Background Processing

Cfx_http5 is a fantastic tool and it gets used here everyday as poart of an "intelligent agent" for a  critical business process here... was well worth the $50

It can be used to upload files using post & multipart/formdata . The docs have an example


I'd agree with azadi and recommend the dirWatcher event gateway to process when files are present. the upload time can't be reduced but you can do something similar to what youtube does. "Your upload is being processed. Please check back later".

Thankyou both for the current comments, with regards to uploading, thats not an issue, as uploadify does an ajax call so the file itself is uploaded as the use fills in the form (the image is the first item to be loaded).  Uploadify also proved a nice progress bar as well, so that part is covered.

Its 100% the resizing that causes the pause (as the form cant be submitted until uploadify has completed the upload)...

this is why i though cfx_http might do the job as i can just send the request off and carry on.  afterall, the file is already uploaded by this time, i just need to resize it etc.  Imagine it like PayPal IPN - eg, the processing is done behine the scenes with no "user face" so to speak.

:)

the reason we've both suggested the event gateways is that nothing from the client side needs to happen once the upload is complete. the cfx won't do that for you (any more than a behind the scenes ajax call would do)

What you should do is have your upload function complete without resizing and pass control back to the user -without- any further manipulation. The dirWatcher event gateway will recognize when a new file is present and start the resize process..but this is completely transparent to the user. They could have moved on to a completely different site while the processing is taking place. The processing can take x amount of time and when it's done you can move it with cffile, update a db entry to show it's complete or whatever

You can do all of this with a scheduled task as well, but I prefer the gateway as it is tied to the actual upload rather than a batch mode. This might be a little easier on the server as image processing is done as needed rather than all at once.

the only problem i ever had with employing an event gateway like directory watcher was that sometimes - very rarely, but it is possible - it would pick up a partial file in the directory (one that has not been moved over completely) and try to process it, which resulted in an error... that's why i settled for a scheduled task instead, which processed only files older than 3 minutes ago...

mind you though, that was a dirwatcher gateway that kept track of a folder that a site admin could upload files to using FTP, not HTTP post... maybe with http post this does not happen...

Azadi

Oh ok.  The problem i have with a DirWatcher is that the files are specific to a user and are placed within a user folder automatically, (which are created on signup/profile submission)

I guess i could put code in the dirwatcher to match the filename in the database, and then resize and move to the appropriate folder.

I dont think partial files will be an issue, and the file will have already completed upload..... guaranteed! :)

you could, during file upload (well, really during cf moving the uploaded file from a temp dir to designated folder) rename the file to include unique user identifier(s) in the filename. then your dirwatcher gateway could move the file to appropriate folder after resizing/whatever based on the filename....

in this case you would upload all files to one same directory on your server, preferably outside of web root to avoid the recently rampant successful hacking attempts.

Azadi

lol i would never allow uploads to webroot, i always asign a folder such as UserUploads for examples that is purely for uploaded files, and the dir does NOT have execute permissions either =)

I actually thought this would be an easy task lol! well is there a way to show a dialog or light window after submission that could just show a "please wait" type message.

My action code is below: (well psuedo_code)

<cfif IsDefined("form.goodtogo")>
<!---
If this page is submitted, update database, resize images....once done, cflocation to step 2
--->
</cfif>

I am using Lightview (found here: http://www.nickstakenburg.com/projects/lightview/) in my project but for the love nor money can i get it to show using the $LightView.show function after <cfif IsDefined("form.goodtogo")>.  I thought if i could just get one to show, it would be fine as the code then changes the page location (and would obv cause the lightview to close).....but i cant even get it to show after submit.

Any thoughts or ideas?

Many thanks again for all the help so far

James

"I guess i could put code in the dirwatcher to match the filename in the database, and then resize and move to the appropriate folder."

that is exactly what I would do

If the EG writes the the file info to the db i'd set a processing flag and then have the client do an ajax call to check that flag every 30sec or so...when img processing is complete, cffile the img to the user dir, set the flag to off and when the ajax call hits, update the browser to show complete


btw...I would not add a "Please Wait"...I'd use a Processing indicator

people don't like to wait but they don't mind if something is processing ;)

ah yes, i was thinking of the classic pinwheel ajax loading.gif type image =)

Right, ok, so, my thoughts on a dirwatcher may be abit off, so i wonder if i could enlist some code help now.

Im figuring something like: ....erm well actually, i dont have a clue,  i guess every second (example sake atm - when in full production this site could be getting a lot of uploads) in scheduler, i have a cfm page that creates a list of files in the director, then loops the list, resizing and moving the images to the appropriate users dir??

@SidFishes,

Looks interesting, im about to head home for the weekend so i will check it out monday when im back at work and post my progress

Many thanks =)

J

Hiya,

Ive realised that dire watcher will be great for a different part of my site, but just wont quite work for what i want right now.

Is there a way to "Call" a page -- Azadi mentioned <cfthread> -- instead of including it?

All of the above helped in.  For the exact problem i had here, i managed to do what i wanted, by 1) using a much better image library from efflare which cut down the times by alot, and 2) i used jQuery Binded to the form submit so that i managed to get a modal window showing after clicking submit... The pause is now only 3.5 - 4 seconds regardless of file size and is acceptable under the guides i have to work within =)

The help above like the DirWatcher etc WILL be used elsewhere in my projects though so i have learned much from this post

Thanks to all :)