real time data in php help

Hello,

Is there any way we can display real time data in php?
For eg, I am using one of Adafruits' python script to display date, time and CPU scaling frequency on my 2x16 LCD display. It refresh every one second.
Can I call the same script from php and display the output (and refresh every second without the whole page being refreshed) in my webpage?

Here is Adafruits' script,

Code: Select all

#!/usr/bin/python

from Adafruit_CharLCD import Adafruit_CharLCD
from subprocess import *
from time import sleep, strftime
from datetime import datetime

lcd = Adafruit_CharLCD()

cmd = "/opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd measure_temp"

lcd.begin(16,1)

def run_cmd(cmd):
        p = Popen(cmd, shell=True, stdout=PIPE)
        output = p.communicate()[0]
        return output

while 1:
        lcd.clear()
        ipaddr = run_cmd(cmd)
        lcd.message(datetime.now().strftime('%b %d  %H:%M:%S\n'))
        lcd.message('%s' % ( ipaddr ) )
        sleep(1)

there are 3 options that I know of:
1) ajax/jason the update
2) same as 1 but use a html5 socket
3) make the page load in bits, with each flush() push new javascript that updates the page.


date and time you don't need to send from the server often you can use javascript to keep that counting and just adjust it every so often from the server. (if your server and computer are both using ntp then you don't really need anything from the server for date/time)

there are 3 options that I know of:
1) ajax/jason the update
2) same as 1 but use a html5 socket
3) make the page load in bits, with each flush() push new javascript that updates the page.


date and time you don't need to send from the server often you can use javascript to keep that counting and just adjust it every so often from the server. (if your server and computer are both using ntp then you don't really need anything from the server for date/time)

Thanks for replying elatllat.

Its not date or time i actually want to display. I was using that as an example for real time data.
I wanted to display my CPU temp and CPU scaling frequency.

Can you explain your solution by posting some code examples?

Check out this website http://pi.gadgetoid.co.uk/ . He is doing exactly what I have asked help here for.
He says, his script is in ruby. So I downloaded the ruby script provided in his website (.rb file).
I installed ruby by sudo apt-get install ruby.
Now how do I run this file from php and display in my webpage?

Note: I have sent a pm to the website owner asking more information.

Now how do I run this file from php and display in my webpage?

Hi sim_tcr,

To use the script you've linked to, you'll need 3 separate components:

1. Your PHP server application to serve HTML and Javascript
2. A Javascript script running in the web browser to connect to the Ruby Websocket server and display the data it receives
3. The Ruby Websocket server (the script at http://pi.gadgetoid.co.uk/code/Socket.rb) to periodically push data to the web browser

It sounds like the Ruby portion is holding you up right now, so this is how to get it running:

1. First, you'll need to install a few Ruby libraries, called Gems, that the script requires. Running the command

   Code: Select all

   gem install em-websocket

   will download and install everything automatically. I haven't tried this yet on the Pi, so it may complain about missing system libraries. If so, post the error message on this board and we can help you out.
2. Second, you'll start the Ruby Websocket server running with

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   ruby Socket.rb

   It will periodically inspect the system stats and send a message with the results to any clients connected to it.
3. Third, you'll need to add Javascript to a PHP page to connect the browser to the Websocket server. The website you linked to uses a script found at http://pi.gadgetoid.co.uk/bootstrap/js/custom.min.js. A simpler example can be found here: http://martinsikora.com/nodejs-and-websocket-simple-chat-tutorial#frontend-template. The Ruby script will listen on the Pi's network interface on port 8070, so your Javascript will need to connect to whatever IP address your Pi is on but with port 8070 specified.

This solution uses a lot of different technologies, so let us know if you encounter any issues and someone will probably know how to sort it out. Good luck!

- Nick

Thanks for your reply Nick.

I was able to do step 1and 2 successfully. I have installed Gems by running the command you provided.
When I do

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pi@raspiabita ~ $ ruby Socket.rb
starting
threading

is what I see and I am never back to prompt. That looks like web socket is running. Is that how the prompt will behave?

Third, you'll need to add Javascript to a PHP page to connect the browser to the Websocket server.

This part I am stuck with. I am a beginner to HTML and PHP. How do I add a java script to my php page? should I first copy paste the code from http://martinsikora.com/nodejs-and-webs ... d-template to anywhere between <HTML> and </HTML> and then do modification in it?
Could you post an example php page source with the script Incorporated for websocket.?

I have no experience with Ruby, but you could follow this Ajax tutorial: http://www.w3schools.com/ajax/default.asp.

I was able to do step 1and 2 successfully. I have installed Gems by running the command you provided.

Just so you know, I was not able to get that persons status page working. It relies on something called "eventmachine" which I was not able to get working on the Pi. If you watch the Ruby logs you'll see something like "illegal call: eventmachine" I was not able to get it working and switched to PHP. It gets the data perfect, but I have not done any "realtime" updating yet. If you click the refresh link on the page you can pretend real time

http://tafb.yi.org

The source code is available at the bottom of that page. I'm running it on Wheezy, Pancake and PHP5. It's very inefficient.

Eventually I'm going to follow this guide to push the updates seamlessly to that status page: http://www.developerdrive.com/2012/03/p ... nt-events/

Have fun with your project.

-Jamie M.

I was able to do step 1and 2 successfully. I have installed Gems by running the command you provided.

