Question

In my php script I want to output data to the browser then sleep() for 2 seconds before running a function. The below doesnt seem to output the json before sleeping, anyone got any ideas?

if ($_POST['process'] == '1') {
    // adding stuff to $data here
    }

    echo json_encode($data);
    ob_flush();
    flush();
    sleep(2);
    // Do something else
}

Answer 1

Yep, this is how you do it. Basically, you close the connection and return the response to the user while apache continues to process the file…

ignore_user_abort(true);
header('Content-Type: application/json');
header('Connection: close');
header('Content-Length: ' . strlen($YOUR_JSON_RESPONSE));

echo $YOUR_JSON_RESPONSE;
flush();

sleep(2);
your_cool_function_to_run();
die();

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Works great for quick ajax calls that need an immediate response and/or take a long time to actually do the work.

I must warn you to use this type of thing sparingly… Each time this happens a new process/thread is opened up to handle the remainder of your request. Do too many too fast and you’ll run out of processes. (Depending on your setup)