Cron Job PHP (int)Difference issue

As before, it seems suspicious that you compare user_id to $username which holds a full name, but I can't be sure that's wrong.

Have you echo'ed $not_medicated and Difference($latest) for a specific case?

Sorry, I meant echo the variables $not_medicated and $days...

By the way, you should test whether $row2 contains a record, even though it may only be a theoretical possibility that it's empty.

I just tested the Difference function you posted on an earlier question and it checks out.

<?php
$days = 5;
$latest = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', time() - 60 * 60 * 24 * 7); // 7 days ago, try 4 to skip mail
$not_medicated = (int)Difference($latest);
echo $not_medicated.'<br>';
if ( $not_medicated >= $days )
{
	echo 'Sends Reminder Email<br>';
}
else
{
	echo "No mail to be sent...<br>";
}

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Thanks Robert, I will test this out and get back to you shortly.

Hi Robert, I'm not clear on this. Do you want me to replace the $latest variable with your call? I see no call to the DB in this.  

I will then print the variables for you.

Thanks,

Derek

No that was just a test. It succeeded. So yes, I can only think that the variables hold different values than you assume.

Okay thanks, so can you show me how to integrate your code above with the original I sent you as I'm not sure how to intergate the $latest line you have.

No no, that was just a test. Your code seems fine, but I can only suspect that those 2 variables don't hold the values you assume they do. That could be because the database is not returning the values you assume it does. You say you tested the queries but did you echo the queries from the code or did you just test the queries as you assumed they would be executed from the code?

Just to check this off, try to make sure every step does what you expect:

if ($row2 = mysql_fetch_array($query2)) { echo 'ok!'; } else { echo 'problem!'; }

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and from my earlier test script: instead of a comment, show what's going on:

if ( $not_medicated >= $days )
{
	echo 'Sends Reminder Email<br>';
}
else
{
	echo "No mail to be sent...<br>";
} 

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Questions about the data can usually be resolved by looking at the data.  The PHP function var_dump() can help.  After you use var_dump() you must use your browser View Source to examine the contents of the data.

In my experience as a professional developer and teacher, I have found that you cannot over-use var_dump()!

Thanks Ray for this.

Robert, I'm still looking into this and will post in a couple of hours.

I'm guessing it has something to do with the way the functions are working out what a day is. I used var dump a few minutes ago and here is what was printed:

Not Medicated Variable
int(1) 
Days variable
int(1) 
Username variable
string(13) "Derek" 
Latest Variable
string(19) "2013-01-29 16:53:50" 

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You can see that the latest record is in the last 24 hours so it should not have sent an email.

Here is the entire code for the day including how it works out the time functions as it probably has something to do with this.

<?php

	function Difference($created_time)
    {
		date_default_timezone_set('America/Vancouver');
	
        $str = strtotime($created_time);
        $today = strtotime(date('Y-m-d H:i:s'));
        
        // It returns the time difference in Seconds...
        $time_differnce = $today-$str;
        
        // To Calculate the time difference in Years...
        $years = 60*60*24*365;
        
        // To Calculate the time difference in Months...
        $months = 60*60*24*30;
        
        // To Calculate the time difference in Days...
        $days = 60*60*24;
        
        // To Calculate the time difference in Hours...
        $hours = 60*60;
        
        // To Calculate the time difference in Minutes...
        $minutes = 60;

        if(intval($time_differnce/$years) > 1)
        {
            return (int)($time_differnce/$years * 365);
        }else if(intval($time_differnce/$years) > 0)
        {
            return (int)($time_differnce/$years * 365);
        }else if(intval($time_differnce/$months) > 1)
        {
            return (int)(($time_differnce/$months) * 30);
        }else if(intval(($time_differnce/$months)) > 0)
        {
            return (int)(($time_differnce/$months) * 30);
        }else if(intval(($time_differnce/$days)) > 1)
        {
            return intval(($time_differnce/$days));
        }else if (intval(($time_differnce/$days)) > 0) 
        {
            return intval(($time_differnce/$days));
        }else if (intval(($time_differnce/$hours)) > 1) 
        {
            return 1;
        }else if (intval(($time_differnce/$hours)) > 0) 
        {
            return 1;
        }else if (intval(($time_differnce/$minutes)) > 1) 
        {
            return 1;
        }else if (intval(($time_differnce/$minutes)) > 0) 
        {
            return 1;
        }else if (intval(($time_differnce)) > 1) 
        {
            return 1;
        }else
        {
            return 1;
        }
    }
	
