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Published on: Friday 24th October 1997 By: Martin Webb
This article calculates the zodiac sign that a date falls in, including the dates and days for the year, along with the birthstone associated with the month.
The following addition arrays are utilised in this article, using the makeArray() function described in Blind Date:
var horroscopes = new makeArray(20,19,21,21,21,21,22,22,22,23,22,21);
var starsigns = new makeArray('Capricorn','Aquarius','Pisces',
'Aries','Taurus','Gemini',
'Cancer','Leo','Virgo',
'Libra','Scorpio','Sagittarius');
var starsymbols = new makeArray('Goat','Water Bearer','Fishes',
'Ram','Bull','Twins',
'Crab','Lion','Virgin',
'Balance','Scorpion','Archer');The horroscopes array contains the day of the month that each zodiac star sign starts on, starting with Aquarius.
The starsigns[] array contains the name of the twelve star signs.
The starsymbols[] array contains the twelve constellations:
| starsigns[ ] | Start | Finish | starsymbols[ ] | |
| Capricorn | December 21 | - | January 19 | Goat |
| Aquarius | January 20 | - | February 18 | Water Bearer |
| Pisces | February 19 | - | March 20 | Fishes |
| Aries | March 21 | - | April 20 | Ram |
| Taurus | April 21 | - | May 20 | Bull |
| Gemini | May 21 | - | June 20 | Twins |
| Cancer | June 21 | - | July 21 | Crab |
| Leo | July 22 | - | August 21 | Lion |
| Virgo | August 22 | - | September 21 | Virgin |
| Libra | September 22 | - | October 22 | Balance |
| Scorpio | October 23 | - | November 21 | Scorpion |
| Sagittarius | November 22 | - | December 20 | Archer |
var birthstones = new makeArray('Garnet','Amethyst','Aquamarine, Bloodstone',
'Diamond','Emerald','Pearl, Alexandrite, Moonstone',
'Ruby','Peridot, Sardonyx','Sapphire',
'Opal, Tourmaline','Topaz','Turquoise, Zircon');
var qualities = new makeArray('Constancy','Sincerity','Courage',
'Innocence','Love, success','Health, longevity',
'Contentment','Married happiness','Clear thinking',
'Hope','Fidelity','Prosperity');The birthstones[] array contains the list of birthstones associated with each month.
In 1912, the National Association of Jewelers adopted the standardised list that is widely used today:
| monthsofyear[ ] | birthstones[ ] | qualities[ ] |
| January | Garnet | Constancy |
| February | Amethyst | Sincerity |
| March | Aquamarine, Bloodstone | Courage |
| April | Diamond | Innocence |
| May | Emerald | Love, success |
| June | Pearl, Alexandrite, Moonstone | Health, longevity |
| July | Ruby | Contentment |
| August | Peridot, Sardonyx | Married happiness |
| September | Sapphire | Clear thinking |
| October | Opal, Tourmaline | Hope |
| November | Topaz | Fidelity |
| December | Turquoise, Zircon | Prosperity |
The third column, Quality, is the quality commonly associated with the birthstone.
Given the day of the month that someones born on, you can calculate their star sign by using the horroscopes[] array and the following StarSing() function. It calculates the star sign by checking to see if the day of the month is less than the values for that month in the horroscopes[] array. And, if it is it returns the value for that month, else it returns the value for the next month (after checking for the end of the year).
function StarSign(day,month) {
if (day < horroscopes[month])
return month;
else if (month == 12)
return 1;
else
return month + 1;
}Which can be used to retrieve the star sign and symbol from the starsigns[] and starsymbol[] arrays:
document.write(starsigns[StarSign(day,month)] +' - '+ starsymbols[StarSign(day,month)]);
The following StarDate() function uses the FullDate() function described in the previous article Monday's child is full of grace to return the date range for the current zodiac star sign.
function StarDate(day,month,year) {
var beginYear = year;
var endYear = year;
var beginMonth = month;
var endMonth = month;
if (day < horroscopes[month])
beginMonth--;
else
endMonth++;
if (beginMonth == 0) {
beginMonth = 12;
beginYear--;
}
else if (endMonth == 13) {
endMonth = 1;
endYear++;
}
beginDay = horroscopes[beginMonth];
endDay = horroscopes[endMonth] - 1;
return FullDate(beginDay,beginMonth,beginYear) +
' - ' +
FullDate(endDay,endMonth,endYear);
}For example:
document.write(StarDate(day,month,year));
The following retrieves the relevant birthstone and quality from the birthstones[] and qualities[] arrays:
document.write('Birthstone ' + birthstones[month] + ' Symbolizes ' + qualities[month]);Why not try out the frame version yourself.
You can view the source code of the four components:
And now...The Weekly Update Script
Extending "Born of the 4th of July"