Global Variable Help
I am trying to add a global variable in my links setup. I have a field in my database that shows the number of images in each content set (each link). I want to add a global tag (<%imagecount%>) that shows the total number of images in the sets. I figured the best place to have the count totalled would be in nph-build.cgi in sub build_stats, so I made the changes below in red and added the tag to site_html_templates.pl in the globals section. It doesn't work, nothing is shown. I don't get the Unknown Tag error, just empty, as if the variable is empty. If I take the open DB portion below, and add it to the sub build_home, it works perfectly, but not as a global variable, just on the home page, but this adds overhead to nph-build.cgi, because it is opening and going through the database again, after sub build_stats has already done it.
I am not a Perl wiz, but I have managed to figure my way through some modifications of my own, but this has got me stumped. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance,
Charlie
THE CHANGES I MADE ARE IN RED:
sub build_stats {
# --------------------------------------------------------
# This routine does a lot of the messy work. It builds globally accessible
# arrays of new_links and cool_links. It finds out how many links are in each
# category, and whether a category contains a new/modified link.
my (@values, $category, $cat, @alt_categories, @categorylist, $depth, $i, $cat, %unique_categories, $imagetally, $images);
my $staggered_mode = shift || undef;
open (DB, "<$db_file_name") or &cgierr("unable to open database: $db_file_name. Reason: $!");
LINE: while (<DB>) {
/^#/ and next LINE; # Skip comment Lines.
/^\s*$/ and next LINE; # Skip blank lines.
chomp;
@values = &split_decode ($_);
$category = $values[$db_category];
$images = $values[$db_count]; #(Note: $db_count is defined in links.def)
$imagetally = $imagetally + $images;
# Add the link to the list of links.
push (@{$links{$category}}, @values) if (!$staggered_mode);
$grand_total++;
# Add the link to the alternate categories as well.
if (defined $db_alt) {
@alt_categories = split(/\Q$db_delim\E/, $values[$db_alt]);
foreach (@alt_categories) {
push (@{$links{$_}}, @values);
}
}
# Add the link to the list of new links if it is new.
push (@{$new_links{$category}}, @values) if ($values[$db_isnew] eq "Yes");
# This adds one to the total of each category above the current category.
# We have to caluclate the affect of the link on each alt category as well as the main.
%unique_categories = "";
foreach $cat ($category, @alt_categories) {
# Calculate the stats: the number of links and the newest link.
@categorylist = split (/\//, $cat);
$depth = $#categorylist;
# This adds one to the total of each category above the current category,
# and also marks any above categories new, if this link is new.
for $i (0 .. $depth) {
if (! defined ($unique_categories{$cat})) {
$unique_categories{$cat} += 1;
$stats{$cat}[0]++;
}
if ((!$stats{$cat}[1]) || &compare_dates($values[$db_modified], $stats{$cat}[1])) {
$stats{$cat}[1] = $values[$db_modified];
}
pop (@categorylist);
$cat = join("/", @categorylist);
}
}
}
close DB;
# Now we have to sort the links and categories..
if (!$staggered_mode) {
foreach $link ( keys %links ) {
@{$links{$link}} = &build_sorthit (@{$links{$link}});
}
foreach $cat ( keys %subcategories ) {
@{$subcategories{$cat}} = sort @{$subcategories{$cat}};
}
}
$grand_total ||= 0;
$imagecount = $imagetally;
}
site_html_templates.pl, %globals section added:
imagecount => $imagecount
I am not a Perl wiz, but I have managed to figure my way through some modifications of my own, but this has got me stumped. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance,
Charlie
Quote:
THE CHANGES I MADE ARE IN RED:
sub build_stats {
# --------------------------------------------------------
# This routine does a lot of the messy work. It builds globally accessible
# arrays of new_links and cool_links. It finds out how many links are in each
# category, and whether a category contains a new/modified link.
my (@values, $category, $cat, @alt_categories, @categorylist, $depth, $i, $cat, %unique_categories, $imagetally, $images);
my $staggered_mode = shift || undef;
open (DB, "<$db_file_name") or &cgierr("unable to open database: $db_file_name. Reason: $!");
LINE: while (<DB>) {
/^#/ and next LINE; # Skip comment Lines.
/^\s*$/ and next LINE; # Skip blank lines.
chomp;
@values = &split_decode ($_);
$category = $values[$db_category];
$images = $values[$db_count]; #(Note: $db_count is defined in links.def)
$imagetally = $imagetally + $images;
# Add the link to the list of links.
push (@{$links{$category}}, @values) if (!$staggered_mode);
$grand_total++;
# Add the link to the alternate categories as well.
if (defined $db_alt) {
@alt_categories = split(/\Q$db_delim\E/, $values[$db_alt]);
foreach (@alt_categories) {
push (@{$links{$_}}, @values);
}
}
# Add the link to the list of new links if it is new.
push (@{$new_links{$category}}, @values) if ($values[$db_isnew] eq "Yes");
# This adds one to the total of each category above the current category.
# We have to caluclate the affect of the link on each alt category as well as the main.
%unique_categories = "";
foreach $cat ($category, @alt_categories) {
# Calculate the stats: the number of links and the newest link.
@categorylist = split (/\//, $cat);
$depth = $#categorylist;
# This adds one to the total of each category above the current category,
# and also marks any above categories new, if this link is new.
for $i (0 .. $depth) {
if (! defined ($unique_categories{$cat})) {
$unique_categories{$cat} += 1;
$stats{$cat}[0]++;
}
if ((!$stats{$cat}[1]) || &compare_dates($values[$db_modified], $stats{$cat}[1])) {
$stats{$cat}[1] = $values[$db_modified];
}
pop (@categorylist);
$cat = join("/", @categorylist);
}
}
}
close DB;
# Now we have to sort the links and categories..
if (!$staggered_mode) {
foreach $link ( keys %links ) {
@{$links{$link}} = &build_sorthit (@{$links{$link}});
}
foreach $cat ( keys %subcategories ) {
@{$subcategories{$cat}} = sort @{$subcategories{$cat}};
}
}
$grand_total ||= 0;
$imagecount = $imagetally;
}
Quote:
site_html_templates.pl, %globals section added:
imagecount => $imagecount