// ############ function makes a comment link (does the job of countlines too)

// put this code somewhere on the top of each page which will need comments, between php tags. To insert a comment somewhere on the page, you will need to write: <?php echo makecomment("comment_file_name"); ?> or <?php echo makecomment("comment_file_name", "comment_link_text"); ?> if you want to specify particular text for the comment link.

function makecomment($name, $message="::: discussion :::", $ctr=0)
{
// clear the file stat cache, whatever that means
clearstatcache();

// stick some html in what the function will spit out - you can edit this to your liking, just as you can change the default content for $message in the function call

// $result is the string the function will spit out. The function builds it step by step, adding bits and pieces to it as it goes along.

$result = '<p class="comment"><a href="/comments.php?comment=' . $name . '" onclick="commentPopUp(this.href); return false;">' . $message;


// the file which contains the comments
$commentfile=$_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/comments/" . $name . ".comment";

// check if comment file exists
if (file_exists($commentfile))
 {
 	
  // read the file into $list, line by line
	$lines = file($commentfile);
	
	// go through each line, and increase the counter by 1 if a comment "tag" is found
	while(list($key, $val) = each($lines))
	 { 
	 		if (stristr ($val, "<!-- comment -->"))
				{ 
					$ctr++;
				}
		}
 }  
// checks if there are comments
if ($ctr > 0)
 {
 	// adds the number of comments to the result
	$number=' ('.$ctr.")";
  $result=$result.$number;
 }
$result=$result."</a></p>";
return($result);
}