Get node.js to execute local .php file inside pollingLoop

Question

Short here's the purpose of my application.

I have a PHP file reading data through an ODBC connection and writing them to a local database.

This PHP file needs to be run LOCAL ON THE SERVER each time a loop is processed in my node.js, socket.io server.

My setup is Apache, PHP 5.5.12 and node.js.

I was pretty convinced there was a simple way to this but I haven't had any luck getting Ajax or similar to work inside node.js by following other guides.

The code where the file should be processed inside looks like this.

var pollingLoop = function () {
    // Update the local database
    // HERE I WANT THE PHP FILE TO EXECUTE

    // Make the database query
    var query = connection.query('SOME LONG SQL QUERY IN HERE'),
        status = []; // this array will contain the result of our db query

    // set up the query listeners
    query
        .on('error', function(err) {
            // Handle error, and 'end' event will be emitted after this as well
            console.log( err );
            updateSockets( err );
        })
        .on('result', function( runningstatus ) {
            // it fills our array looping on each runningstatus row inside the db
            status.push( runningstatus );
        })
        .on('end',function(){
            // loop on itself only if there are sockets still connected
            if(connectionsArray.length) {
                pollingTimer = setTimeout(pollingLoop, POLLING_INTERVAL);
                updateSockets({status:status});
            }
        });
};

Am I totally of track by trying to do that?

Answer 1

Try invoking php through the shell interface:

var exec = require("child_process").exec;
app.get('/', function(req, res){exec("php index.php", function (error, stdout, stderr) {res.send(stdout);});});

OR this link