?>

<?php
	
	mysql_connect('localhost','foxdbmain','xxx!') or die ( mysql_error() );
	mysql_select_db("foxdbmain") or die ( mysql_error() );

	$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM phpfox_user WHERE remind_j = '1' ");
	
	$users_to_remind =  mysql_num_rows($query);
	
	if ( $users_to_remind > 0 )
	{
		while ( $user = mysql_fetch_array($query) )
		{
			// Grabbing the username
			$username = $user["full_name"];
			
			// Grabbing the number of days after which they want to be reminded
			$days =  (int)$user["remindafter_j"];
			
			// Grabbing the email address of the uesr
			$email = $user["email"];
			
			$query2 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM journal_table WHERE user_id = '$username' ORDER BY entry_timestamp DESC LIMIT 1");
			$row2 = mysql_fetch_array($query2);
			
			// Grabbing the latest meditation logged
			$latest = $row2["entry_timestamp"];
			
			// How many days the user hasn't medicated
			$not_medicated = (int)Difference($latest);
			
			//Split username into first name
			$pieces = explode(" ", $username );
			
			echo "Not Medicated Variable" . "<br />";
			var_dump($not_medicated) ;
			echo "<br />";
			 echo "Days variable" . "<br />";
			 var_dump($days) ;
			 echo "<br />";
			 echo "Username variable" . "<br />";
			var_dump($username) ;
			 echo "<br />";
			 echo "Latest Variable" . "<br />";
			var_dump($latest) ;
			 echo "<br />";

			// echo $pieces[0]; // First name
			
			// Checking if they should be reminded or not
			if ( $not_medicated >= $days )
			{
				// Preparing the e-mail
				$to = $email;
				$subject = "$pieces[0], It's time to Journal";
				$message = "Greetings $pieces[0], \n\n As you'd asked us before, we're reminding you that you have not logged any journal entries in $days day" . ((1 == $days) ? '' : 's') . ". \n\n  Hope to see you soon! \n\n Clearthemirror.com Team \n\n \n\n  If you would like to turn off these reminders you can by visiting \n\n http://www.clearthemirror.com/clearthemirror/jourstats/";
				$headers = "From: noreply@clearthemirror.com";
				
				// Sending the e-mail
				mail($to,$subject,$message,$headers) or die ("Something went wrong sending the e-mail!");
			}
			
		}
	}

?>

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Thanks again,

D

With both those integer variables equal to 1, this if expression:

if ( $not_medicated >= $days )

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will be true and the mail will be sent.

The version of the Difference function I had returned 0 for values too low. In this version it returns 1. The problem seems to be in that function because it should be returning 7. If you have php version 5.3.0 or better than you can use date_diff.

Short version (no error checking at all) would be:

 function Difference($created_time)
    {
		return date_diff(new DateTime('now'), new DateTime(substr($created_time, 0, 10)))->format("%a");
    }

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Thank you Robert, yes I have this PHP version. So how would I insert this function into the code?

For the moment I would say just replace the existing version of it.

Okay, thanks Robert, I'll give it a try.

Thank you so much! I think it's working correctly now. I will test it some more and get back to you.

I've tested it, it works well for more than one day but I don't think it's working correct for just over the 1 day mark.

For example, if I set the reminder days to 1 and have a logged in the database from yesterday at 7pm. If the script runs at 5pm today (that 22 hours) it is still sending a reminder email.

Is there an alteration we can make to this so that it's for a 24 difference that the script checks?

Thanks,

D

This article might also provide some useful information.
https://www.experts-exchange.com/Web_Development/Web_Languages-Standards/PHP/A_201-Handling-date-and-time-in-PHP-and-MySQL.html

Practical Application #2 and #3 may give some useful guidance.

Hey Robert,

Here are the results being printed on the screen for this, unfortunately it is still sending emails even when a record has been created in the last 24 hours.