Just so you know, I was not able to get that persons status page working. It relies on something called "eventmachine" which I was not able to get working on the Pi. If you watch the Ruby logs you'll see something like "illegal call: eventmachine" I was not able to get it working and switched to PHP. It gets the data perfect, but I have not done any "realtime" updating yet. If you click the refresh link on the page you can pretend real time

http://tafb.yi.org

The source code is available at the bottom of that page. I'm running it on Wheezy, Pancake and PHP5. It's very inefficient.

Eventually I'm going to follow this guide to push the updates seamlessly to that status page: http://www.developerdrive.com/2012/03/p ... nt-events/

Have fun with your project.

-Jamie M.

I have come across another solution and I had posted it here earlier. And you said due to the heavy number of calls php is going to make to system it may unstable the system. I decided to give it a try, I will leave it on for couple of days and see how stable it can run. Issue is I don't know if my website will get hits from outsides much.
Any way here is it http://raspisimon.no-ip.org/status.php
Note: Live status page works properly on Firefox and Chrome and not one IE. Don't know the reason yet.

I still wanted try out that web socket setup.

You can execute the ruby script with php and display the result on your webpage with this:

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<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<?php
shell_exec('shell commando to run the ruby script here', $output);
echo '<pre>'.$output.'</pre>';
?>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="1">
</body>
</html>

This should display the result of the ruby script on your website and it should automatic refresh itself every 1 second. Save the file as .php. Thats the easiest method i know.

You don't need to install anything for it it is built in php. Hope this helps

I have come across another solution and I had posted it here earlier. And you said due to the heavy number of calls php is going to make to system it may unstable the system. I decided to give it a try, I will leave it on for couple of days and see how stable it can run. Issue is I don't know if my website will get hits from outsides much.
Any way here is it http://raspisimon.no-ip.org/status.php
Note: Live status page works properly on Firefox and Chrome and not one IE. Don't know the reason yet.

Looks great! Nice work!

I got flawless live updating working on my page too (with jquery) but also, it doesn't appear to work in IE

http://tafb.yi.org

Works great on everything else though Just got my arch kernel upgraded, converted to EXT4 and tweaked my fstab, runnin like a champ

-Jamie M.

I got flawless live updating working on my page too (with jquery) but also, it doesn't appear to work in IE

http://tafb.yi.org?

what is the refresh interval set?
When I look at Uptime in your page, seconds are jumped incremental of 3 or 5 seconds seconds.COuld it be because of my internet connection speed?

what is the refresh interval set?
When I look at Uptime in your page, seconds are jumped incremental of 3 or 5 seconds seconds.COuld it be because of my internet connection speed?

Probably your internet connection I've had people report from the other side of the pond (UK, AUS, NZ), they have a real slow connection to me (I'm in Canada).

The refresh interval is set to one second AFTER the last SUCCESSFUL data update received (to make sure the requests don't pile up on slow/flaky connections). So if your internet connection takes 2 seconds to pull down the data update, then your page won't refresh for 3 seconds in total. I may set it so that if more than one second has elapsed since the page update REQUEST, then to just request a refresh immediately upon receiving the refreshed data. I didn't do it like that originally because that means it'll just be hammering your internet connection 100% with back to back to back requests. The 1 second delay should give things a nice rest.

And, if I get rid of that stupid phpChart gauge on the page, that'll cut a massive amount off the data it has to pull each time to refresh the data.

Let me know where you're located. If I keep getting reports like this from people I may try a different internet provider and see if they have a stronger link for my overseas friends.

-Jamie M.

Let me know where you're located. If I keep getting reports like this from people I may try a different internet provider and see if they have a stronger link for my overseas friends.

I am located in India and have a 2mbps connection (I am not exactly sure what is the upload and download speed). Can you try to access my page and http://raspisimon.no-ip.org/status.php and see if you see any delay in refresh? You may have to check the uptime counter as it should refresh every second.

I am located in India and have a 2mbps connection (I am not exactly sure what is the upload and download speed). Can you try to access my page and http://raspisimon.no-ip.org/status.php and see if you see any delay in refresh? You may have to check the uptime counter as it should refresh every second.

It refreshes every 2 seconds, sometimes 3 So yep, it's our connection to each other for sure

I have 100mbps download and 2mbps upload:



I wish they offered faster upload

-Jamie M.

so that was it. I have a slow speed and that was causing delays to refresh your page at my end. And also refresh my page at your end takes time because again my upload speed is very low.

so that was it. I have a slow speed and that was causing delays to refresh your page at my end. And also refresh my page at your end takes time because again my upload speed is very low.

Wow, that's really terrible! That ping time especially, need a fast one for quick server response

-Jamie M.

so that was it. I have a slow speed and that was causing delays to refresh your page at my end. And also refresh my page at your end takes time because again my upload speed is very low.

Wow, that's really terrible! That ping time especially, need a fast one for quick server response

-Jamie M.

But I see that you pay around 200$ (from Rogers website) per month for your high speed internet connection. For me it is 1000INR (Nearly 20$) per month.

But I see that you pay around 200$ (from Rogers website) per month for your high speed internet connection. For me it is 1000INR (Nearly 20$) per month.

I would normally pay $100USD per month for the internet package I have (Ultimate plan), but I get it a little cheaper because they provide my phone and television service as well

Looks like the cheapest ISP around here is $30USD per month for 5mbps down and 1mbps up

-Jamie M.