset can be used to specify the offset in pixels from the edge of the base image. Note: xy parameter has higher precedence than align. Therefore, if both xy and align is specified xy will take the precedence. See also: xy. align=bottomcenter
    offset=N Offset of the counter image in pixels from the edge of the base image while compositing the counter with an image. The parameter offset is used with parameter align to specify the offset of the counter image in pixels from the edge of the base image while compositing the counter/clock image with an base image. If align=topleft, the the offset is counted from the top and left edge of the base image. If align=topcenter, the offset is counted from the top edge of the base image. If align=topright, the offset is counted from the top and right edge of the base image. If align=midleft, offset is counted from the left edge of the base image. If align=midcenter, offset is ignored. If align=midright, offset is counted from the right edge of the base image. If align=bottomleft, offset is counted from the left and bottom edge of the base image. If align=bottomcenter, offset is counted from bottom edge of the base image. If align=bottomright, offset is counted from the right and bottom edge of the base image. The valid value for the paramter N is a positive integer. See also: xy. offset=2

    Compositing with an image

    Compositing the counter image with a base image is an interesting feature of the counter. It allows you to composite the counter, clock or countdown image with a base image of your choice. You can position the counter image anywhere on the base image using the parameter xy or you can use align to align at top, middle and bottom of the base image. The valid keyword for align is topleft, topcenter, topright, midleft, midright, midcenter, bottomleft, bottomcenter and bottomright. The parameter offset can be used to specify the offset in pixels from the edge of the base image.

    Here's example of Compositing the counter with a base image:

    composite.gif

    The HTML tag used to create the above image is as follows:

    
    <img src="/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?df=sample.dat&dd=A&image=yeehaw.gif&ft=0&offset=5&align=topcenter">
    
    
    

    Note: while compositing the keyword tr and trgb for transparency makes the color of the counter image transparent not that of the base image. Also, when you're compositing, do NOT specify display=image.

    Examples (all platforms) (link)

    Error Messages

    Count will try to return an image in every event. That is, even if it fails for some reason, it will write the error messages in GIF format.
    Should you have any error or broken gif image, you should READ the error message as it will usually, (always) help you know where the problem is. Examples are shown below. Ones with (Admin) require Admin, (me) To correct.

    "Bad Referrer, or you are not permitted to use," Your Domain has not been added to the authorize list. (Admin)

    "Missing "?.dat" file." You have entered an incorrect Path to the file, or No data file has been set up for you yet. (Admin)

    "Internal Server Error" Bad news. Main script has died, ( or been murdered ) (ADMIN) This happens only after an update to the script.

    WWW Count Frequently Asked Questions (Link)

    Copyright (all platforms)

    Copyright 1995-1999 by Muhammad A Muquit. Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this program is hereby granted without fee, provided that this copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation. If the source code of the program is modified or enhanced, the source code must be made public and it must be clearly mentioned in the documentation what was modified.

    THIS PROGRAM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY. THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR Muhammad A. Muquit BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTUOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

    Note: This program is developed in my own time. My employer has nothing to do with it.

    Acknowledgments
    Special thanks to Kevin J. Walsh. Without Kevin, the counter wouldn't be in the current stage. Kevin did the major code overhauling in Count version 2.0. Thanks to all of you who showed interest in the counter program. I had fun writing it.

    Official Counter Home: http://www.fccc.edu/users/muquit/Count.html

    This support site maintained by: CommUnities OnLine
    email: info@wwcol.com
    Page last updated: Fri. Sept. 2, 1999