'checkdate' Variable
object(DateTime)#4 (3) { ["date"]=> string(19) "2013-01-31 12:56:48" ["timezone_type"]=> int(3) ["timezone"]=> string(15) "America/Chicago" } 
Not Medicated Variable
int(0) 
Days variable
int(1) 
Username variable
string(13) "Derek Sheahan" 
Latest Variable
object(DateTime)#1 (3) { ["date"]=> string(19) "2013-02-01 10:54:57" ["timezone_type"]=> int(3) ["timezone"]=> string(15) "America/Chicago" } 

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<?php

	 function Difference($created_time)
    {
		return date_diff(new DateTime('now'), new DateTime(substr($created_time, 0, 10)))->format("%a");
    }
	
?>

<?php
	
	mysql_connect('localhost','foxdbmain','xxx!') or die ( mysql_error() );
	mysql_select_db("foxdbmain") or die ( mysql_error() );

	$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM phpfox_user WHERE remind_j = '1' ");
	
	$users_to_remind =  mysql_num_rows($query);
	
	if ( $users_to_remind > 0 )
	{
		while ( $user = mysql_fetch_array($query) )
		{
			// Grabbing the username
			$username = $user["full_name"];
			
			// Grabbing the number of days after which they want to be reminded
			$days =  (int)$user["remindafter_j"];
			
			// Grabbing the email address of the uesr
			$email = $user["email"];
			
			$query2 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM journal_table WHERE user_id = '$username' ORDER BY entry_timestamp DESC LIMIT 1");
			$row2 = mysql_fetch_array($query2);
			
			// Grabbing the latest meditation logged
			$latest = $row2["entry_timestamp"];
			
			
			// How many days the user hasn't medicated
			$not_medicated = (int)Difference($latest);
			
			//Split username into first name
			$pieces = explode(" ", $username );
			
			
			$checkdate = new DateTime('now');
			$checkdate->sub(New DateInterval('P'.$days.'D')); // check point, if $latest is before this, then send the mail

			echo "'checkdate' Variable" . "<br />";
			var_dump($checkdate) ;
			echo "<br />";
			
			echo "Not Medicated Variable" . "<br />";
			var_dump($not_medicated) ;
			echo "<br />";
			 echo "Days variable" . "<br />";
			 var_dump($days) ;
			 echo "<br />";
			 echo "Username variable" . "<br />";
			var_dump($username) ;
			 echo "<br />";
			 echo "Latest Variable" . "<br />";
			var_dump($latest) ;
			 echo "<br />";

			// echo $pieces[0]; // First name
			
			// Checking if they should be reminded or not
			if ( $latest < $checkdate )
			{
				// Preparing the e-mail
				$to = $email;
				$subject = "$pieces[0], It's time to Journal";
				$message = "Greetings $pieces[0], ";
				$headers = "From: noreply@clear.com";
				
				// Sending the e-mail
				mail($to,$subject,$message,$headers) or die ("Something went wrong sending the e-mail!");
			}
			
		}
	}

?>

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I tried it with and without this line:

$latest = new DateTime($latest);

and with it, it gives the error:

Warning: substr() expects parameter 1 to be string, object given in /home/clear555/public_html/jreminder.php on line 5

Thanks for your help,

D

that error seems more connected to line 40, where you call the Difference function. Can you take that function and all lines containing $not_medicated out for the moment?

looking at the vardumps, "latest < checkdate" is definitely false, so this should work now... Please double check and do yourself a favour, put an else part in (with a simple echo 'no mail sent';) so it's 100% clear when no mail is being sent.

Ray, that's what the code on line 46-47 is supposed to do: subtract $days days from today. Did I do something wrong?

I don't think you did anything wrong, but I'm predisposed to data-driven testing.  When I looked at the Difference() function it seemed to be a lot of code that would be right some, but maybe not all of the time, and PHP has built-in functions for all kinds of date calculations.

Probably worth noting that PHP and MySQL may have different clocks and different timezone settings.  I would check that if there are still any anomalous outputs.

Thank you both.

I changed the timeszone to Vancouver as this is what the database is saved as but this is only a couple of hours from Chicago so I don't think this is what is causing the error at the moment.

Here is the test code:

'checkdate' Variable
object(DateTime)#1 (3) { ["date"]=> string(19) "2013-01-31 12:52:02" ["timezone_type"]=> int(3) ["timezone"]=> string(17) "America/Vancouver" } 
Not Medicated Variable
NULL 
Days variable
int(1) 
Username variable
string(13) "Derek" 
Latest Variable
string(19) "2013-02-01 10:54:57" 
'checkdate' Variable
object(DateTime)#2 (3) { ["date"]=> string(19) "2013-01-30 12:52:03" ["timezone_type"]=> int(3) ["timezone"]=> string(17) "America/Vancouver" } 

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You can see from this that their was a record logged in the DB about 2 hours ago but it is still sending a reminder email wheresas it should only send if the user has not logged one for 24 hours.

