Zipping large files, how to provide a status report while script executes

swoolf

Hello -

I have an asset management app that is taking large (20 MB+) files and zipping them into an archive for the user to download in one shot.

I need to display some kind of "Please wait while items are prepared..." type of status message that automatically refreshes when the processing is complete. This could take several seconds to several minutes.

How do I accomplish this with PHP?

Can a script display part of a page as it processes these instructions, and then complete displaying the rest when they are finished?

The help of any wise gurus is always appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve

swoolf

As an example of what I'd like to do, this site (phpbuilder.com) presents a "wait" page to the viewer when you perform a search, then automatically takes you to the results of the search when it is ready. This is precisely what I am looking to do with my script.

Thanks again,

Steve

amcgrath

You should be able to echo out a "Please Wait" message before you begin your zip operation and after it is completed, echo out a link to the created file.

For example, this works all day on my server:

echo '<li>Beginning zip process please wait....';
for ($x = 1; $x <= 100000; $x++)
{
echo $x . '<br>';
}
exec('tar -czf php_zip_files.tar ../*.php');
echo '<li>Files have been zipped up';

I put the 100000 loop so you could visually see the length of time and the out put to the browser to simulate your 20 meg delay...

amc

onion2k

Originally posted by swoolf
As an example of what I'd like to do, this site (phpbuilder.com) presents a "wait" page to the viewer when you perform a search, then automatically takes you to the results of the search when it is ready. This is precisely what I am looking to do with my script.

No it doesn't. You get the "click here to view" page after the search has been generated. This is coz the forum software writes out a page of HTML to the server and then gets you to view it, rather than generating a page dynamically and sending it to you. It does this so if you do the same search again it doesn't have to do all the searching a second time, it just sends you to the page it made before.

Well, I assume thats why.

amcgrath

Onion,

I'm not sure that's correct, mainly because you can see your post once it does send you back, which would leave me to beleive that the search is performed again. I always thought that intermediate page was just used as confirmation that your reply was received...

amc