advice on refreshing incoming messages with mt_rand()? - php

Question

is this a good way of doing it? or should i use a date time stamp with seconds rather?
while i am on a page, the new message must come through without me refreshing the page
my code is written in php:
<div id='div_longgray_gradient2'>
<div id='div_float_img'>
<table width='96%' border='0'>
<tr>
<td rowspan='2' width='40px' align='left'>
<img src='/images/rainbow/arrow.png'>
</td>
<td align='left'>
<span class='spn_big_black_rbc'>MESSAGES</span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align='left'>
<span class='spn_med_lightblue_rbc'>Inbox</span>
</td>
<td align='left'>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<br/>
<br/>
<table width='80%' align='center'>
<tr>
<td class='td_show_contact_heading' align='left'><span class='spn_med_lightblue_rbc'>Received</span></td>
<td class='td_show_contact_heading' align='left'><span class='spn_med_lightblue_rbc'>Message</span></td>
<td class='td_show_contact_heading' align='left'><span class='spn_med_lightblue_rbc'>From</span></td>
</tr>
<?php
$cursor = $pager->getFirstIndice();
foreach ($pager->getResults() as $msg)
{
$has_freechat = false;
//changed id to withid here
$freechat_req_link="profiles/confirmfreechat?withid=".$msg->getRcProfileTableRelatedByProfileIdFrom()->getId();
$freechat_req_link=link_to('Freechat',$freechat_req_link,'class=link_small_dark');
$cc = sizeof ($fc_records);
for($i = 0; $i < $cc; $i++)
{
if($fc_records[$i]->getProfileIdWith() == $msg->getProfileIdFrom())
{
$has_freechat = true;
break;
}
}
$unique_code_from = $msg->getRcProfileTableRelatedByProfileIdFrom()->getUniqueCode();
$block_url = link_to('Block User',"blocklist/block?unqiue_code=$unique_code_from",'class=link_medium_blue');
echo "<tr>";
$date = add_date($msg->getCreatedAt(),$hr=2);
echo "<td class='td_show_contact_item' align='left'>".$date."</td>";
$opened_once = $msg->getOpenedOnce();
if($opened_once >= 1)
{
echo "<td class='td_show_contact_item' align='left'>".link_to($msg->getSubject(), 'messagebox/read?cursor='.$cursor,'class=link_medium_blue')."</td>";
}
else
{ ?>
<td align='left'>
<a href="<?php echo url_for('messagebox/read?cursor=').$cursor ?>" style='color:#ff0000 !important' class='spn_small_red_rbc'><?php echo $msg->getSubject();?></a>
</td>
<?php
}
echo "<td class='td_show_contact_item' align='left'>".$unique_code_from." ( $block_url )</td>";
echo "</tr>";
++$cursor;
}
function add_date($givendate,$hr=2)
{
$cd = strtotime($givendate);
$newdate = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', mktime(date('h',$cd)+$hr, date('i',$cd), date('s',$cd), date('m',$cd), date('d',$cd), date('Y',$cd)));
return $newdate;
}
?>
</table>
<br/>
Displaying results <?php echo $pager->getFirstIndice() ?> to <?php echo $pager->getLastIndice() ?>.
<br/>
<?php if ($pager->haveToPaginate()): ?>
<?php echo link_to('«', 'messagebox/list?page='.$pager->getFirstPage()) ?>
<?php echo link_to('<', 'messagebox/list?page='.$pager->getPreviousPage()) ?>
<?php $links = $pager->getLinks(); foreach ($links as $page): ?>
<?php echo ($page == $pager->getPage()) ? $page : link_to($page, 'messagebox/list?page='.$page) ?>
<?php if ($page != $pager->getCurrentMaxLink()): ?> - <?php endif ?>
<?php endforeach ?>
<?php echo link_to('>', 'messagebox/list?page='.$pager->getNextPage()) ?>
<?php echo link_to('»', 'messagebox/list?page='.$pager->getLastPage()) ?>
<?php endif ?>
<table width='96%' border='0'>
<tr>
<td rowspan='2' width='40px' align='left'>
<img src='/images/rainbow/arrow.png'>
</td>
<td align='left'>
<span class='spn_big_black_rbc'></span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align='left'>
<span class='spn_med_lightblue_rbc'>Sent Items</span>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<br/>
<br/>
<table width='80%' align='center'>
<tr>
<td class='td_show_contact_heading' align='left'><span class='spn_med_lightblue_rbc'>Sent</span></td>
<td class='td_show_contact_heading' align='left'><span class='spn_med_lightblue_rbc'>Message</span></td>
<td class='td_show_contact_heading' align='left'><span class='spn_med_lightblue_rbc'>To</span></td>
</tr>
<?php
$cursor2 = $pager2->getFirstIndice();
$br = sizeof ($block_records);
foreach ($pager2->getResults() as $item)
{
$link = link_to('Delete',"messagebox/deleteSentmsg?mid=".$item->getId(),'class=link_medium_blue');
$id = $item->getRcProfileTableRelatedByProfileIdTo()->getId();
?>
<tr>
<td class='td_show_contact_item' width='15%' align='left'><?php echo $date = add_date($item->getCreatedAt(),$hr=2); ?></td>
<td class='td_show_contact_item' width='45%' align='left'><?php echo $item->getMessage()?></td>
<td class='td_show_contact_item' width='25%' align='left'><?php echo $item->getRcProfileTableRelatedByProfileIdTo()->getUniqueCode()." ".$link;?></td>
</tr>
<?php
++$cursor2;
}
?>
</table>
<br/>
Displaying results <?php echo $pager2->getFirstIndice(); ?> to <?php echo $pager2->getLastIndice(); ?>.
<br/>
<?php if ($pager2->haveToPaginate()): ?>
<?php echo link_to('«', 'messagebox/list?page2='.$pager2->getFirstPage(),'class=link_big_dark') ?>
<?php echo link_to('<', 'messagebox/list?page2='.$pager2->getPreviousPage(),'class=link_big_dark') ?>
<?php $links = $pager2->getLinks(); foreach ($links as $page2): ?>
<?php echo ($page2 == $pager2->getPage()) ? $page2 : link_to($page2, 'messagebox/list?page2='.$page2,'class=link_big_dark') ?>
<?php if ($page2 != $pager2->getCurrentMaxLink()): ?> - <?php endif ?>
<?php endforeach ?>
<?php echo link_to('>', 'messagebox/list?page2='.$pager2->getNextPage(),'class=link_big_dark') ?>
<?php echo link_to('»', 'messagebox/list?page2='.$pager2->getLastPage(),'class=link_big_dark') ?>
<?php endif ?>
</div>
</div>
can anyone give some advise please?
i have no ajax/JS here so dont know how i would incorporate it

Answer 1

PHP is a server side language and will not update a page once it has been fetched by the browser. To do this you will need to use a combination of server side and client side scripts.
One way of making your page update it's content is to use AJAX (http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.ajax/) combined with a timer (setInterval() and setTimeout()) to query a PHP script and check for updates every x seconds. The updates can then be added to the page when they are available using JavaScript / jQuery.