check if external file exists for use with favicons

[formasfunction]

I'm trying to add favicons for external links on my site and I'd like to serve up a default image of my own if one doesn't exist. I've seen a javascript solution out there but I'd rather work this out in php. Here's what I have that's working:

$urlbits = parse_url($array['url']);
$favicon = "http://". $urlbits['host'] ."/favicon.ico";
if (!@fclose(@fopen($favicon, "r"))) {
 $favicon = "/dev/images/favicondefault.gif";
}

The problem is that the script is incredibly slow as it waits for every single server in the list (typically 15 or so) to respond. If I just go ahead and print the page then the available favicons display as they load but then I can't substitute in a default favicon if one doesn't exist.

So, my question is, is there a better script for what I'm doing or a way to adjust the timeout for my current script so that a slow external server doesn't cause it to hang?

[PHP_Chimp]

I dont have an answer for your timings; however what about storing the favicons so you dont have to search for them each time?
Then if you have a copy serve there favicon if you dont have a copy then serve your default one.

[formasfunction]

That's probably a better idea. I'd love to see if anyone else has an answer to my original question but I'll probably go ahead and just store them for reliability.

[formasfunction]

Whats the best way to download those favicon images to my server? Is curl the way to go?

[joelgreen]

For your current solution you could limit respond time by setting a timeout. Look at the fsockopen manual on the php.net for details.

But as previously stated storing favicons on your server is much more stable solution. You could use fread/fwrite for loading/saving the image. You could also use file_get_contents/file_put_contents. But file_put_contents was introduced in php5 only.

[Achernar]

Why not use a browser-side solution?

<img src="http://www.example.com/favicon.ico" onerror="this.src='/images/favicondefault.gif'">

[joelgreen]

Very smart solution Achernar!

[formasfunction]

Hey Achernar, that's a great solution and one that I had avoided because Safari doesn't recognize onerror. However, I just tested it with the Safari 3 beta and it seems it's working now and that's good enough for me. Thanks again.