Question

automatic processing of ftp-uploaded files; upload done or not?

Asked by: DoppyNL

Hi!

I've got a system that processes images and movies for further use.
To make it easyer for some users, we are making a system that will allow them to upload files to an ftp-server. From there the system will automaticly process the files.

Since it is an automated process, it will be run quite often, to allow quick processing of the files.

However, a file should not be processed when the upload of the file is not complete.

How can I detect in PHP that a certain file was uploaded completely?
Filetypes that can be used are jpg, avi, mpeg, wmv, html, etc.

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Asked On
2007-11-22 at 05:26:10ID22977492
Tags

php

,

5

,

file jpg movie

Topic

PHP Scripting Language

Participating Experts
2
Points
125
Comments
11

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Answers

 

by: simonkinPosted on 2007-11-22 at 06:17:08ID: 20334460

Hi,

Try this...

Just call the function to validate the upload...

Code:

<?php
	
	// Set some variables
	$filename = $_FILES["file"]["name"];
	$original_size = $_FILES["file"]["size"];
	
	// Move the upload file from tmp to wherever
	move_uploaded_file($temp_path, $new_path);
	
	// The function to check the size
	function checkSize($filename, $new_path, $original_size) {
		
		// Make sure the file exists
		if (file_exists($new_path . $filename)) {
		
			// Get the size of the uploaded file on the server
			$filesize = filesize($new_path . $filename);
			
			// Check that the filesizes match
			if ($filesize == $original_size) {
			
			// File sizes match
			return true;
			
			}
		
		} else {
		
			// Filesizes don't match
			return false;
		
		}
		
	}
 
?>

                                              
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by: DoppyNLPosted on 2007-11-22 at 06:22:36ID: 20334483

The file is being uploaded to an FTP-server. NOT via HTTP-POST!
a php-script will then read a specific dir and find files in that dir to process.

Chances are the file is still being uploaded via the ftp-server when the php-script tries to process it; since both these processes are seperate.

 

by: simonkinPosted on 2007-11-22 at 06:44:07ID: 20334563

Hi,

Ok, I see...

Taken from http://us.php.net/ftp_nb_fput

<?php
 
    // Set the filehandle
	$fh = fopen ($file_name, "r");
	
    // Perform the upload
	$ret = ftp_nb_fput ($ftp, $file_name, $fh, FTP_BINARY);
 
	// Check the status while uploading
    while ($ret == FTP_MOREDATA) {
        
		// Print the status to the screen
		print ftell ($fh)."\n";
		
        // Keep uploading...
		$ret = ftp_nb_continue($ftp);
    }
	
	// If the returned status is not finished
    if ($ret != FTP_FINISHED) {
       
		// Print an error message to screen
		print ("error uploading\n");
        
		// Stop script execution
		exit(1);
    }
    
	// Close the file handle
	fclose($fh);
 
?>

                                              
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by: DoppyNLPosted on 2007-11-22 at 06:51:33ID: 20334592

Nice function, but I'm sorry to tell that is not what I meant.

I'll try to be more specific.
What happens is as follows:

Event 1:
- User logs in on FTP-server (manually)
- Uploads 1 or more files
- Closes FTP-connection

Event 2:
- PHP-script is run (automaticly; SEPERATE from the user)
- PHP-script checks for new files on ftp-server
- PHP-script processes new files.

Since both Event 1 and Event 2 are initiated completely seperate it is possible they are run simultaneously. In that event it is possible the user is stil waiting for his upload to be finished and the file is still incomplete. In that case I don't want Event 2 to process the file and leave it for the next time it is run.

 

by: simonkinPosted on 2007-11-22 at 07:12:17ID: 20334710

I'm sorry,

Is the Event 1 actually carried out on an FTP client or via a php ftp function?

 

by: DoppyNLPosted on 2007-11-22 at 07:14:08ID: 20334720

Event 1 is done by a user using a normal ftp-client on windows.
Event 2 is a cronjob

 

by: simonkinPosted on 2007-11-22 at 07:38:15ID: 20334871

Oh....

I think you need to make a ftp upload function in php.

Why don't you try that and then use http://www.experts-exchange.com/M_4284069.html

 

by: steelseth12Posted on 2007-11-22 at 09:12:20ID: 20335424

Hi DoppyNL
What you need to do is loop through the directory once and create an array of the filenames and the modification time of the files using the filemtime() function

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.filemtime.php

Then loop through again or loop through the array you created and use the filemtime() function again to see if the modification time has change. If it has changed then it means that the file is still being uploaded.

Please let me know if you need more help.

 

by: DoppyNLPosted on 2007-11-23 at 01:39:26ID: 20337950

Do I need to add a considerable delay between the tests? I can imagine that the file doesn't have to change for a second, simply because the users connection is slow.
A delay of a minute would probably be a optimal delay?

Starting to work on that now, may take a little time.

 

by: steelseth12Posted on 2007-11-23 at 01:48:24ID: 20337976

Yes it would be a good idea to put some delay not because of slow connections but mostly because the connection of the ftp might break up and the user would need to reconnect and resume the upload.
A 1 minute delay would work fine.

 

by: DoppyNLPosted on 2008-03-04 at 03:15:25ID: 21039883

Sorry for the late reply, I completely forgot about this question.

There is now a cronjob running every minute that checks for files on the ftp-server. When a file is new it is stored in a database the file is there. The second time the process runs it will check if the file has changed in the meantime, if not the file is processed, if it is changed the cronjob skips it for a later attempt.

tnx for the help!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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