A Simple Banner Rotator Script
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 by papa_face

I'm in the coding mood today :) .
I cannot count how many times I've been asked to code a UBER simple banner rotator script.
These things are so simple, but if you don't know PHP it can be difficult to understand.

The script below has two variables:

$links = array(
"http://www.google.com",
"http://www.msn.com",
"http://forums.digitalpoint.com"
);
//add a new link for the banner to a new line in the same format as above
 

and:

$images = array(
"http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/images/logo.gif",
"http://stc.msn.com/br/hp/en-us/css/35/decoration/msn_b.gif",
"http://forums.digitalpoint.com/images/misc/dps_logo.gif"
);
//add a new image link for the banner to a new line in the same format as above
 

As you can see they match up. The first line for the $links variable is for a google image, the second is for a msn image etc.
Here is the full code:

<?php
session_start();

$links = array(
"http://www.google.com",
"http://www.msn.com",
"http://forums.digitalpoint.com"
);
//add a new link for the banner to a new line in the same format as above

$images = array(
"http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en_uk/images/logo.gif",
"http://stc.msn.com/br/hp/en-us/css/35/decoration/msn_b.gif",
"http://forums.digitalpoint.com/images/misc/dps_logo.gif"
);
//add a new image link for the banner to a new line in the same format as above
//-------- DO NOT EDIT BELOW THIS LINE----------
$count = count($links) -1;

$randnum = mt_rand(0,$count);

if      ($randnum == $_SESSION['randnum'])
        {
        $randnum = mt_rand(0,$count);
        }
$_SESSION['randnum'] = $randnum;
echo '<a href="'.$links[$randnum].'"><img style="border:none" src="'.$images[$randnum].'" /></a>';

?>
 

The code has been constructed so that the likelihood of getting the same banner displayed twice is greatly reduced.

Comment here if you like the script, or have any questions :D

You can see an example of the script running here.

[Slashdot][Digg][Reddit][del.icio.us][Facebook][Technorati][Google][StumbleUpon]


smile Like this post? Give me something special then :)
View comments
Post comment
  • Don Morris Says:
    1-4-2008 17:37:45

    Hi,

    Thanks for this script. It is very simple, but might just fir the bill for me.

    I had to replace the apostrophes (single quotes) in the echo statement for it to work. Those slanteed ones created a parse error.

    echo (’‘);

    also had to take the spaces out of the style attribute. My just be my hosting plan.

    See it here: http://donhmorris.com/sbr.php

    (Same links as script; no change.)

    Okay, thanks.

    Warmly,

    Don :)

  • papa_face Says:
    1-4-2008 17:40:54

    Thank you for highlighting that problem. It appears to be a wordpress issue. I will try to sort it out :)
    Thank you for coming to my blog :D

  • Luke Says:
    1-4-2008 21:39:40

    Do you have an example of this running??

  • papa_face Says:
    1-4-2008 21:47:27

    I have updated the post to contain a link to the script :)

    Here.

  • papa_face Says:
    1-5-2008 01:09:35

    Just an update. I have fixed the quote problem, so people can copy and paste code from this site without problems now :D

  • Jauhari Says:
    1-6-2008 21:50:32

    Thanks for this wonderful script, I will use it

  • VegBang Says:
    1-8-2008 19:28:53

    Minimalistic and superb! Copypasted and worked just out-of-the-box. Thanks for sharing.

  • papa_face Says:
    1-9-2008 22:45:30

    I’m glad you like it :)
    Thank you for commenting.

  • raul Says:
    1-24-2008 18:42:18

    Thanyou so much, i’d like if you have something exactly like this that can be integrated into a wordpress plugin. Again, thanks for this piece of “gold code”

  • eligio Says:
    2-21-2008 01:58:13

    is it possible to create a javascript version of this script ? i have a gamesitescript which is using cache function, so php don’t work. thanks

  • Michael Says:
    4-24-2008 14:36:56

    Hi,great code.works perfect.
    What can i add to the code so,
    when the banner is clicked , the browser
    will open up in a new window. Prefer to
    have my site and the link open at the same
    time. thank u kindly

  • papa_face Says:
    4-24-2008 21:40:04

    Hi,
    Simply add target=”_blank” to your href code.

    • You must be logged in to post a comment.