new_contents: """timestamp tracking function for splunk REST API ViPR Logging App"""
  
  #import datetime module
  import datetime
  from datetime import timedelta
  
  #get current time for log request stop time
  stoptime = datetime.datetime.now()
  #increment 1 second for start time of polling cycle after this one to prevent duplicate log entries
  futurestarttime = stoptime+datetime.timedelta(0,1)
  
  #reformat time for REST API use
  stoptime = stoptime.strftime('%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S')
  futurestarttime = futurestarttime.strftime('%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S')
  
  ####### Output for testing
  ##print "\n\nScript begin time = ", stoptime, " : stoptime var \n" #testonly
  #######
  
  #open timestamps file for read to get log request start time calculated during last polling cycle
  timestamps_file = open("timestamps.txt", "r")
  
  #get new start time to use for this polling cycle
  starttime = timestamps_file.readline()
      
  #close file
  timestamps_file.close()
  
  ####### Output for testing
  ##print "\nValues to use for current polling cycle"
  ##print "  start time = ", starttime, "starttime var"
  ##print "  stop time = ", stoptime, "stoptime var"
  ##print "\nValues to use for next polling cycle"
  ##print "  future start time = ", futurestarttime, "futurestarttime var"
  ##print "  future stop time = TBD"
  #######
      
  #open file for write to store new stop time - for next start time
  timestamps_file = open("timestamps.txt", "r+")
  
  #write next polling start time for use in the next polling cycle
  timestamps_file.write(futurestarttime)
  timestamps_file.close()
  
  ####### Output for testing
  ##print "stored =  ", futurestarttime #(testonly)
  ##print "start="+starttime+"&end="+stoptime
  #######
  
subject: Create logstartstopcode.py