Refreshing php page without reloading content?

Question

I've searched everywhere for a method where a page can reload automatically for every x seconds without actually reloading the page's contents, I have php code(includes some html) which updates my database table whenever a new user joins the page. However this only works once.

PHP CODE

 <?php
                  $userOn5 = "SELECT * FROM `usersOn` WHERE name = '$username'";
$query4 = mysql_query($userOn5) or die (mysql_error()); 
 while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($query4)) { 
    // Gather all $row values into local variables for easier usage in output 
    $timenow = $row["time"];  
} 
                  $user = "SELECT * FROM `user`";
$query3 = mysql_query($user) or die (mysql_error()); 
 while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($query3)) { 
    $usernow = $row["name"];  
} 
$secs = time() - $timenow;

mysql_query("UPDATE user SET name = '$user'");
if ($username == $usernow) {
                  ?>
                    <div id="container" style="display:none;">

I've attempted using meta tag but that reloads the entire content, I've attempted moving the entire php code to a separate php file and tried loading it inside a div called 'show' in the page:

var auto_refresh = setInterval(
        function ()
        {
        $('#show').load('registeruser.php').fadeIn("slow");
        }, 10000); // autorefresh the content of the div after
                   //every 10000 milliseconds(10sec)

Basically what I'm trying to do is rerun the php code every 10 seconds. Help?

Answer 1

Quite likely your issue is due to browser cache. You can use the following workaround -- that's actually what ajax does when you use cache: false :

$(function() {
    var auto_refresh = setInterval(function () {
        var t = Date.now();
        $('#show').load('registeruser.php?t=' + t);
        $('#container').fadeIn("slow");
    }, 10000);
});

UPDATE

Alternatively, you can use the following:

$(function() {
    var auto_refresh = setInterval(function () {
        var t = Date.now();
        $('#show').load('registeruser.php?t=' + t).find('> div').fadeIn("slow");
    }, 10000);
});