Here's what I'd like to do... someone please tell me if its possible and how I might accomplish it:
I've got an external executable written in C and compiled. What it does is not important but it has the potential to run for a VERY long time.
I would like to make PHP execute this program but for a maximum of about 30 seconds so as not to delay the loading of the page significantly. If possible, to actually display an animated
"Thinking..."
gif before the program is executed (not sure how I would accomplish this).
Basically, I'd like php to execute the program, gathering its output in an array, but then kill the process if its taking too long so the page can finish loading and the visitors arent made to wait too long.
Possible?
