Sending data to browser before script finished

[quenting]

Hi,
Let's say i have a big script that takes up to 10 seconds to execute.
I'd like to send some part of the html file to the browser at the beginning of the script so that something is displayed (like a "be patient" sort of phrase, maybe an animated gif or something) and once the big part of the script is run send the "end" of the html file.

Can i do this in php ? Using output buffering functions ? Something else ?

Another case of long time process for which one could want some temporary data displayed until it's done is file uploading.
Is it possible to print something on the screen to make the user patient while the upload takes place (i think an exact load bar is impossible, but a simple gif ?) ?
Maybe that's more of a javascript question than php since the process starts on the client...

Thanks for any ideas / experiences
Quentin

[Jeff Lange]

you can use ob_flush() to send the info to the browser, however, some browsers will not show the page until it is completely loaded.

as for the uploading one, javascript would be a good way to do it, once the form is submitted, you show an 'uploading...' image on the same page, then after the upload is complete the broswser will go to the next page.