* Thus wrote Ken ([EMAIL PROTECTED]):
> What I want to do is write something simple in PHP that makes an HTTP request, takes
> the data received, and passes it through.
Ok.. sounds good so far :)
> Specifically, I am hoping to retrieve just a part of a file from the web server. If
> I wanted the whole file I would just do header("Location:...");
>
This technically wont be a pass through, you might want to do a
read file if you want to hide the url your actually fetching.
> I imagine I would want to form a basic get header request, with URL, whatever else I
> need, and a "Range:bytes=1000-2000" header. If I understand correctly, the
> (HTTP/1.1) web server would return the document I want, just bytes 1000-2000.
>
The problem with dealing with HTTP/1.1 is you have to make sure
your script is HTTP/1.1 compliant, which there are a lot of gotchas
to deal with.
For example, some web servers will send back the data in chunks
instead of just stream the file to you. So you have to parse the
size of the chunk and then fread that size into your buffer.
Now I think you can get by with a range: header when you request a
document as HTTP/1.0, its been a while since I've acually done that
so cant remember if I had to use HTTP/1.1 or not.
> Then I would take whatever is received and use a pass through function to pipe it
> out.
>
> I realize it might be simpler to do a file read (assuming I'm doing this on the very
> same server as the document), and then just seek to the given position and pass
> through whatever I wish. As far as that option goes, I was concerned that this
> might somehow be less efficient than the above scenario, which would be letting the
> web server do the seeking. But maybe both options are inefficient. Or maybe
> they're both reasonable!
>
Yes it is a reasonable approach, expecially when bandwidth is an
issue and you're expecting high usage.
>
> Any pointers at all would be appreciated.
>
HTH,
Curt
--
"I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure."
--
PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/)
To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
