PHP Example - AJAX Poll

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AJAX Poll

The Below example will demonstrate a poll where the result is shown without reloading.

Do you like PHP and AJAX so far?

Yes:
No:

Example Explained - The HTML Page

When a user choose an option above, a function called "getVote()" is executed. The function is triggered by the "onclick" event:

<html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript">
function getVote(int)
{
if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
  {// code for IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari
  xmlhttp=new XMLHttpRequest();
  }
else
  {// code for IE6, IE5
  xmlhttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
  }
xmlhttp.onreadystatechange=function()
  {
  if (xmlhttp.readyState==4 && xmlhttp.status==200)
    {
    document.getElementById("poll").innerHTML=xmlhttp.responseText;
    }
  }
xmlhttp.open("GET","poll_vote.html?vote="+int,true);
xmlhttp.send();
}
</script>
</head>
<body>

<div id="poll">
<h3>Do you like PHP and AJAX so far?</h3>
<form>
Yes:
<input type="radio" name="vote" value="0" onclick="getVote(this.value)" />
<br />No:
<input type="radio" name="vote" value="1" onclick="getVote(this.value)" />
</form>
</div>

</body>
</html>

The getVote() function does the following:

  • Create an XMLHttpRequest object
  • Create the function to be executed when the server response is ready
  • Send the request off to a file on the server
  • Note: a parameter (vote) is added to the URL (with the value of the yes or no option)

The PHP File

The page on the server called by the JavaScript above is a PHP file called "poll_vote.html":

<?php
$vote = $_REQUEST['vote'];

//get content of textfile
$filename = "poll_result.txt";
$content = file($filename);

//put content in array
$array = explode("||", $content[0]);
$yes = $array[0];
$no = $array[1];

if ($vote == 0)
  {
  $yes = $yes + 1;
  }
if ($vote == 1)
  {
  $no = $no + 1;
  }

//insert votes to txt file
$insertvote = $yes."||".$no;
$fp = fopen($filename,"w");
fputs($fp,$insertvote);
fclose($fp);
?>

<h2>Output Will Be :</h2>
<table>
<tr>
<td>Yes:</td>
<td>
<img src="../../images/ok2.png"
width='<?php echo(100*round($yes/($no+$yes),2)); ?>'
height='20'>
<?php echo(100*round($yes/($no+$yes),2)); ?>%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>No:</td>
<td>
<img src="../../images/ok2.png"
width='<?php echo(100*round($no/($no+$yes),2)); ?>'
height='20'>
<?php echo(100*round($no/($no+$yes),2)); ?>%
</td>
</tr>
</table>

The value is sent from the JavaScript, and the following happens:

  1. Get Content of the "poll_result.txt" file
  2. Put Content of the file in variables and add one to the selected variable
  3. Write the result to the "poll_result.txt" file
  4. Output a graphical representation of the poll result

The Text File

The text file (poll_result.txt) is where we store the data from the poll.

It is stored like this:

0||0

The first number represents the "Yes" votes, the second number represents the "No" votes.

Note: Remember to allow your web server to edit the text file. Do NOT give everyone access, just the web server (PHP).


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