Can you have an updating php page from a while loop?

[mascoli]

Hello -

Newbie to PHP. I have a program that iterates throgh an array with a while loop. I am trying to display a message to a web page that says the process started and during certain intervals it updates the page on its status. Ex. When the process starts, it echo's a message that it has started. After 20 or so records, it says that it has processed 20 records. After 40 records it says it processed 40 records and so on. After it is done, it says the process has finished. Can you do this from a form that opens a php file with the iteration code? Do you need to use javascript or flash for dynamic updating? What is happening now is the loop has to finish and then it displays the messages to the page.

Any help will be appreciated.

THX. Mario

[Ravenous]

You can't do this with PHP. PHP does all of its magic before the user's browser is sent any information. All of your records will be processed before they see anything. Javascript is useful for changing the information displayed on your user's screen, but integrating the two for something like this will be difficult.

[mascoli]

I can understand the diffuculty of having javascript calls to a window for updating. Do you know of any examples of this kind of mechanism for PHP or would you suggest another technique? I am creating the interface for a "non-computer" person to monitor the status and show them that the process is running.

Thanks again for your help.

Mario🙂