Creating intermediate page like Expedia.com ... How?

[jtown]

I was wondering if any of you know how to create an intermediate page that displays before the next page is loaded. A good example of this is www.expedia.com when you search for a trip. It goes to a page with an animated gif that shows the user that the site is actually doing work. I know how to do go from one page to the next, but I'm not sure how to determine when my process is done (mysql).

This might need to be in the Database forum, but I figured I'd ask here first. While the next page is loading my site needs to do a bunch of sql queries but how do I know when it has completed so I can move out of the intermediate page?

Was that confusing?

TIA.

[Weedpacket]

Another example is this site; have a look at the HTML of the intermediate page for some ideas.

[jtown]

The HTML I know how to do, but I guess it's the mysql part that's bothering me. Unless something like this is purely HTML based. (onload stuff etc?) hmm ... I'll investigate a bit ... any direct pointers?

[maxxd]

I usually handle it as such - make your form action target a page - let's call the page interim.php, shall we? On interim.php is a switch statement on a $_POST var (i.e., 'option' - hide this variable in the submitting form). The interim page switch statement then calls a function based on the option variable, which processes everything and prints '<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="2; url=yourNextPage.php">'. This will cause a pause of 2 seconds on the interim page and then forward the user to the next page.

[jtown]

Originally posted by maxxd
I usually handle it as such - make your form action target a page - let's call the page interim.php, shall we? On interim.php is a switch statement on a $_POST var (i.e., 'option' - hide this variable in the submitting form). The interim page switch statement then calls a function based on the option variable, which processes everything and prints '<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="2; url=yourNextPage.php">'. This will cause a pause of 2 seconds on the interim page and then forward the user to the next page.

Hmm ... I don't simply want a 2 second pause. I actually want the query to come back and be finished and then proceed to the next page.

[vornn]

What do you want to do with the page?

if you know, you can get it to do it, then load the html after the process and move from there. The time for you queries won't be that long, so process your code, then the html and redirect to new page.

Here's the flow:

Start of page

process database queries

end of process queries

start of html

end of html

end of page

I use this model all the time to add things to the database, becasue it's simpler and easier than creating one page to do everything.

Here's one of mine:

<?php

// Start the session 
session_start(); 

// Include the settings file and the auth script 
// as this is a private page
include('../r/mysqlsettings.php');
include('../r/auth.php');

// include some error stuff, for when something goes wrong
$top = "<link href=\"admin.css\" rel=\"stylesheet\" type=\"text/css\"><meta http-equiv=\"refresh\" content=\"2;URL=javascript:history.back( )\"><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>
	<div align=\"center\"><table width=60% border=0 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=1 class=\"blkbdr\">
		<tbody> 
		<tr> 
		  <td class=bmtext height=13><b><font size=2> You seem to have missed something out.</font></b></td>
		</tr>
		<tr> 
		  <td height=29 bgcolor=white class=mtext>";


$bottom = " You should be returned to the previous page soon.
			If not, please <a href=\"javascript:history.back( )\">click 
			here.</a></font></td>
		</tr>
		</tbody> 
	  </table></div>";


//get input
$oils_id = $_POST['oils_id'];
$oils_name = $_POST['oils_name'];
$oils_description = $_POST['oils_description'];

/*
Make sure the input isn't odd, by removing 
the slashes and code elements.
Also change the carrage returns into new lines
*/
// Strip HTML Tags
$oils_name = strip_tags($oils_name);
$oils_description = strip_tags($oils_description);

// Slashes
$oils_name = addslashes($oils_name);
$oils_description = addslashes($oils_description);

// nl2br
$oils_name = nl2br($oils_name);
$oils_description = nl2br($oils_description);

//Checks
if (!$oils_name)
{
	echo $top;
	echo "Please enter a title for this oil.";
	echo $bottom;
	exit;
}
if (!$oils_description)
{
	echo $top;
	echo "Please enter a description for this oil.";
	echo $bottom;
	exit;
}


// store that data
if ($oils_id)
{
	// If it's an update, er, well, update.
	$query = "UPDATE oils SET 	oils_name='$oils_name', oils_description='$oils_description' WHERE oils_id='$oils_id'"; 
}
else
{
	// Add the information to the database
	$query = "INSERT INTO oils (oils_name, oils_description) 
		VALUES  ('$oils_name', '$oils_description')";
}


$result = mysql_query($query)
    or die('MySQL error: '.mysql_error().'<br>Query: '.$query);

if ($result)
	echo mysql_affected_rows(). " Oil Added to the Database.";


//html bit coming up - BAM!
?>
<html>
<head>
<title>Administration</title>
<link href="admin.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="2;URL=oils_main.php">


</head>
<body>
    <div class="centred"> 
<table class="blkbdr">
      <tbody>

    <tr> 

    <td class=bmtext> The Oil has been added to the database. </td>
    </tr>
    <tr> 

    <td class="mtext" > You should be returned to the
      Oils Page soon. <br>
    If not, please <a href="oils_main.php">click 
    here.</a> </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>

</table></div>
</body>
</html>

Have a great day.

Hope this helps...

🙂