simplexml and set_time_limit

nuts

I have been displaying web pages that include a script that grabs an ebay partner feed using SimpleXMLElement

$pFile = new SimpleXMLElement('http://yada.yada.yada', null, true);

This works great. However the source of this xml feed has been having some problems, and I am looking for a way to set a time limit of maybe 1 second (maybe 2?), so that if it cannot grab the xml within that time, it will stop trying and the parent page will continue to load.

From reading it seems that there is no set_time_limit argument that can be associated with SimpleXML -- but maybe I am wrong. I have made a variety of attempts with no luck, either in the parent page (set time limit for the include) or in the auction script (set time limit for the execution of simplexml).

Any ideas will be welcome.

Cheers
Mike

big_nerd

I would before trying to set a time limit, diagnose WHY its happening.

Maybe using cURL to retreive the file, to pull the timeout?

If you look here you can see (Scroll waaaay to the bottom for the answers) there was someone asking a SIMILAR question.

They seem to have it resolved.

N.B. I reluctantly linked this website as they are commercial, however it is the only source to a solution that I could find.

nuts

Thanks big.nerd, your curl suggestion is a good one. (I tried to signup for experts exchange once, but never could get the login to work so I gave up on them.)

I did find some pretty good stuff at http://nadeausoftware.com/articles/2007/06/php_tip_how_get_web_page_using_curl

Here is the code I came up with:

	$ch = curl_init();
	curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, 'http://www.url/of/my/xml/parser/script);
	curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
	curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 1);
	curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 1);
	$contents = curl_exec ($ch);
	curl_close ($ch);
	if ($contents != "") {echo $contents;}

It works so far, that is it displays the parsed xml, but it remains to be seen if it prevents hangups when the feed goes bad.

The problems with the feed during this past weekend are fairly well documented, but I just got a note from a user saying she had been having timeout-like problems with this site for a couple weeks, which more or less coincides with starting the ebay partner network feeds. I can't do anything about the problems at the source, so my choice is to display these feeds or not. I will see what happens.

big_nerd

You don't need to sign up for it, if you scroll well down to the bottom they actually give you the answers.

If you don't scroll down you won't see it 🙂.

Best of luck, you can also test it by sending it to a valid IP that will time out, perhaps to your own IP address, to see what happens.

nuts

Thanks big.nerd, I looked for a way to pm you but couldn't find it, but when I go to expertsexchange.com all I get at the bottom of the page is the opportunity to sign up for my free 30 day trial. No answers. Maybe you have a cookie?