a refreshing question

gnome354

Like numerous other developers I have a web site which is database driven.

My question is, when an update is made to the database/web site, I would like the pages to be refreshed. Not just the pages on my screen, but the pages of those users who also happen to be "on" when the database is updated. I would like their browser to refresh their information as well. How can I do this?

This is what I tried with two computers next to each other computer 1 and computer 2 respectively:

I am using a session variable $x to refresh the screen when the db is updated. In my header file an if statement checks to see if that session variable is set. If it is, then it refreshes the screen after $x seconds (where $x is the session variable). The screen updated on the computer I was using, but the other computer's screen did not update. Am I overlooking something?

I have searched the entries in this form, but at first glance, could not find an answer to my question. Perhaps I overlooked something. Can someone help me or point me in the right direction?

Mark_P_W

I don't think this is possible. When you visit a page, the contents of that page are parsed and printed to the browser in one until the remote user reloads the page. It isn't dynamic so there isn't anyway you can use a server-side script to give a browser instructions to refresh.

driverdave

You'd need to have a statefull user client, like a java applet or a flash movie.

Just hook the clients up to a server.

That way, when you update the database, just send all the clients a "refresh me" broadcast.

Or, you could use some sort of horrid hack with a hidden HTML frame that keeps refreshing itself over and over, a faked state for HTML. Just have that frame read a page that you keep updated with some sort of update flag you set when you want all the pages to refresh. When the hidden frame sees this flag, update the main page.

Basically, it's a big problem to fake state with plain HTML. Use flash or a java applet.

gnome354

Thank you for your replies. I did not realize this was such a difficult problem to tackle.

Where can I find such a java applet?

What would such an applet be called if I searched for it on the net?