Is this possible in PHP and if not... how the heck do I do it?!?

[mynics]

Hi,

I'm currently nearing completion of a chat script, but for the life of me, I don't know how to get the taskbar to blink when someone says something in the room. Is there an easy way to do this?

*pulls out all remaining hairs and puts on a new thinking cap*

[Add]

anything is possible.

there is no way to manually make php do that, but depending on how you have written the chat room, the browser may do it for you.

[Cam]

With some creative thinking, Javascript would do the trick just nicely.

[HarryF]

The thing with chat apps is you have to get the browser to update in real time - that means you either have it refresh every X seconds (usually not pretty) or you need some kind of app the client loads - Flash is a good choice if you have the tools - check out http://www.sitepointforums.com/showt...threadid=98685 for starters

Otherwise may be a Java applet or even XUL.

[Cam]

PHP can do chat. It's not real good on server resources. You could do something like this.

<?php
ob_implicit_flush();
 
while(1)
{
   // do chat stuff here
}
?>

[Dr Livingston]

If you choose to refresh the page, then don't refresh the page; refresh a hidden IFRAME instead; i.e. 1*1 pixels and pass the data from the IFRAME to the parent window using Javascript.

Thus you get the refresh but the user doesn't see it - it isn't obvious unless s/he looks at the progress bar 8)

The Document Object Model is perfect for this BTW.

[Dr Livingston]

Another thought - I don't like the idea of using Flash for something this easy and simple.

In fact; I don't like Flash at all. LoL

[Add]

PHP can do chat. It's not real good on server resources. You could do something like this.

<?php
ob_implicit_flush();
 
while(1)
{
   // do chat stuff here
}
?>

this is how i would have done it...