Why not just delete the temporary table when the users session is deleted?
(or when session expires).

Or you could just have a query that would check for temporary tables that have expired, and run the query every time a new table is created.

eg:

[PHP]$sql = "SELECT id from temp_table_name where update < 'NOW() - 3600'";[/PHP]

or if you have a db based session:

[PHP]

$sql = "SELECT t.id as tableid from temp_table_name as t LEFT JOIN session_table_name AS s ON (s.id = t.sessionid) where s.expires < NOW()";

[/PHP]

You don't really need to use cron. If you're worried about server/db load, just cache the last "cleanup" time to a file. Then If the last cleanup time was over 1 hour or so, runt he "cleanup" query again.

One problem I can see with using the window onunload event is that it doesn't tie into a users session. A user may have multiple windows open. Then may have not meant to close the window, and they still want their list of products there.

An expiration time linked to the session is better.

The window.onunload event with a new XMLHTTPRequest call does work though if you're sure the user only has one window open, and the one window represents a session. (common with Web2.0 designs).

Hi digital-ether,

Thank you for your great reply. I really get some ideas from your reply. I have store the each sessionid obtained from session_id() in the temporary table. As you told I just check the sessionid available in the table and check whether it is active or not. once it not active then i delete it using your query.

Thank

Not sure if this is even still relevant but


will continue to execute the script if the user closes the browser window.

I simply would use an expiring session cookie.
That way, you wouldn't have to worry about the database usage and cron jobs.
Usually, it isn't a good idea to store temporary information on the server.

Ditto.

BTW: why did this thread get resurrected after two and a half years?