AJAX question

infinity79 · Share | #1 (**permalink**) 03-21-2012, 08:41 AM

I have a script that queries several whois servers for 100 domain names. The querying is written in PHP.

I tried a lot of ways to show the results one by one as the whois servers answers, but I had no succes. Mainly I tried to use flush() and ob_flush() functions from php.

I read a lot of resources on the internet, and it seems that thw only way would be to use AJAX (though I never understood why flush() and ob_flush() didn't work).

So, two questions:
1. Why flush() is not working in php?
2. How can I use AJAX to get my results shown asynchronously?

Thanks

JohnnyS · #2 (**permalink**) 03-23-2012, 12:58 AM

can you post your code using ob_flush?

infinity79 · #3 (**permalink**) 03-23-2012, 01:16 AM

This is the main script:

Code:

echo '<table class="dtable">';
	foreach (/* the list of domain names generated */){
		$this->show_domain_availability($domainName);
	}
echo '</table>';

This is the show_domain_availability function:

Code:

function show_domain_availability($domain){
     if ($this->checkDomain($domain)){
		echo "<tr><td>AVAILABLE</td></tr>";		
   	}else{ 
		echo "<tr><td>NOT AVAILABLE</td></tr>";
	}
	ob_end_flush(); 
	ob_flush(); 
	flush(); 
	ob_start();
}

This part with ob_flush() and flush() I tried in tens of ways as seen on the php forums and php.net meaning that I tried putting flush() several times instead of once. I tried filling the buffer. I even changed the output_buffering settings in php.ini. I tried everything that I have already found on php forums regarding this function.

**J. H. Rasmussen** · #4 (**permalink**) 03-23-2012, 02:29 AM

I don't believe you should use the ob_ functions in this context. If you remove

Code:

	ob_end_flush(); 
	ob_flush(); 
	flush(); 
	ob_start();

Does the script work at all? If not, what error does the script come up with?

infinity79 · #5 (**permalink**) 03-23-2012, 02:34 AM

The script works but does not flush the output buffer. Meaning that it has no efect.
Please look in my signature. That's where the script runs. Try a domain name. Press check. Now you have to wait for several seconds in order to get all the output at once.
I would like to have the domains shown one by one as I get the results from the whois server.

**J. H. Rasmussen** · #6 (**permalink**) 03-23-2012, 04:46 AM

Here is an example you might want to play with, it uses javascript/ajax:

Code:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html lang="en" xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
	<title>Untitled</title>
<style type="text/css">
table,td
{
	border: 2px solid black;
}
</style>
</head>

<body>


<table>
<tr>
	<td id="dmnm1">domain.com</td>
	<td id="dmnm1avail">Looking up availability...</td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td id="dmnm2">domain2.com</td>
	<td id="dmnm2avail">Looking up availability...</td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td id="dmnm3">domain3.com</td>
	<td id="dmnm3avail">Looking up availability...</td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td id="dmnm4">domain4.com</td>
	<td id="dmnm4avail">Looking up availability...</td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td id="dmnm5">domain5.com</td>
	<td id="dmnm5avail">Looking up availability...</td>
</tr>
</table>


<script type="text/javascript">
/*
This is the url to the script there will check if the domain is available.
The script needs to output for example Available or Unavailable, echo can be used for that.
The output from the script will be added to table-cell next to the domain being checked.
The domain is added as a parameter to the url eg: /test/avail.php?domain=thedomaintocheck.com
*/
var availSriptURL = "/test/avail.php";

function switchXHRState()
{  
	if(this.readyState == 4)
	{  
		this.callback.apply(this, this.arguments);  
	}  
}

function loadFile (sURL, fCallback, argumentToPass1)
{  
	var oXHR = new XMLHttpRequest();  
	oXHR.callback = fCallback;  
	oXHR.arguments = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 2);  
	oXHR.onreadystatechange = switchXHRState;  
	oXHR.open("GET", sURL, true);  
	oXHR.send(null);  
}

function insertDomainAvailToPage(mNumber)
{
	document.getElementById("dmnm" + mNumber + "avail").innerHTML = this.responseText;
	
	//if unavail is in the response, make text red
	if(document.getElementById("dmnm" + mNumber + "avail").innerHTML.toLowerCase().indexOf("unavail") > -1)
	{
		document.getElementById("dmnm" + mNumber + "avail").style.color = "red";
	}
}
	
for(var a = 1; a != 101; a++)
{
	if(typeof document.getElementById("dmnm" + a) != "undefined")
	{
		loadFile(availSriptURL + "?domain=" + document.getElementById("dmnm" + a).innerHTML, insertDomainAvailToPage, a);
	}
	else
	{
		break;
	}
}
</script>


</body>
</html>

It will make asynchron requests for the domains listed in the table, acording to the ids of the table-cells, i hope you can see where i am going with the script.

For testing i used this code as avail.php:

Code:

<?php

$domain = $_GET["domain"];
if($domain == "domain2.com")
{
	echo $domain." is available";
}
else
{
	echo $domain." is unavailable";
}
?>

It does not check if the domain is avaiable, but you will need to create a script there checks if the domain is available and output the text that the javascript will insert to the cell next to the domain.

infinity79 · #7 (**permalink**) 03-23-2012, 05:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J. H. Rasmussen

Here is an example you might want to play with, it uses javascript/ajax:

Thanks a lot J.H., I will play with it this weekend and let you know of the results. Regards.