How to run a task on a background?

[zzz]

I have a script that inputs/updates db from submitted form. I just added another code that sends email messages to a number of users that may be affected by the posted information. I put this script right before in run a db query and it's basically a loop that matches appropriate accounts and sends an email.

Depending on how many accounts are affected it may take a little while before the pages returns back to the original one with the form. I was thinking that perhaps I could take the email script and put it into a separate page and trigger it at the same time when I process the data, so that the two work simultaneously and the user did not have to wait for the page to refresh, while the email script cranks out on its own on the background.

Now it's just my theory and I have no idea how to implement this. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

[alimadzi]

You could use Ajax to tell the server asynchronously to send those e-mails and then report back if there's a problem. Meanwhile the next page of your app has already loaded.

Or you could set up cron to run every few minutes and send any e-mails that are pending.

[zzz]

AJAX is something that came first to my mind. I don't have much experience with it but am willing to look into it more seriously. Running the script on a regular basis won't work in this case as the data needs to be sent immediately.

Thanks for the advice. Sometimes you just need that confirmation that you're on the right path.