Counters

[About us] [Services] [Products] [Prices] [Support] [News]
[Resources] [Sign up] [Join us] [Home] [Search] [Help] [Contact us]

There are FIVE counters and one clock available for use on am.net right now!

It's up to you which counter to choose.
Some counters create new counts automatically, others require us to do it.  Some counters perform better under pressure (many simultaneous requests), some worse.  Except for the NaviSoft counter (/NS/Counter), all counters use CGI and are not 100% reliable.  NaviSoft's counter is many times faster than the rest and ALWAYS returns correct number, no matter how many simultaneous requests from different pages.  However, it is very simple (no choice of styles, colors, etc) and will not display correctly in Netscape on a page with a background graphic (it will however work with any background color or in other browsers).

So, here we go, the counters, in no particular order:

NaviSoft Counter

Example:
Pros:  Extremely fast and reliable, small
Cons: Does not show correctly in Netscape on pages with background graphics (ok with colors) No counter-counter-terrorism protection, no way to stop the counter from incrementing after accesses from certain locations (such as am.net staff and our clients).  If NaviSoft fixes the Netscape problem, we might add those features ourselves.  Things we cannot fix:  no choice of styles or colors, etc.
To use the counter put the following URL in an IMG SRC tag:
http://am.net/NS/Counter/<your_directory>/<id>, where <your_directory> is the directory on am.net the page being counted is stored, i.e. if your URL is http://am.net/abc, the directory is abc; <id> is any id you choose.  We strongly recommend the name of the file being counted without the extension, i.e. for http:/am.net/abc/index.htm id would be index
The counter automatically creates a new count file for each page it counts.  These files are named .odo.<id>, where <id> is the id specified in the URL and are stored in the directory specified in <your_directory> in the URL.

WWWpac Page Access Counter v1.1

Pros: Uses NT Registry to store counts, so theoretically it should be able to handle multiple simultaneous requests better. Has counter-counter terrorism protection and IP "ignoring" (both disabled now)  This counter is also able to generate gifs of text strings, i.e.:
Cool, Hah?
Cons: Uses NT Registry, so at the moment, there is no way to create new counts automatically. (You can use am.test1 through am.test10 to experiment, but you'll need to e-mail us for a new count. If this counter is popular we will write the interface for online creation of new counts.)  Not as many possible configuration options as in some of the other counters.
To use the counter put the following URL in an IMG SRC tag:
http://am.net/NS/CGI/WWWpac/WWWpac?<your_directory>.<id>[+<argument1>:<value1>+<argument2>:<value2>+...], where <your_directory> is the directory on am.net the page being counted is stored, i.e. if your URL is http://am.net/abc, the directory is abc; <id> is any id you choose.  We strongly recommend the name of the file being counted without the extension, i.e. for http:/am.net/abc/index.htm id would be index.
+<argument1>:<value1>+<argument2>:<value2>+... are optional (denoted by square brackets [] ).
For a full list of optional arguments see the WWWpac Argument Specifications on the author's site.  (Be sure to modify the examples on that page for am.net (the URL and <directory>.<id>)) The most common arguments/values are:
style:<style_name> , two built-in fonts are available: WWWpacSm and WWWpacLg
You can use one those for the style_name or any of the standard styles on am.net
(See note about style_names at the bottom of this page)
display:<text>, generates a gif with text, must specify one of the built-in fonts for style, use %20 for space character.

Counts30 by Henn Saar of Talinn, Estonia

Pros: Quite a lot of options for counter-counter terrorism protection, IP exclusions, etc., elaborate provisions for setting up publicly accessible counters and private counters (for use on am.net only). Does logging of last access. New public counters are created automatically (although only if counter-counter terrorism protection is disabled (which it is right now, but not necessarily forever))
Cons: Not as many graphics options as some others, the checking/logging done may be too excessive and may make it slow.  All counts are stored in the same .INI file in the windows directory, so only one count at a time can be written to the file.  Private counters (that could be protected from counter-counter terrorism) must be setup by hand, although we could write an interface to do that online.
To use the counter put the following URL in an IMG SRC tag:
http://am.net/NS/CGI/counter/counts30?link=<your_directory>.<id>[&<argument1>=<value1>&<argument2>=<value2>&...], where <your_directory> is the directory on am.net the page being counted is stored, i.e. if your URL is http://am.net/abc, the directory is abc; <id> is any id you choose.  We strongly recommend the name of the file being counted without the extension, i.e. for http:/am.net/abc/index.htm id would be index.
&<argument1>=<value1>&<argument2>=<value2>&... are optional (denoted by square brackets [] ).  For a full list of optional arguments see the counts30 readme file. The most common arguments/values are:
style=<style_name> , you can use any of the standard styles on am.net, default is A
(See note about style_names at the bottom of this page)

