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while waiting for the results to display

[rover]

I have a php page that does some mysql calculations and then returns results. For some cases it might take several seconds before the results are returned.

Is there a way to immediately echo a message that the calculations are taking place, and the results will be shown shortly? (rather than having the user look at a blank screen and wonder if things are working or not?)

If someone can point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it very much.

[jatar_k]

In this case I often put a message up before they click the link, that it could take a few moments.

How long are we talking on average?

[rover]

Thanks. Most are very quick, its just some that will take 20 - 30 seconds before the result is displayed. I suppose I could do something with javascript also. I was just wondering if there might be an easy way to do this with PHP that I was overlooking.

[killroy]

You have to disable output buffering, or force the buffers to flush.

SN

[jusdrum]

If using javascript isn't an issue, you may want to look into XMLHTTPRequest to make the call to the page in the background. Make the default content of a container div something like "processing...", then make your javascript function take the output from your XMLHTTPRequest call and populate the container div.

[rover]

Thanks very much, I appreciate it. I think I can do this by flushing the buffers, and I'll also check out the XMLHTTPRequest method.