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brianharrell

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PHP flush() not working to flush output to browser before script is done

My script is a basic PHP script calling data from a MYSQL database
but it takes about 2 minutes to run the script as it emails out 1000 people on an email list
I want it to display the email address on screen AS it emails each one instead of all at once at the end of 2 minutes lists them all

I have tried adding

ob_implicit_flush();

at the top, no. that does not work.

and

ob_flush();
flush();

after every echo of the email address to the screen.

Still doesn't work.

help please.

Avatar of nacker2000
nacker2000

Hi,

So you your code is somethings like:
<?php
	//DO QUERY TO GET EMAILS
	
	//loop through records
	while($rst = mysql_fetch_array($result)){
		//get email address
		$email = trim($rst['email']);
		//send mail and check it was sent
		if(mail($email, 'Subject', 'Message', 'From:you@yourdomain.com')){
			//ouptut to screen
			print('Sent email to: ' . $email);
		}
	}
?>

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Avatar of brianharrell

ASKER

my code say echo instead of print but very much the same.


right after

                        print('Sent email to: ' . $email);


I put the flush() code but ob_flush() and flush() don't seem to output to browser except when the whole script is done (over 1000 emails)
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nacker2000

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I'll test that shortly.
Did that work for you?
still waiting to test on a large email batch
No that did not work.

In my script I have this near the start of the script (not in the email loop part)

ob_implicit_flush();

ob_flush(); // added 12-05-2007
flush(); // added 11-15-2007 BH

My email script loop is below:

     $row = mysql_fetch_array($result); // get the data!
     if ( $row != "" ) {  
      // GOT vendor info!
        echo "Emailing Vendor ID ".$v_id." ... success!<br>";
        ob_flush(); // added 12-05-2007
        flush(); // added 11-15-2007 BH
    // wait for 100 milliseconds (1 second = 1000000)
    usleep(100000);
    mail($vendor_email_address_here, $subject, $vendor_message , $extra_stuff_here_from_reply_address);
    }


Above always prints ALL of them to the screen AFTER it completes the loop.




Also, when a large query is running like this, ALL other queries to that database from browsers seem to STALL until this query finishes emailing the list of 1000 vendors.   Isn't MYSQL capable of more than one query at a time from the same browser (Firefox, separate tab)?
Tested that issue in IE and it doesn't seem to care how many client files are opened at once while the query is running, must be a FIREFOX issue.   Didn't mean to mix issues here but there may be a shred of relevance to the current issue.  No need to work on the FFox or IE issue in this thread any more.  Back to why the output is not getting to the screen during the emailing...
It is erratic and sometimes firefox does them one by one to the screen and other times it waits until 300-500 are to print and others only until the browser finishes the script.
Don't know how to fix this one.
I think it is a browser issue.
Seems to work in IE now.