Countdown

Countdown
Information
Type	JavaScript
Description	Script that creates a countdown clock
Author(s)	Pecoes Asaba
Using code by	Splarka Eladkse
Scope	Site-wide
Updated	Error: Page "MediaWiki:Countdown.js" does not exist.
Code	code.js
Language support	Error: Page "MediaWiki:Countdown/code.js" does not contain language list delimiters.

The Countdown script creates a countdown clock where specified.

What it does

You add an element with a target date to the page and this script will replace that date with a countdown until the day/hour/minute/second of that date is reached.

Installation

See also: Help:Advanced CSS and JS

Using the new MediaWiki:ImportJS, you can include this immediately to your wiki by adding:

dev:Countdown/code.js

If you want to include this the older way, copy and paste the following into your wiki's MediaWiki:Common.js page:

importArticles({
    type: "script",
    articles: [
        "w:c:dev:MediaWiki:Countdown/code.js"
    ]
});

If your MediaWiki:Common.js page already has an import like the one above, just add "w:c:dev:MediaWiki:Countdown/code.js" to the list, as described here.

Creating a countdown

A countdown can be added to a page using the following format:

<span class="countdown" style="display:none;">Only <span class="countdowndate">January 01 2025 00:00:00</span> until the new year...</span>

The text within "countdown" only appears when the countdown is active. Any text before "countdowndate" will precede the countdown, and any text after "countdowndate" will follow the countdown.

The example above produces:

Only January 01 2025 00:00:00 until the new year...(Countdown example)

An optional span with class "nocountdown" can be used as alternative text when the countdown script does not work or while it is loading.

• e.g. Using <span class="nocountdown">It's almost the new year!</span> results in
  "It's almost the new year!" while the script loads.

This span should be placed directly after the countdown code above.

Time zones

Using the example code above, the countdown works relative to the reader's system clock. While this may be useful in cases such as counting down to the new year, it is impractical in others.

Two methods can be used to make the countdown work based on a specific time zone. The easiest is to add the time zone identifier to the end of the code. For example, to make a countdown for Eastern Standard Time (EST):

<span class="countdowndate">January 01 2025 00:00:00 EST</span>

While this method works with most identifiers, it does not work for some daylight savings variants (e.g. British Summer Time - BST).

An alternative and more reliable method is to add the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) offset to the end of the code. For example, to make a countdown for EST, which has an offset of -5 hours:

<span class="countdowndate">January 01 2025 00:00:00 -0500</span>

Note that changes to and from daylight savings are not done automatically, and must be done by the user - either with the daylight savings identifier, or by using the UTC offset.

Options

Ending the Countdown

How do you want the countdown to end? There are five options:

1. counting up from zero — this is the default for legacy reasons
2. removal of the countdown container
3. stopping the countdown at zero
4. replacing the countdown with something else
5. calling a custom JavaScript function of your choice

Countup

Since this is the default option, you needn't do anything.

Remove

Add a data-end attribute with the value "remove" to the container:

<span data-end="remove" class="countdown" style="display:none;"><!--
-->Only <span class="countdowndate">January 01 2025 00:00:00</span> until the new year...<!--
--></span>

Stop

Add a data-end attribute with the value "stop" to the container:

<span data-end="stop" class="countdown" style="display:none;"><!--
-->Only <span class="countdowndate">January 01 2025 00:00:00</span> until the new year...<!--
--></span>

Replacement

Add a data-end attribute with the value "toggle" to the container. Additionally you will have to add a data-toggle attribute with a selector that points to the replacement:

<span data-end="toggle" data-toggle=".post-countdown" class="countdown" style="display:none;"><!--
-->Only <span class="countdowndate">January 01 2025 00:00:00</span> until the new year...<!--
--></span><span class="post-countdown" style="display:none;">Happy 2025!</span>

Note the dot in the value of data-toggle! The expected value is a CSS or jQuery selector. So that's ".name" for classes. "#name" for IDs. Etc.

Alternatively, if the toggle container is the following one after the counter, the special value data-toggle="next" can be used instead, without needing to specify any selector. This is useful when using multiple countdowns as part of a template, for instance.

Custom Callback

Add a data-end attribute with the value "callback" to the container. Additionally you will have to add a data-callback attribute with the name of the function you want to call:

<span data-end="callback" data-callback="myFunction" class="countdown" style="display:none;"><!--
-->Only <span class="countdowndate">January 01 2025 00:00:00</span> until the new year...<!--
--></span>

The countdown will stop at zero and then your function will be called. The countdown container will be the this object of the function.

To make the function available to the Countdown module, you will have to add it to the module itself:

window.countdownTimer = {
    myFunction: function () {
       $(this).text('Happy 2025!');
    }
}

Leading Zeros

By default leading zeros will be shown:

0 days, 0 hours, 10 minutes and 10 seconds

If you prefer this instead:

10 minutes and 10 seconds

you need to add a data-options attribute with the value "no-leading-zeros":

<span data-options="no-leading-zeros" class="countdown" style="display:none;"><!--
-->Only <span class="countdowndate">January 01 2025 00:00:00</span> until the new year...<!--
--></span>

Short format

If you prefer to show the countdown in a short format like 2d 5h 30m 1s instead of the full words, you need to add a data-options attribute with the value "short-format".

If you already set the data-options attribute, add all the options separating them with a space:

<span data-options="no-leading-zeros short-format" class="countdown" style="display:none;"><!--
-->Only <span class="countdowndate">January 01 2025 00:00:00</span> until the new year...<!--
--></span>

Dynamic content

This script supports dynamic inserted content, such as article comments or editor previews. However, if you insert a counter via JavaScript, you need to fire this event after inserting it:

mw.hook('wikipage.content').fire($('ELEMENT'));

Where ELEMENT is a selector to the element in which the counter has been inserted.

Localization

Localized messages can be added using the language code as a key and then creating an object for the messages. See example below for how to override the default messages used for the English language.

countdownTimer.translations = { 
    en: {
        and: 'and',
        second: 'second',
        seconds: 'seconds',
        minute: 'minute',
        minutes: 'minutes',
        hour: 'hour',
        hours: 'hours',
        day: 'day',
        days: 'days'
    }
};

Adding translations

The local equivalents of following time intervals are required by the script:

• second/seconds
• minute/minutes
• hour/hours
• day/days

In addition, the localised version of "and" is required.

If you would like to help out, please post translations for these on the script's talk page (or add them to MediaWiki:Countdown/code.js directly if you are comfortable with doing so).

Major Updates

October 21, 2017

Jorgemg14: added short format option

June 15, 2017

Jorgemg14: dynamic content support

December 9, 2012

Pecoes: complete rewrite and addition of a few options

June 28, 2012

Eladkse: simplified singular/plural code.

January 31, 2012

Eladkse: added localisation code by Dantman.

July 7, 2011

Eladkse: added code to allow the definition of singular and plural forms of time.

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