PHP iterate multidimensional array - query web service every x seconds - php

Question

I have an array with user information and a web service on a site I can query for the status of a user (online/offline). What I would like to do is query the site every x seconds for the status of each user.
There are about 10 users and belwois an example of the array. I can change the array is needed. Only thing I need to enter manually is the username and full name. The "status" I can call from the server.
$users = array
(
"username"=>array("Fullname","Status"),
"johndoe"=>array("John Doe","Online"),
"janedoe"=>array("Jane Doe","Offline")
);
This is an example of the url I can use to query the site (the query returns only the users status (Online or Offline):
http://thesite.com:80/webservice/user/username/
This is the code I can use to get a specific user status:
$url = 'http://thesite.com:80/webservice/user/johndoe/';
$get = fopen($url, "r");
if ($get) {
while (!feof($get)) {
$state = fgets($get, 4096);
}
fclose($get);
}
echo "User johndoe is: ".$status;
// Output: User johndoe is: Online
Now I only need help with iterating through the users and site every x seconds and update the array with each user status in the last array field for the user.
Please note that below I use php and fopen as this is a cross-domain get function and I could not get ajax/jquery to work. I do not have the option to modify the webservice server.
Thanks :)

Answer 1

You need to create a cronjob script that runs every x seconds. That script should be an asynchronous request to this PHP function.
public function updateUsers(){
$users = $_SESSION['users'];
foreach($users as $username=>$data) {
$url = 'http://thesite.com:80/webservice/user/'.$username.'/';
$get = fopen($url, "r");
if ($get) {
while (!feof($get)) {
$status = fgets($get, 4096);
}
fclose($get);
}
$users[$username][] = $status;
}
$_SESSION['users'] = $users;
}
A guide for posting asynchronous requests . http://petewarden.typepad.com/searchbrowser/2008/06/how-to-post-an.html
Hope it helps :)

Answer 2

If your $users array don't changes, you can do this:
foreach($users as $username=>$userdata) {
$url = 'http://thesite.com:80/webservice/user/'.$username.'/';
$get = fopen($url, "r");
if ($get) {
while (!feof($get)) {
$state = fgets($get, 4096);
}
fclose($get);
}
$users[$username][1] = $state;
}
If you can change your $users array to be associative like this:
$users = array(
"username"=>array("fullname"=>"Fullname","status"=>"Status"),
"johndoe"=>array("fullname"=>"John Doe","status"=>"Online"),
"janedoe"=>array("fullname"=>"Jane Doe","status"=>"Offline")
);
That would let you use more key/values and a bit safer.