Ray, as you had said Robert's code is correct I did not try your full function yet (just updated the timezone).

Robert, I've also added the else clause at the end of the script, thanks for reminding me as I had missed that.

Here is what I have:

<?php
	date_default_timezone_set('America/Vancouver');

	 function Difference($created_time)
    {
		return date_diff(new DateTime('now'), new DateTime(substr($created_time, 0, 10)))->format("%a");
    }
	
?>

<?php
	
	mysql_connect('localhost','foxdbmain','xxx!') or die ( mysql_error() );
	mysql_select_db("foxdbmain") or die ( mysql_error() );

	$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM phpfox_user WHERE remind_j = '1' ");
	
	$users_to_remind =  mysql_num_rows($query);
	
	if ( $users_to_remind > 0 )
	{
		while ( $user = mysql_fetch_array($query) )
		{
			// Grabbing the username
			$username = $user["full_name"];
			
			// Grabbing the number of days after which they want to be reminded
			$days =  (int)$user["remindafter_j"];
			
			// Grabbing the email address of the uesr
			$email = $user["email"];
			
			$query2 = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM journal_table WHERE user_id = '$username' ORDER BY entry_timestamp DESC LIMIT 1");
			$row2 = mysql_fetch_array($query2);
			
			// Grabbing the latest meditation logged
			$latest = $row2["entry_timestamp"];
			//$latest = new DateTime($latest);
			
			// How many days the user hasn't medicated
			//$not_medicated = (int)Difference($latest);
			
			//Split username into first name
			$pieces = explode(" ", $username );
			
			
			$checkdate = new DateTime('now');
			$checkdate->sub(New DateInterval('P'.$days.'D')); // check point, if $latest is before this, then send the mail

			echo "'checkdate' Variable" . "<br />";
			var_dump($checkdate) ;
			echo "<br />";
			
			echo "Not Medicated Variable" . "<br />";
			var_dump($not_medicated) ;
			echo "<br />";
			 echo "Days variable" . "<br />";
			 var_dump($days) ;
			 echo "<br />";
			 echo "Username variable" . "<br />";
			var_dump($username) ;
			 echo "<br />";
			 echo "Latest Variable" . "<br />";
			var_dump($latest) ;
			 echo "<br />";

			// echo $pieces[0]; // First name
			
			// Checking if they should be reminded or not
			if ( $latest < $checkdate )
			{
				// Preparing the e-mail
				$to = $email;
				$subject = "$pieces[0], It's time to Journal";
				$message = "Greetings $pieces[0],";
				$headers = "From: noreply@clear.com";
				
				// Sending the e-mail
				mail($to,$subject,$message,$headers) or die ("Something went wrong sending the e-mail!");
			}
			else
			{
				echo "No mail to be sent...<br>";
			}
			
		}
	}

?>

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Thank you both so much!

Now something is definitely wrong. Latest contains a string now and a second checkdate is written out after which the output ends? This doesn't add up.

Sorry, the checkdate issue was my bad. I selected the first results of the array but accidentally included the first line of the second result too so this part is fine.

The string part for the username variable is correct.

Ok, it could help if you put this line back in:

error_reporting(E_ALL);

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Also, comment out the lines referencing $not_medicated (54-56).
Can you double check that the database field entry_timestamp is a date field?

Yes username is fine but this isn't:

Latest Variable
string(19) "2013-02-01 10:54:57" 

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I think when the previous output you posted showed the correct content for 'Latest' so maybe line 38 was uncommented at that point. Remember the error you got was not related to that line as far as I could see and yet now I see it is commented out.

Sorry Robert, I had this  field as a TIMESTAMP in the database, I should change this to date?

I remember trying to change this before and when I do it gives the error:

Invalid default value.

No that should be fine. But I guess I thought that would be a date in php but it is a string so line 38 is needed back in.

Awesome! I think we have it now! Give me another few minutes testing this. Honestly Robert , I can't thank you enough for your patience with this.

No sweat ;-)

:)