Automatically refreshing banner images using PHP

[markuswarren]

Good afternoon,
I'm fairly new to vB and PHP but I'm willing to learn.

I'm trying to code some PHP which will display a sponsor/banner graphic in my header template on my forum.

I've read about how to create a plugin to load an external PHP file and that is working, I tried it by simply having it echo a line with an img tag.

The problem comes with wanting to show a sequence of different sponsor/banners. I've come up with the following code:

PHP Code:

<?php

// Format of the array items is as follows, separated with a pipe:
// URL to the sponsors site
// URL of the image file
// Width of banner
// Height of banner
// Is banner a flash file. 1 = yes, 0 = no

$the_banner_array[0] = "http://www.example.com/|images/sponsorlogos/largeone.gif|500|60|0";
$the_banner_array[1] = "http://www.example.com/|images/sponsorlogos/gradbanner02.gif|||0";
$the_banner_array[2] = "http://www.example.com/|images/sponsorlogos/gradbanner100x100.jpg|100|100|0";
$the_banner_array[3] = "http://www.example.com/|images/sponsorlogos/bigger468x60.gif|||0";
$the_banner_array[4] = "http://www.example.com/|images/sponsorlogos/gradbanner600x100.png|||0";
$the_banner_array[5] = "http://www.example.com/|images/sponsorlogos/flash600x100.swf|600|100|1";


// Repeat through the array of banner

for($banner_count = 0; $banner_count < count($the_banner_array); $banner_count++){


// Explode the banner found banner item string

$exploded_banner = explode("|",$the_banner_array[$banner_count]);
$the_banner_clickthru_url = $exploded_banner[0];
$the_banner_image_url = $exploded_banner[1];
$the_banner_image_width = $exploded_banner[2];
$the_banner_image_height = $exploded_banner[3];
$the_banner_is_flash = $exploded_banner[4];

echo "<div id=\"allforumsbanner\" style=\"text-align: center;>\"<a href=\"$the_banner_clickthru_url\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"$the_banner_image_url\" width=\"$the_banner_image_width\" height=\"$the_banner_image_height\" border=\"0\"></a></div><br><br>";


}


?>

So, we have an array, which I populate with the banner data, I then iterate through the array and using the echo command get the banner displayed.

There are a couple of issues I need help with. I need to display one banner at a time and not all of them, one after another, as is currently happening. For example, I want to display the first banner, then wait a number of seconds, then replace the existing banner image with the next one (or possibly even a random one, I don't think it matters too much) from the array.

Any help greatly appreciated.