Recording file upload time

[fahim_junoon]

Hi all

 

I’ve created a form with which a user can upload files, for example images, to the server.

 

I would like to record how long it took php to upload the file to the server so that i can display this to the user.

 

I have tried using a timestamp before moving the file and then a timestamp afterwards but the timestamps are exactly the same.

 

Is there anyway to record how long it took php to write the file to the tempory directory?

 

Thanks

 

[The Little Guy]

http://phpsnips.com/snippet.php?id=26

 

follow the comments, It should do what you want!

[fahim_junoon]

Hi

 

Thanks for the link but it still isn't working how i want. Here is my code.

 

<?php

 

if (isset($_FILES['avatar']['tmp_name'])) {

 

$time_start = microtime(true);

 

$uploadfile = $_FILES['avatar']['tmp_name'];

$path = "testing/test1";

 

if (move_uploaded_file($uploadfile, $path)) {

echo 'File uploaded!<br />';

}

 

$time_end = microtime(true);

 

$time = $time_end - $time_start;

echo 'Script took '.$time.' seconds to exicute';

 

}

 

?>

 

<form action="" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data"> 

<input type="file" name="avatar" />

<input type="submit" value="Upload" />

</form>

 

The problem is that it records how long the script took to execute which was 0.00161695480347 seconds.

 

I want it to tell me how long it took to transfer the file from the user's computer to the server e.g. 35 seconds.

 

I think php first uploads the file to the server before processing the if (isset($_FILES['avatar']['tmp_name'])) and so i cannot find out how long it took, only how long it took for the rest of the code including moving the temporary file to the new location.

[The Little Guy]

place $time_start above the first if, see if that does anything.

[fahim_junoon]

Nope still get the same time 0.00160503387451

 

I might just drop this for now as it’s not really a necessity for the system to work. it’s just that I was planning on creating a video upload form and it would be cool to know how long it took to upload a video and have that time stored in the database as an extra bit of info.

 

Thanks for the help

 

[The Little Guy]

actually I don't thing that it actually uses the PHP to upload the file, I think the web form does that...

[fahim_junoon]

Yea I think you’re right otherwise the code execution time should be longer than 0.0056 or whatever it was.

[CroNiX]

Haven't tried this, but might work...

in the upload form have a hidden field with the current timestamp so when you submit (maybe use javascript for the onsubmit to enter the time so it will be more accurate), it sends that time to the server and after your move_uploaded_file() take another timestamp and compare.

[fahim_junoon]

Thanks cronix i'll give it a try

[fahim_junoon]

This is quite strange but when you put a hidden input field into the form either the browse button disappears if it is put before the file input or the upload button disappears if it is put after the file input. This happens in both ie7 and firefox.

 

<form action="" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">

<input type="file" name="avatar" />

<input type="hidden" name="time" value="<?php echo time(); ?> />

<input type="submit" value="Upload" />

</form>

 

 

[The Little Guy]

you forgot a double quote after ?>

[fahim_junoon]

Sorry thanks for that. The hidden input method still didn’t work as expected though as the user could wait a minute before clicking upload and then the time taken to upload will say 1 minute 30 seconds even if it took 30 seconds. Here's the code i used.

 

<?php

 

if (isset($_FILES['avatar']['tmp_name'])) {

 

$start_time = $_POST['time'];

 

echo "Start time: $start_time<br />";

 

$uploadfile = $_FILES['avatar']['tmp_name'];

$path = "testing/test1";

 

if (move_uploaded_file($uploadfile, $path)) {

echo 'File uploaded!<br />';

$endtime = time();

echo "End time: $endtime";

}

 

$timetaken = $endtime - $start_time;

 

echo "Time Taken: $timetaken";

 

}

 

?>

 

 

[jamesbrauman]

Try editing the hidden inputs value when the submit button is clicked. I dont know (hardly) any javascript, but something like this would run when the submit button is clicked.

hiddeninputfield.value = javascriptfunctiontogettimestamp();
this.form.submit();

[fahim_junoon]

Yea that may work, only problem is I don’t know much JavaScript either. I’ll have a look and see if there is a function like php’s time() but in JavaScript so it will work properly. Thanks.

[The Little Guy]

time() and microtime() may have different output types, but I'm not sure though.

 

 

Try something like this:

<script type="text/javascript">
function clearTime(){
     document.getElementById('time').value = parseInt(new Date().getTime().toString().substring(0, 10));
}
</script>
<form action="" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<input type="file" name="avatar" />
<input type="hidden" name="time" id="time" />
<input type="submit" value="Upload" onclick="clearTime();" />
</form>

[fahim_junoon]

Thanks! It works great, it was only a second or two out during a 50 second upload when I tested it.

[CroNiX]

cool, glad it worked