Breaking an Infinite Loop when User Disconnects?

[tommyboy123x]

I'm not sure what PHP considers an "aborted connection" and things like that, but the way this chat works is by updating a file and using the timestamp off it to determine if new posts exist.  Rather than re-checking the server over and over, this code will check once and keep the connection open until a response is made.  The only problem is, it works too well!  Even after the tab is closed and I try another script on the site or the same script, it all hangs until I update the file - here is the code snippet:

 

while (($currentmodif <= $lastmodif) && (connection_aborted() == 0) && (connection_status() == 0)){ // check if the data file has been modified

    usleep(10000); // sleep 10ms to unload the CPU
    if (connection_aborted ()) break;
    if (connection_status () != 0) break;
    clearstatcache();
    $currentmodif = filemtime($filename);
    }

 

I have put several measures in to attempt to break the loop when the user disconnects, but it just doesn't work!  It will continue to hang and hang and hang until I re-upload the file $filename

 

HOW CAN I BREAK THE WHILE LOOP WHEN THE MEMBER LEAVES THE PAGE?

 

I could post up an example but its ultimately useless after one load unless you have control over updating the file.

 

Thanks!

[tommyboy123x]

Eureka!

 

I found out you need to send something to the browser in order to check if it is still alive - I chose "echo chr(0);" but you can also use echo "\n"; from what I hear.

 

Tom