Displaying output as you go

[shelluk]

By what method (is there one built in?) can I display PHP echo's as it goes along.

 

I.E. I have a script running 3 test with 3 results. Test 3 can take say 30 secs to run though. I would like test 1 and 2 results displayed soon as they have finished, without waiting for test 3 results! Test 3 to be echo'd out when that's finished.

 

Hope that makes sense...!

 

Thanks,

Shell

[ober]

The only way to do this is with something like AJAX.  PHP will complete everything in the script before sending it to the client.

[shelluk]

Can you give me any links to examples or something related to what I'm trying to do if possible please? Examples I'm finding seem over complicated for what I want and are resulting in me sitting here confused.

 

Thanks,

Shell

[.josh]

well it isn't that complicated if you use a clientside language but you're wanting to throw a serverside language into the mix so what do you expect?  In a basic ajax tutorial 99% of it is javascript and it's just a couple of functions to set it up and you don't really have to mess with it just c/p it into your file. 

 

 

[mikeschroeder]

You can definitely do this with just pure php.

check out the php flush() function http://us3.php.net/flush

 

for($i=0; $i<1000; $i++){
     sleep(2);
     echo 'Iteration: '.$i.'<br>';
     flush();
}

 

just a rough example but it works.

[.josh]

Oh god.  I can't believe you're actually seriously suggesting that. 

[PFMaBiSmAd]

If you read the description of flush() at that link, you will find all the various conditions where that won't work.

 

In both FF and IE, the posted code does not work for me.

[DarkWater]

Yeah, flush() is hardly ever effective.  There's so many different things that can stop it from working properly. =/

[mikeschroeder]

works on xampp on windows xp as well as a fedora machine as well as both cpanel and direct admin installations on centos all virgin installs all working, although none are running suPHP

[DarkWater]

It doesn't work on many builds.  I think that the Suhosin patch is automatically included in PHP6 anyway, lol.

[kenrbnsn]

If you want to go the AJAX route, I suggest you look at the jQuery Javascript library. It really takes all the pain out of AJAX.

 

Ken

[shelluk]

Thanks kenrbnsn. Looks good. Will play this evening!