Loads external php file with javascript src

Question

I'm currently using below method to call an external php file with some variables using javascript

<script src="http://www.domain.com/function.php?param=A" type="text/javascript"></script>

And the code in the function.php file will return data in Javascript format, something like

<?php Header("content-type: application/x-javascript");
$p = $_GET['param'];

$r = mt_rand(0, 10);
echo "document.write('" . $p . $r . "');";
?>

This is just a simple example. My problem is on Google Chrome (v19), if the page had not finished loaded, the random number will not be random when I keep refreshing. It will become truly random only when I hit the refresh button AFTER the page finished load. Why is this happen and how can I solve it?

I tested on Firefox 12 and IE8, even if I refresh the page before it finished load, the random number will always be regenerated.

Is there a reason you're not using Javascript's Math.random()? — dda
– dda, Commented May 29, 2012 at 4:41
Sorry maybe I make the example here too simple. I actually was loading MySQL database in the PHP file, load some data and randomly select one of them to pass back to the page which is calling it. — huiqing
– huiqing, Commented May 29, 2012 at 4:43

Mandar Limaye · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-29 04:53:37Z

0

You need a small JS hack. Basically, you want to dynamically add the <script> tag in JS and add a random parameter at the end of the URL.

var hookScripts = function(url, src) {
    var s = document.createElement("script");
    s.type = "text/javascript";
    s.src = url || null;
    s.innerHTML = src || null;
    document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(s);
};

hookScripts('http://www.domain.com/function.php?param=A&randomSalt=' + Math.random());

This will force chrome to request the JS file again.

answered May 29, 2012 at 4:53

Mandar Limaye

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1 Comment

huiqing Over a year ago

Thanks! The random salt method solved my problem! Anyway I combined php code into the Javascript src to generate the random salt (because I need to insert that section of Javascript code at multiple parts of webpage).

filype · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-29 04:44:49Z

0

Your URL's query string says param=A, you're referencing $_GET['param1'] on your PHP/JS file. Shouldn't it be $_GET['param']?

You'll probably want to add the headers so that your js file is not cached

<?php
header("Cache-Control: no-cache, must-revalidate"); // HTTP/1.1
header("Expires: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 05:00:00 GMT"); // Date in the past
?>

See http://php.net/manual/en/function.header.php

answered May 29, 2012 at 4:44

filype

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1 Comment

huiqing Over a year ago

Thanks. I added the header, but the problem still persists. And only in Google Chrome...

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