using external content

[sde]

im using content on one of my sites that pulls from an external server.

sometimes that external server's httpd service isn't working that great.

is there a way to test for a page before trying to read it? i can do a file_exists, but the problem is that i don't want to make them wait until it times out. i want it to print an error after about 5 seconds of the external server not responding.

any ideas?

[sde]

ok .. here would be another solution ..

is there any way in php to check to see if an ip is valid? ping it somehow or something like that?

if(server_id_valid())
{
  execute this;
}
else
{
  echo "info not available";
}

[Admin]

hmmm.. i would like to know if there is a way to have it timeout after 2 seconds?

[sde]

it would be cool if php had some built-in timer functions where you could keep looping to check if a file has been detected until the specified time of the end of the loop.

something like this:

while($start_time < $end_time)
{
  check for file; // but keep looping while still checking the file
  
  if(file is found)
  {
    $end_time==$start_time;
  }
}

[Admin]

that would work perfect.

please do that for me mike.

thanks.