Board Optimization - True Asynchronous Cron Jobs using Javascript [!AJAX]. No more hanging page loads.

How vB's Cron Jobs Work (and the problem with them)
vBulletin has a great, built-in scheduled task system. It relies on an invisible pixel image output on the bottom of the forum pages to run the scheduled tasks (cron jobs). It works like this: When a user visits a page, vB checks to see if there are any pending cron jobs to execute. If there are, the cron image is inserted at the bottom of the page. That image, instead of displaying a real image, actually calls the scheduled task script which first returns the image, then proceeds to execute the scheduled task. This setup can cause the page load to hang, depending on what browser you're using. vB goes to great lengths to send the content-length header, then flush the image data to the browser. This causes some browsers to stop loading the page even though the script isn't finished running (it has to execute the cron job), since the data returned matches the content-length header. However, not all browsers are that smart. Sometimes they sit there with whatever indicator they have spinning, saying the page is still loading, until the scheduled task has finished.

How this product works, and how it fixes the problem
This add-on fixes the problem. How it works:
1. First it checks to see if the user has Javascript enabled. No Javascript means the standard vB cron image is used, so your scheduled tasks keep running.
2. If Javascript is enabled, then a short snippet of Javascript is inserted at the bottom of the page instead of the cron image.
3. What this Javascript does is first wait until the page is completely loaded. After the page is loaded, it ask for the standard vB cron image, which runs your scheduled task. After the image is loaded, it displays it (it's invisible) at the bottom of the page. It's as simple as that.

The advantage of this setup is that the cron image is requested via Javascript after the page is done loading, so that the user doesn't think something is wrong and wonder why the page won't finish loading.

Installation
Import the product XML via the Product Manager. You can enable/disable the product in the JS Cron Image Options group.

Technical Specs
This product adds one plugin which inserts Javascript where the vB cron image used to go. That's it.

History
Version 1.0.0 - Initial Release
Version 1.0.1 - Better compatibility with vBa and other 'portal' scripts. $vbulletin->options['bburl'] is prepended to the cron image URL.

This product doesn't change how cron jobs execute at all, it only requests the cron image (which starts cron job execution) in a different way, so that the user doesn't have forever-loading pages.

If you use this, please click Mark As Installed.

[Tulsa]

Originally Posted by Mecho

i searched everywhere but i couldnt find anything ! would u plz tell me where exactly i have to look ?

p.s. JS Cron Image Options is Enabled

Thanks

Admincp > Statistics & Logs > Scheduled Task Log

You can view any of all of your cron jobs

[Analogpoint]

Originally Posted by BobbyBig

How about including what browsers do problems..

I tested it in IE6, IE7, FF2, Opera9. It should work in *any* browser that runs Javascript. And remember, if Javascript is not available, it reverts back to the standard vB cronimage so your scheduled tasks continue to run.

Originally Posted by Mecho

i searched everywhere but i couldnt find anything ! would u plz tell me where exactly i have to look ?

p.s. JS Cron Image Options is Enabled

Thanks

Admin Control Panel -> Scheduled Tasks (near the bottom) -> Scheduled Task Log.

[Kihon Kata]

Hey, Analog, How do we know it's working?

[Mecho]

Originally Posted by Analogpoint

Admin Control Panel -> Scheduled Tasks (near the bottom) -> Scheduled Task Log.

Thanks but i dunno y i can not see any log for this cron !!

[Analogpoint]

Originally Posted by Kihon Kata

Hey, Analog, How do we know it's working?

Check your logs.

Admin Control Panel -> Scheduled Tasks (near the bottom) -> Scheduled Task Log.

Originally Posted by Mecho

Thanks but i dunno y i can not see any log for this cron !!

Are there any logs for scheduled tasks from before installing this product? Do you have any scheduled tasks set up and enabled? Have you had any forum visitors? (if you don't your scheduled tasks won't run)

I'll reiterate. This mod doesn't change how scheduled task run. It only changes how the cronimage is loaded into the footer of the site.

[Mecho]

yea i have many scheduled logs ! but i can not see any log for this mod in LOGS

[Analogpoint]

Originally Posted by Mecho

yea i have many scheduled logs ! but i can not see any log for this mod in LOGS

There's no log for this mod. If your regular scheduled tasks are running, then this mod is doing it's job. This mod simply runs all your regular scheduled tasks, it just works better than the default vB cronimage.

[Mecho]

today i check the scheduled tasks and i saw the times r for 4 days before !! and next time running time was for 3days before !!
any idea ???

[Analogpoint]

Originally Posted by Mecho

today i check the scheduled tasks and i saw the times r for 4 days before !! and next time running time was for 3days before !!
any idea ???

If you don't have any forum visitors the scheduled tasks can't run. If you want to test it, disable this product, and the scheduled task log will look exactly like it does with it enabled.

[andrewy3k]

I have a question.. is there any way to really tell if this actually improves loading times?.. Anyone actually test to see? And is it a more efficient hack for big boards?

thanks ahead of time