Counting from 1-19, probably simple but I dont know where to start!

[Nexoness]

Hi there!

Let’s start by saying that this probably is a really easy thing to do, but I simply don’t know how to effectively search or what this method is called.

I work at a store, and every day my colleagues clean one meter of every aisle in the store, but we keep forgetting which one to clean. I wanted to make a quick and easy script to simply show them the number of the meter to clean, instead of having to print a list every X months. There are 19 meters in each aisle, and 19 always is cleaned on a Friday, meaning that there are 2 days between 19 and the point where the counter should reset to 1.

I could do this by making a database from which a script simply reads the value, but maybe there is an easier way to do this?

Anyone know how I can do this or where I could find more information on how possibly do this?

[JimL]

What happens if there are holidays? Wouldn’t that potentially mess up the start on monday finish on friday stuff?

And this needs to be extended to some arduino stuff with a led on each easle meter number so the one to clean is lit up on the correct day (y)

[Nexoness]

Like the arduino idea but its meant just for a simple webpage with a number on it. With holidays we normally just skip or clean 2 in one day, so that it doesnt go out of sync.

[frankbeen]

You wont need a database in this case it is just some date calculations. You could calculate the number of days between today’s date and 30-09-2019. and then calculate how many days ago the three week cycle started. Then a loop from 1 to 21 would do, like so:

<?php
function getSchedule($currentDate, $cycleDays, $aisles) 
{
    $out = '';
    
    // throw an exception if aisles is greater than cycledays
    if($aisles > $cycleDays)
        throw new Exception('CycleDays must be equal or greater than the aisles.');

    // the day that the first schedule starts
    $scheduleStartDate = new DateTime('30-09-2019');

    // calculate how many days we have to go back to start in the three weeks cycle
    $daysBackwards = floor($currentDate->diff($scheduleStartDate)->days % $cycleDays);

    // And than calculate the day to start with in our schedule
    $startDate = $currentDate->sub(new \DateInterval('P' . $daysBackwards . 'D'));

    for ($i = 1; $i <= $cycleDays; $i++) {
        $out .= $startDate->format('D d-m-Y');

        if ($i <= $aisles) {
            $out .= ': aisle ' . $i;
        } else {
            $out .= ': none';
        }
        $out .= '<br>';

        // add one day up to $startDate
        $startDate->add(new \DateInterval('P1D'));
    }
    
    return $out;
}

// settings
$cycleDays = 21;
$aisles = 19;

// get schedule on todays date
$currentDate = new DateTime();
echo getSchedule($currentDate, $cycleDays, $aisles);

echo '<br>';

// get schedule on todays date + 21 days
$currentDate->add(new DateInterval('P21D'));
echo getSchedule($currentDate, $cycleDays, $aisles);
?>

See php.net about how the functions work like Datetime::add…

[Nexoness]

You’re my hero! Thank you so much!