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:JavaScript and CSS Cheatsheet
Copypaste the following into your wiki's MediaWiki:Common.js page:
importArticles({
type: "script",
articles: [
"w:c:dev:Countdown/code.js"
]
});
If your MediaWiki:Common.js page already has an import like the one above, just add "w:c:dev: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:
(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.
- e.g. Using
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 download to end? There are five options:
- counting up from zero — this is the default for legacy reasons
- removal of the countdown container
- stopping the countdown at zero
- replacing the countdown with something else
- 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.
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>
Localisation
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.
var 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 /code.js directly if you are comfortable with doing so).