How to make my php page change according to updates in database?

Question

I have an employees table here to see whether they are in the office or out. I have a php file to select the status from the database. I tried changing the status from out to in and in to out in the database but I cannot see any changes in my php page until I reload it. How can I get my php page change automatically when there is a change in the database?? I m a newbie so please help out... Thanks in advance. I have the php file here:

<?php
$dbhost = 'localhost';
$dbuser = 'root';
$dbpass = 'pass';
$conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);
if(! $conn )
{
  die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
$sql = 'SELECT Name,Status FROM Employees';

mysql_select_db('new');
$retval = mysql_query( $sql, $conn );
if(! $retval )
{
  die('Could not get data: ' . mysql_error());
}
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($retval, MYSQL_ASSOC))
{
    echo "Name :{$row['Name']}  <br> ".
         "Status: {$row['Status']} <br> ".
         "--------------------------------<br>";
} 
echo "Fetched data successfully\n";
mysql_close($conn);
?>

Please dont use [the `mysql_` database extension](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12859942/why-shouldnt-i-use-mysql-functions-in-php), it is deprecated (gone for ever in PHP7) Especially if you are just learning PHP, spend your energies learning the `PDO` or `mysqli_` database extensions, [and here is some help to decide which to use](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12859942/why-shouldnt-i-use-mysql-functions-in-php) — RiggsFolly, Apr 07 '16 at 17:02
_How can I get my php page change automatically when there is a change in the database_ You cannot! Not without a lot more technology than you are ready for at the moment — RiggsFolly, Apr 07 '16 at 17:04
if this is about a simple page refresh, then just do that. Many ways to go about it. However, if this is about triggering something, then that's another ballgame. — Funk Forty Niner, Apr 07 '16 at 17:08

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 07 '16 at 17:10

0

HTTP is not a asynchronous protocol. The only way to refresh the data on the webpage is to reload the page eg;re-do the SQL query, parse and display the results. You could possibly do what you want using AJAX methods.. but, I do something like this for an "in-house" page to reload it every 5 minutes...

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Pragma" CONTENT="no-cache">
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Expires" CONTENT="-1">
<script type="text/JavaScript">
<!--
function timedRefresh(timeoutPeriod) {
setTimeout("location.reload(true);",timeoutPeriod);
}
//   -->
</script>
<title>TITLE</title>
</head>
<body onload="JavaScript:timedRefresh(300000);">
<?php //do the query, display results ...
?>
</body>
</html>

answered Apr 07 '16 at 17:10

Duane Lortie

1,285
1
12
16

Thanks !! But is there any way that I can change only the php page load and without the whole page load because it might take time to reload the page if it has a lot of content or styles... – Alok Naushad Apr 08 '16 at 09:47
perhaps maybe an iframe is what you want? – Duane Lortie Apr 09 '16 at 19:56
In your main page, that you dont want to reload, add.. – Duane Lortie Apr 09 '16 at 20:02
Let me check out!! Thanks – Alok Naushad Apr 21 '16 at 06:39

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 07 '16 at 17:29

If you really want this, you can do an ajax request every say 5 seconds, send the old values with the request and compare them to the database, if there is a difference you trigger a refresh, this way you only refresh your page when there is an actual update. (or you just update it using ajax every 5 seconds, looks a lot cleaner than a full page refresh)

Both require polling though, there is no easy way to do it without just checking every so many seconds.

score -2 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 07 '16 at 17:00

-2

Use the below mysql

 while($row = mysql_fetch_array($retval))
    {
        echo "Name :{$row['Name']}  <br> ".
             "Status: {$row['Status']} <br> ".
             "--------------------------------<br>";
    }

answered Apr 07 '16 at 17:00

Ajay

235
2
8

I have changed the argument of myself_fetch_array($retval). There is no 2nd argument – Ajay Apr 08 '16 at 04:29

How to make my php page change according to updates in database?

3 Answers3