timezone granularity

I've rolled a database mod, and modifications to several templates which comprise a complete change-over from using the numeric locality system to using the zoneinfo libs through php. I'm going to try to test this over the weekend with an event facility/plugin I wrote and if it works I'll post it all on punres.

In writing this mod I have learned about the caching/semaphores punbb uses, and reduced the static page sizes by several kb.

The flipside of this mod would probably be a localization layer. For English and some European forums it wouldn't be an issue, beyond that I imagine spelling "Asia/Pyongyang" would look much different.

The nice thing about using the zoneinfo calls is that instead of just relying on relative GMT the user can actually select a written locality. I also modified the header.php to display their timezone next to the Last Visit, so it looks like:

Last visit: 2005-05-09 15:16:34 (US/Arizona)

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Thank you for taking an interest.

I have created two files in the cache/ folder.
One is a simple array containing integer/timezone string tuples.
The other is the guts of the form used to select timezone in the profile.php, admin_options.php, etc...
Doing this saves having to make a 500 tuple query each time profile.php or any other template calling the timezone info.

Here's how I reduced the static page size in the profile.php and other timezone modifying templates:

<select name="form[timezone]">
<option value="<? echo $pun_user['timezone']; ?>" selected><? echo $pun_tzones[$pun_user['timezone']]; ?></option>
<? require "cache/pun_time_zone_options.php"; ?>
</select>

Over the course of several templates this reduces the static page size by about 4kb a form and eliminates what would be a 499 conditional if block when using the zoneinfo for each timezone selection form.

Nothing too dramatic.  :-)  I think the templates are pretty lean already.
I've had fun working with PunBB.

I'm almost done writing up the documentation where I'm using

"diff mytree/filename.php  sourcetree/filename.php"

to note the changes. The timezone mod works and I'm testing it against an event system which enticed me to write the timezone mod to begin with. I finished the initial testing on that last night but I'm still tormenting it to see what breaks.

Please check out the drop-down list in the timelab link I posted. I'm pretty sure there are 500 entries.

I did a tree of the zoneinfo folder and used a bit of perl to create a flatfile I could push at postgresql to fill a table. I'm going to pare it down a little but that's how many references there are.

When I was mentioning semaphores I was trying to say that I am using the existing code and definitions for regenerating cache files as an example. So I have setup the same mechanisms which exist for files PunBB is caching. I try to learn from examples.

As usual life is performing some blocking interrupts on my completing things.
I'm learning all about PHP's array fetishes and how to properly play with multi-dimensional associative arrays.