Executing a function every $n minutes

[shlumph]

Hey guys,

 

I'm writing a web related program in PHP, and need to execute a function every 10 (completely arbitrary) minutes. Is there a PHP function that will allow this? Do I need to use threads? Any help as to what to research, or links to code examples would be greatly appreciated. 

[DarkWater]

Check out cron, which is a Linux utility.

[shlumph]

I'm using a shared host under GoDaddy, which provides a cron manager, but only allows the following frequency:

hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly.

 

I need a loops iteration to take about 4-20 minutes like this:

function getData($arrayItem) {
      //Do Stuff, Return Stuff
}

$data = array();

for($i=0; $i<200;$i++) {
     $data[] = getData($urlArray[$i]);
     //Pause for 4-20 minutes
}

 

And the whole loop must finish. So in the end, it's going to take a while for the program to execute. I basically want to slow down the loop. I could check time every iteration, and see if it's been 10 minutes, but I'm afraid I'll blow up my shared hosting server 

 

 

[discomatt]

Get a better host?

[DarkWater]

Get a better host?

 

I second that.

[The Little Guy]

if you have SSH you should be able to write it in there

[DarkWater]

if you have SSH you should be able to write it in there

 

GoDaddy?  SSH?  Lol.  Don't think so.

[shlumph]

Ahaha. I'm too cheap for a better host.

 

I'm thinking I'll look at PHP threading, unless anyone offers $$$ or another solution 

[shlumph]

http://us3.php.net/sleep <-- Exactly what I'm looking for 

[The Little Guy]

Ahaha. I'm too cheap for a better host.

 

 

too cheap? http://dreamhost.com

[PFMaBiSmAd]

Did you try a "custom" cron job - http://help.godaddy.com/article/3548

[MasterACE14]

sleep() for 20 mins... I don't think thats a good idea.

 

Ahaha. I'm too cheap for a better host.

 

x10hosting.com

[FForce2195]

Hello.  It's a silly idea from a 4-week-old PHP beginner.

 

What if you use Javascript with

 

setTimeout("location.href='URL to the PHP file'", 6000000)

 

to repeat the script?

[stockton]

You said "I'm writing a web related program in PHP" and if you look at http://www.stockton.co.za/lb you should see something similar & if you are interested I could share the code with you.

[haku]

Create a database that holds a time in it. At the top of all scripts, place a check to see if more than 10 minutes has passed since the time saved in the database. If it has, save the current time in the database, then run the scripts that need running every ten minutes.

 

This method won't work in exactly 10 minute intervals though, as the scripts won't be triggered until the next page access AFTER ten minutes has gone by. But if you can deal with that, then it's an easy way of doing this.

[shlumph]

Did you try a "custom" cron job - http://help.godaddy.com/article/3548

Did you try a "custom" cron job - http://help.godaddy.com/article/3548

 

This looks like the best solution. Thanks