Some Questions?

asa_carter

Hi,

Can anyone help me with any of these few questions:

1) How do i set up my localhost so that i can use a file such as index.php to be the first page that loads in a certain directory instead of index.html?

2) How do I set up php so that it can parse any other file extension instead of just .php?

3) Is there any way that I can send an email to someone at a certain time without having to load a page. For example, when an auction has ended, send the seller an email letting them know that it has ended and who the highest bidder is?

Thanks,

addie

so u run *nix or windoze ? there is a big diferent between

crowezr

For the first two questions, you will need to modify these settings in your Apache httpd.conf file.

asa_carter

still a bit unclear on how to set up a php file as the first file that loads in a directory - instead of index.html?

which part is this in the httpd.conf file?

stolzyboy

find the DirectoryIndex line (mines around line 325)

and replace it with this

DirectoryIndex index.html index.html.var index.htm index.php index.php3

then you can use .html, .htm, .php, or .php3, you can use whatever you want here

that will be the answer to question 1

next, there will be a line like this (mine is around 725)

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .php3

you can change it to this

AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .php3 .god

and any .god page will be parsed by the PHP parser

that is the answer to question 2

and for 3, need more info, how do you know the auction has ended?

make sure and restart apache after making changes

asa_carter

Hi,

Thanks for your help with the first 2 questions. Got them working now.

As for 3:

The auction lasts for either 1, 3, 5, 7 or 10 days from the date and time the auction was created.

When the auction closes, I need to send an email to the buyer and to the seller explaining what they need to do next.

I dont see how I can do this as, if no one is viewing the auction when it closes, how can I send the emails?

I've heard of some software that you can install on the server that will run scripts at certain times but I cant remember what its called. I think this may be the only way. Any idea's?

stolzyboy

if this is a *nix box, you can use CRON to run a scheduled task, but if you have PHP installed as a module, not the CGI, you need to use lynx or wget to run the PHP page...

asa_carter

I'm not sure what a *nix box is?

I've been looking into cron jobs. I see it can execute a script at a certain time. I'm not quite sure if it will achieve what I need it to.

I need some way of sending the emails when any auction meets its deadline. So really, I need a script to be running continuously and iterating through all the open auctions to check wether the deadline has just been met. Is this the only way of doing it or is there something I've not thought of?

oh - how do I know if php is installed as a module or the cgi?

Cheers,

superwormy

*nix box means its running either a distro of Linux, or some UNIX / BSD OS.

Cron can do what you want. It's probably not a very good idea to have a script continuously running going through every record, will probably slow things down considerably.

I'd have a script run every 10 minutes, or every 30 minutes or something, which woudl send the emails. I don't think anyone would care about the 10 min. difference...

Cron can accomplish that.

If you really want to ahve a script running continously... run a PHP / PERL / C program script from the command line. If its' PHP, make sure you set the script timeout to 0. ( set_time_limit() )

I'd use C for that... would be faster and less resource intensive than a PHP or Perl script that is running continuously.

asa_carter

So I cant use Cron Jobs under apache in Windows?

stolzyboy

nope

asa_carter

What would be the best way to do it under windows then?

I've looked at windows task scheduler but that won't let me do it every 10 minutes.

I have a site that is hosted on a unix server but i dont think i can install cron jobs on that. My localhost is windows xp. I have linux red hat 9 dual installed but I cant get my speedtouch dsl modem working with that.

I've tried searching for lynx but I cant find much info on it.

stolzyboy

there are two ways you could do it with task scheduler, one is if you have PHP installed with as a CGI, or you can create a VB app that calls the PHP page, but yes, now that i look, it is only down to the day...

lynx is used with cron on a *nix box, so it would do you no good for windows...

all i can say to you now is check with your *nix host to see if they'll allow cron jobs...

asa_carter

aha! My host does have cron jobs. Just don't publicise it.

Ok. I'm creating a script to iterate through all the open auctions.

$item_query = "SELECT * FROM item WHERE auction_end > now()";

I have been using this to select everything in the table that is in the future. I need to modify it return all the items that have ended in the last 10 minutes. I'm a bit stuck with the syntax?

http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/Date_and_time_functions.html

asa_carter

got something like this but it doesn't work

😕

$item = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM item WHERE auction_end = DATE_SUB('now()', INTERVAL 10 MINUTE)", $mysql_access);

superwormy

Depends on how you stored your dates... DATETIME field or...?

Might want to look at the BETWEEN clause thingy too!

asa_carter

Yes. It is stored as DATETIME.

I thought about the between statement but I cant find out how to use it in the MySQL manual. I've tried searching.

stolzyboy

have a look see on this page

asa_carter

Thanks for that. This seems to work ok:

$item = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM item WHERE auction_end BETWEEN DATE_SUB(now(), INTERVAL 10 MINUTE) AND now()", $mysql_access);
$total = mysql_num_rows($item);
echo "$total results found.";
while($row = mysql_fetch_row($item))
  echo "$row[0] <br>";