PHP Timer + Java

OK.. probably a easy thing, but I am complicating it too much. Here is what I am trying to accomplish. Using PHP4.0.2 and PostgreSQL 7.1. I am creating a time tracking system where a user, based on their login, gets a list of open projects. I have clientid, projectid, description, estimate time, and actual time spent on the project. it is the "Actual Time" data that I am trying to collect. I give the user a list of all their tasks, and want them to click a FORM BUTTON (can be anything as long as it accomplishes what I am doing) that passes variables like clientid, projectid, startime, description to the popup. What I want to do is use that popup window to show how much time they have spent since the click on "START TASK" form button is pressed. I then want to show them a running time starting from 00:00:00 upwards. Sort of like a stopwatch. The popup has a STOP/CLOSE link that, when pressed, will update the database with the unixtime stamp of the start and end of the project. I have the 00:00:00 counter going no problem, but the problem I run into: 1) How to pass the STARTTIME only when the START TASK button is pressed? Apprently using echo "<input type=button value=\"Start\" onclick=\"window.open('popup.html?clientid=$starttime=strtotime(\"now\")&$thisclientid&projectid=$thisclientid','TEST','height=200,width=300,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,status=no,menubar=no,scrollbars=no')\">"; does not pass the unixtime (now) to the popup. 2). Since this is a Java popup, how do I get the close form action back and insert my endtime into the database from the popup? 3). How do I mix php in a Java function? Any help and pointers appreciated. Thanks. Mohsin Rahman mtech@buffnet.net