>Can the timer be used as a counter? I would like to know if I could set it on to count in seonds and then turn it off and calculate the time between start and stop and record that to a database
A timer is usually used to automatically run some code after a specified time. Your requirement is quite different - you got the solution in the other replies.
Hilmar.
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire... (from Gulliver's Travels)