[KeYBLeR]

Hello again everyone, I just wanted to say thanks for all your help so far.

I need to know how to delay a php script.

Here is my php script that sends a email message to every person in my newsletter.

PHP Code:

if($_GET['sendemail'] == "sendall"){

$email = $_POST['email'];

$subject = $_POST['subject'];

$message = $_POST['message'] . "\n\n\n$unsubscribe_email_message";

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM list");

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {

include("../config_newsletter.php");

$date = date ("l, F jS, Y"); 

$time = date ("h:i A"); 

$id = "$row[id]";

$name = "$row[name]";

$email = "$row[email]";

mail ("$email", "$subject", "$message", "From: $admin_email\r\nReply-to:$admin_email");

echo("eMail Sent to: $name at, <a href=\"mailto:$email\">$email</a><br>");

}

echo("<hr color=#000000>This eMail Was Sent!");

} 

This is the part I would like to delay, (I Think)

PHP Code:

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM list");

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) { 

This is where it starts pulling emails from my mysql database and starts emailing them.

Is there a way I can delay the script xx amount of time. This way It won't use up the servers load. Say theres 2,000 emails in my list, and I'm trying to email them back to back, Thats using up alot of resources.

Thanks Keith

[End User]

Add the line in bold:

if($_GET['sendemail'] == "sendall"){
$email = $_POST['email'];
$subject = $_POST['subject'];
$message = $_POST['message'] . "\n\n\n$unsubscribe_email_message";
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM list");
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
include("../config_newsletter.php");
$date = date ("l, F jS, Y");
$time = date ("h:i A");
$id = "$row[id]";
$name = "$row[name]";
$email = "$row[email]";

sleep(1);

mail ("$email", "$subject", "$message", "From: $admin_email\r\nReply-to:$admin_email");
echo("eMail Sent to: $name at, <a href=\"mailto:$email\">$email</a><br>");
}
echo("<hr color=#000000>This eMail Was Sent!");
}


Be aware your server may time out during a long run like this.

[KeYBLeR]

Any suggestions on how to not make it time out?

I have a great server, nerver any problems, its on a 21 gbps backbone internet connection (if that matters).

Will it time out because the server hardware?
Or will it time out because of script issues?


Thanks Keith

[KeYBLeR]

what does sleep 1 equal? 1 minute?

Keith

[Nico]

http://php.net/manual/en/function.sleep.php

[wiremind]

Originally Posted by KeYBLeR

Any suggestions on how to not make it time out?

After you delay your script with "sleep" just reload the page like this

Code:

header("location: index.php")

where index.php is the name of your file

[Pineriver]

"set_time_limit(SECONDS)"
The max exicution time is 30 seconds without using this function, afterwich you would get an error.

If you are going about the sleep() function and have thousands of emails to process this would take a long time, so you might want to set the ini setting that you can enable to keep the script working even if the user terminates closes/gose to another page. I dont know the exact code for this tho, maybe someone will point it out.

[End User]

I's also flush the buffer each time- this would more than likely prevent timeouts. I have some scripts that run for hours, even with the default 30-second ini value. As long as data keeps getting sent to the browser it can run for as long as you need it to.

[wirehopper]

Hi,

I wouldn't worry about the server capacity. The email software is very sophisiticated. If it gets too many emails to send, it will queue them up. Don't reinvent the wheel, trust your email system.

Set it up to run as a cron job at 2am and blast them out all at once.

Have it send you an email when it completes, and have it send the cron output (whatever you want it to be).

If there is a problem - you should be able to recover by "normal business hours".

Obviously, this advice is given with a . I have been responsible for ensuring email software runs properly and one of my first rules is to run large lists in the middle of the night.

Good luck.