The Counter v1.11 (by Ryan Terry Sammartino)

Pros: Simple, small, new counts created automatically
Cons: Too simple, no options, same limitation as far as writing simultaneous counts, no counter-counter terrorism or IP "ignoring"
To use the counter put the following URL in an IMG SRC tag:
http://am.net/NS/CGI/counter/counter?link=<your_directory>.<id>[&<argument1>=<value1>&<argument2>=<value2>&...], where <your_directory> is the directory on am.net the page being counted is stored, i.e. if your URL is http://am.net/abc, the directory is abc; <id> is any id you choose.  We strongly recommend the name of the file being counted without the extension, i.e. for http:/am.net/abc/index.htm id would be index.
&<argument1>=<value1>&<argument2>=<value2>&... are optional (denoted by square brackets [] ).
For a full list of optional arguments see the page on The Counter for NT & '95 on the author's site.  (Be sure to modify the examples on that page for am.net (the URL and <directory>.<id>)) The most common arguments/values are:
style=<style_name> , you can use any of the standard styles on am.net, default is A
(See note about style_names at the bottom of this page)
width=<X>  How wide you want the counter (default=0) If the width is less than the width of the number to be displayed, the counter will be as wide as the number. The width can be a maximum of 10. This means the counter can go as high as 9999999999.

Behold! Software Counter 2.6.0

Pros: A variety of graphics options, good & simple counter-counter terrorism protection and IP "ignoring" (both disabled right now) Creates new counts automatically even with the counter-counter terrorism protections, etc. enabled.
Cons: Same problem with using a single .log file for all the counts.
To use the counter put the following URL in an IMG SRC tag:
http://am.net/NS/CGI/Behold/counter?<your_directory>.<id>[+-<switch1><value1>+-<switch2><value2>+...], where <your_directory> is the directory on am.net the page being counted is stored, i.e. if your URL is http://am.net/abc, the directory is abc; <id> is any id you choose.  We strongly recommend the name of the file being counted without the extension, i.e. for http:/am.net/abc/index.htm id would be index.
+-<switch1><value1>+-<switch2><value2>+... are optional (denoted by square brackets [] ).  For a full list of optional switches/values see the bcounter readme file. The most common switches are:
-s<style_name> , you can use any of the standard styles on am.net
(See note about style_names at the bottom of this page)

Behold! also makes a Clock similar to the counter (v.1.0.1):

To use the counter put the following URL in an IMG SRC tag:
http://am.net/NS/CGI/Behold/clock?<your_directory>.<id>[+-<switch1><value1>+-<switch2><value2>+...], where <your_directory> is the directory on am.net the page being counted is stored, i.e. if your URL is http://am.net/abc, the directory is abc; <id> is any id you choose.  We strongly recommend the name of the file being counted without the extension, i.e. for http:/am.net/abc/index.htm id would be index.
+-<switch1><value1>+-<switch2><value2>+... are optional (denoted by square brackets [] ).  For a full list of optional switches/values see the bclock readme file. The most common switches are:
-s<style_name> , you can use any of the standard styles on am.net
(See note about style_names at the bottom of this page)

Style Names

There is a variety of styles you can use on am.net

Unfortunately the 5 different counters use 2 different locations and methods for storing digit gifs.  Although we try to keep the two different locations synchronized, you may find some styles that only work for some counters and not all. Be sure to notify us, so we can fix it.

So, here's how you get the style names:

1) Go to Digit Mania page

2) Find the style you like

3) Note the filenames:  they are listed as ?<style_name>.gif, i.e. ?a.gif, so a is the style name

4) Do not download anything! (we've already gotten them). If you find a style on Digit Mania (or anywhere else) that does not seem to work on am.net let us know, we'll get it and install it.

5) Use the style_name in your IMG SRC URLs according to the instructions for the counter you wish to use!

Good Luck!

Send comments & questions to webmaster@am.net

[About us] [Services] [Products] [Prices] [Support] [News]
[Resources] [Sign up] [Join us] [Home] [Search] [Help] [Contact us]

E-mail comments about this page to the webmaster