[eddyvlad]

I've developed a script consisting PHP and MYSQL to read the binary data of a Microsoft Excel document (.xls), display them in a table, user is to select the column type and click submit for all the data to be loaded into the database. Unlike using COM (rarely works on all computer), I've used an opensource library (in php also) which can read the binary data and convert it to readable format.
One main disadvantage of using that method, it is very slow. I'm talking about 5mb of excel data with more than 5000 rows. It took me about 3 mins to load the data into tables.
What I'm thinking is to load the data into a temporary storage so user can browse by showing only 100 rows per page. So each sheet will be divided into pages. I can't do that with the current method because going to the next page means waiting for another 3mins. I was thinking of using session. But loading 5000 rows (More than 5mb) into a session? Do you think it's a good idea? Another method is to write the data into a text file, since text file is not binary, it will be much faster. But it's a hassle to do the codes to write and retrieve that data. readdir, read, fopen..... *phew* that's alot....

So err.... is session a good idea? Can I store loads of data into session array and still have a faster output?

[NeverMind]

try ..
but what is this other method you used for reading binary data? because we can't advise if we don't know what you are talking about?

[eddyvlad]

I don't have any other method. I'm afraid I have to make alot of changes on my script. Because my current script is very very slow. I would like to distribute the script so others can improve on it. Furthermore, I couldn't find any other scripts like mine being freely distributed. Also, since I used open source library, it's fair that I make mine open source too. But my script has too much preconfigured settings meant for my work server and database. So it's not distributable yet.