Re: Noting a change to a static web page

I'm not sure if this solution if worth the time or even workable for you, but you might want to create some kind of DB (SQL, some XML of your own, whatever) with two fields, "last_changed" and "contents", from which you have a script (say, static.php?id="old_filename.htm") generate the pages, return the date when the file was last changed, or list all the files that´ve been changed since a certain date... whatever you want or need in a particular context. Your could also include a field "comments" or so for your boss to quickly drop a note about the respective pages. About the format: You could also just let all your static files begin with a line like "<!--modified:10/03/2002-->" instead of a DB. Just make sure to let all your web people know about this! In all cases, you could neatly integrate the new functionality into the link checker´s user interface your boss is currently using. Hop this helps & have fun! Adrian "Dl Neil" <PHPml@DandE.HomeChoice.co.uk> schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:052101c27876$6f8582d0$b700a8c0@jrbrown... > How do systems that let you know when a web page has been updated work? > > Over the months/years have developed what started out as a quick-and-dirty > has-it-gone-down check for an IT/intranet/extranet manager (suit type), into > a URL/links checker, and now he wants to extend it again. On the dynamic > side, the database programming has been tweaked to enable him to review > material as it is being added to the content/updated. So now he wants > something similar on the static pages. He's not in the same office, indeed > is often away for long periods of time, so doesn't want to bureaucratically > hold up all updates pending his personal review (thank goodness) - but wants > to review/doesn't want to 'miss' things either... > > I had thought of using file system functions, eg filemtime(), but these > don't work on remote calls/URLs. > > Then I thought that everytime a page changes, likely its size does too - but > filesize() suffers the same local filesystem-only limitation. > > Then I noticed the new(er) functions: stat() and fstat() - the manual > doesn't indicate that they suffer a URL limitation (as above). So I'll give > them a try. > > Meantime, am I on the right approach? > How do the 'commercial'/web-wide systems detect web page changes to send an > 'alert' to their users/clients? > Can anyone offer an improvement upon the above ideas? > > Please advise, > =dn > >