LocalCityTimePlugin

This plugin shows the local time of a city embedded in a TWiki topic. The current local time is taken from the Date and Time Gateway at http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/xtra/tzdate, or calculated internally.

Syntax Rules

Add the %LOCALCITYTIME{"timezone"}% variable anywhere in your topic. "timezone" is a Continent/City combination as defined in the Date and Time Gateway page.

Examples:

What:	You type:	You get: (static text for demo)
Time in Zurich:	%LOCALCITYTIME{"Europe/Zurich"}%	Sun, 15 Jul 2001, 02:03:50 CEST (Europe/Zurich)
Incorrect timezone:	%LOCALCITYTIME{"Not/There"}%	LocalCityTimePlugin warning: Invalid Timezone. Use a Continent/City timezone code listed in http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/xtra/tzdate, e.g. %LOCALCITYTIME{"Europe/Zurich"}%
Help:	%LOCALCITYTIME%	LocalCityTimePlugin help: Write a Continent/City timezone code listed in http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/xtra/tzdate, such as %LOCALCITYTIME{"Europe/Zurich"}%

LocalCityTimePlugin Settings

Plugin settings are stored as preferences variables. To reference a plugin setting write %<plugin>_<setting>%, i.e. %LOCALCITYTIMEPLUGIN_SHORTDESCRIPTION%

• One line description, is shown in the TextFormattingRules topic:
  • Set SHORTDESCRIPTION = Shows the local time of a city embedded in a TWiki topic.

• Debug plugin: (See output in data/debug.txt)
  • Set DEBUG = 0

• Use internal date command instead of Date and Time Gateway. This is faster, but depends on BSD / Linux style zoneinfo files and the date command:
  • Set USEDATECOMMAND = 1

Plugin Installation Instructions

• Download the ZIP file from the Plugin web (see below)
• Unzip LocalCityTimePlugin.zip in your twiki installation directory. Content:

  File:	Description:
  data/TWiki/LocalCityTimePlugin.txt	Plugin topic
  data/TWiki/LocalCityTimePlugin.txt,v	Plugin topic repository
  lib/TWiki/Plugins/LocalCityTimePlugin.pm	Plugin Perl module

• Check if the following %LOCALCITYTIME{"Europe/Zurich"}% works:
  • Failed to include URL http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/xtra/tzdate?tz=Europe/Zurich Protocol scheme 'https' is not supported (LWP::Protocol::https not installed)

• Optionally enable internal date calculation with the USEDATECOMMAND = 1 setting. This is faster then getting the data from the Date and Time Gateway page, but it depends on BSD / Linux style zoneinfo files and the date command; configure the $tzDir, $dateCmd, $dateParam settings in twiki/lib/TWiki/Plugins/LocalCityTimePlugin.pm in case needed.

Plugin Info

Plugin Author:	TWiki:Main/PeterThoeny
Plugin Version:	19 Nov 2004
Change History:
19 Nov 2004:	Minor code cleanup; added benchmarks
23 Nov 2003:	New URL for gateway (www.bsdi.com is decommissioned); choice of internal date calculation
14 Jul 2001:	Changed to plug & play
26 Apr 2001:	initPlugin returns 1; fixed uninitialized value warning
25 Apr 2001:	Initial version
CPAN Dependencies:	none
Other Dependencies:	If USEDATECOMMAND = 0: Format of Date and Time Gateway web page at http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/xtra/tzdate Else: BSD or Linux zoneinfo files and date command
Perl Version:	5.0
TWiki:Plugins/Benchmark:	GoodStyle 99%, FormattedSearch 99%, LocalCityTimePlugin with internal date command 96%, without 55%
Plugin Home:	http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins/LocalCityTimePlugin
Feedback:	http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins/LocalCityTimePluginDev
Appraisal:	http://TWiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins/LocalCityTimePluginAppraisal

Related Topics: TWikiPreferences, TWikiPlugins, TextFormattingRules

-- TWiki:Main/PeterThoeny - 19 Nov 2004