PHP code to display some kind of busy image/icon until a process is complete?

[Adamsom]

Hi All,

I am having an exec() function in my code which invokes a shell script to convert an mp3 file into flv format.
Now this conversion takes some time say around 4-5 minutes if the file is large. During this time I want to show some kind of busy icon with message asking the user to be patient. How to write in the code?

[Raju Gautam]

Are you going to upload the mp3 files from some html form itself or you want to convert it from somewhere else that is already stored in a path in the server? Since I do not know directly uploading files via AJAX, what I would do is; first upload the file to somewhere in the server then run the converting script via AJAX so that we can show that working/loading image.

[paalgg]

Hi All,
I am having an exec() function in my code which invokes a shell script to convert an mp3 file into flv format.
Now this conversion takes some time say around 4-5 minutes if the file is large. During this time I want to show some kind of busy icon with message asking the user to be patient. How to write in the code?

The exec function does not return any results until completion, so retreiving any live status is not possible from that.

The easy way would have to be calculating the time it will take to convert the mp3 file according to filesize or play length (I would think filesize is best to use). Then make a javascript that show some kind of countdown or calculated time left. That is not a good way, but the easiest way.

The calculated time will change with server load and miscalculations. I recommend adding some extra time to the calculations to make user experience better.

[penkomitev]

You could create a file containing the temporary conversion progress results, however it must have unique name. This make it much more difficult to manipulate the data, to perform conversion, etc... Therefore, I think you do not need 100% precise results. You could see the average time it takes to convert 100 kilobytes, or even 1 megabyte if you want and according to that time, as it was already said, you can estimate what time it would take to finish the conversion process.

[SpacePhoenix]

Are you going to upload the mp3 files from some html form itself or you want to convert it from somewhere else that is already stored in a path in the server? Since I do not know directly uploading files via AJAX, what I would do is; first upload the file to somewhere in the server then run the converting script via AJAX so that we can show that working/loading image.

AJAX would be my thought also, have a % complete which PHP would update, the AJAX would pick up on the update to the % complete and change whatever your using to denote 'operation in progress' to match.