question about running two scripts on one directory 1

[sd0t1]

I have situation where we have 2 departments (department1 and department2). Say both are on the same government domain, but are different departments.
Now say if they share data between their two systems via a shared directory that each department sends flat files to.
Basically each department passes and updates information based on sending each other flat files.
The directory is setup so that when either department drops a flat file in the shared directory the directory automatically reads and updates the database based on the contents of the file.

Now for the meat of the question. Now as this is constantly happening every day 24/7.
Say I then want to use the data in the files for other purposes and write a completely different script that allows you to search for a file in the shared directory by name. It will open the file, read the contents into an array and then parse the file into a human readable format on the browser.

By running a second script on the same directory that is currently being used to update can I cause any sort of problems?

After I created this script and ran it, there was an instance were a file got hung and it caused no files in the entire directory to be read until the error was fixed.

Was this me, did I do that? My code does not update or modify any data, it just reads the files in the directory.
Should I remove this script?

Here is the second script I am running.

<?php
//Load CJIS Layout Data into array
$arrestDemographic = array(array('Arrest Number',0,9),
						   array('Arrest Incident',9,11),
						   array('Arrest Citation',20,8),
						   array('Arrest Date', 28,8),
						   array('Arrest Time',36,4),
						   array('OCA',40,12),
						   array('Real Last Name',52,30),
						   array('Real First Name', 82,30),
						   array('Real Middle Name',112,30),
						   array('Real Suffix',142,10),
						   array('Real UID Initials',152,4),
						   array('Real UID Count',156,10),
						   array('Real Date of Birth',166,8),
						   array('Real Height',174,4),
						   array('Real Weight',174,3),
						   array('Real Race',180,1),
						   array('Real Ethnicity',181,1),
						   array('Real Sex',182,1),
						   array('Real Eye',183,3),
						   array('Real Hair',186,3),
						   array('Latest Address',189,30),
						   array('Latest Address Description',219,30),
						   array('Real City',249,20),
						   array('Real State',269,2),
						   array('Real Zip',271,10),
						   array('Real County Code',281,3),
						   array('Real OLN',284,25),
						   array('Real SSN',309,10),
						   array('Verified',319,1),
						   array('Arrest Location',320,50),
						   array('Arresting Officer MPD No',370,10),
						   array('License State',380,2),
						   array('License Number',382,18),
						   array('License Year',400,4),
						   array('SMT1',404,10),
						   array('SMT1 Desc of Neumonic',414,60),
						   array('SMT1 Desc of SMT',474,30),
						   array('SMT2',504,10),
						   array('SMT2 Desc of Neumonic',514,60),
						   array('SMT2 Desc of SMT',574,30),
						   array('SMT3',604,10),
						   array('SMT3 Desc of Neumonic',614,60),
						   array('SMT3 Desc of SMT',674,30),
						   array('Persistent Offender',704,1),
						   array('Violent Offender',705,1),
						   array('Arrest Refused',707,1),
						   array('Jail Tracking Number',707,8)
						);
						
	$warrantData = array(array('CJIS Warrant Type',0,1),
								array('Warrant Number',1,15),
								array('Incident Number',16,11),
								array('NCIC',27,4),
								array('TCA Code',31,25),
								array('TCA Qualifier'),
								array('TCA Type',58,6),
								array('Case Number',60,15),
								array('Domestic Violence Flag',75,1),
								array('TCA Class',76,2),
								array('Officer Flag',78,1)
								);	
	$aliasData = array(array('Alias Last Name',1,30),
							  array('Alias First Name',31,30),
							  array('Alias Middle Name',61,30),
							  array('Alias Suffix',91,10),
							  array('Alias UID Initials',101,4),
							  array('Alias UID Count',106,10)
							  );
						   
//Function to return characters between two numbers in a string
  
function getData($string, $startingPoint, $length){
	  
	$x = $string;
	$y = $startingPoint;
	$z = $length;
	  
	return substr($x, $y, $z);  
	  	   
  }

function loadView($array, $string){
		
	$x = $array;
	$y = $string;
	$count = count($x);	
	
	echo "<table border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"0\">\n";
    echo "<tr><th bgcolor=\"#CCCCCC\">Arrest Element</th>
            <th bgcolor=\"#CCCCCC\">Start Point</th>
            <th bgcolor=\"#CCCCCC\">Length</th>
            <th bgcolor=\"#CCCCCC\">Value</th>
         <tr>";
		 
	for($i=0; $i < $count; $i++){
		
		echo "<tr>	
				<td>".$x[$i][0]."</td>
				<td align=\"right\">".$x[$i][1]."</td>
				<td align=\"right\">".$x[$i][2]."</td>
				<td align=\"right\">".getData($string, $x[$i][1], $x[$i][2])."</td>
			  </tr>";
	}
	echo "</table>";	
}		
	
function countBy($countTo, $breakWhen){

	$y = $countTo;
	$z = $breakWhen;
	
	for($i=1; $i<=$y; $i++){
	
		echo $i;
		if($i % $z == 0){//value must be a divisible to 0 so modulus works
		
			echo '<br />';
		}
	}
	// countBy(100,25);
}	
	
function strCharacters($string){

	$y = $string;
	$x = strlen($y);
		
	echo "<table border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\">";
	echo "<tr>";
	for($i=0; $i<=$x; $i++){
		echo "<td width=\"15\">".$y[$i]."</td>";
	}
	echo "</tr>";
	
	echo "<tr>";
	for($i=1; $i<=$x; $i++){
		
		echo "<td width=\"15\">".$i."</td>";
	}
	echo "</tr>";
	echo "</table>";
}

function correctArrest($arrestNumber, $fileType){//adds file type to arrest number (D,W,A)
	
	$x = $arrestNumber;
	$z = $fileType;
	
	if(!isset($x) && !strlen($x) == 10){
		return "Arrest number not entered correctly";
	} 
	else{
		if(!isset($z)){		
			return trim($x."D");
		} 
		else {
			return trim($x.$z);
		}	
		
	}
}

function setDocumentPath($arrestNumber, $folder){
	//creates document path with
	$x = $arrestNumber;
	$y = $folder;
		
	if(isset($x) && !is_numeric(substr($x,-1,1))){
	
		if(!isset($y)){
			
			 return "\\\\host\\DATA\Success\Arrest\Final\\".$x;
		} 
		else {
			
			 return "\\\\host\\DATA\".$folder."\Arrest\Final\\".$x;
		}		
	}
	
	
}

?>

 

[jpadie]

you did not cause anything with the code as there is nothing in it that does any file manipulation at all

 

[sd0t1]

That's what I thought, but I needed an expert opinion. So thanks for responding.

 

[jpadie]

My point really was that the script that you posted does nothing at all. There are no function calls from the global scope. The only action it takes is to instantiate some variables.

If your script (other parts of it) is trying to do things to the file when the file is being manipulated by another process then a file lock could well be created and not released. It would depend on timing, operating system and the methods of transferring the files back and forward to the shared directory. Hopefully you are not using a cron job to check for file changes but instead using libnotify or something similar. The worry would be that some file transfer mechanisms create a blank file and write text into it then close it. Such a file might be picked up by your/ the other process whilst being written and the file lock might get bust. Good quality FTP clients create hidden files and then rename them once the file contents have been uploaded (I think).

Overall this sounds like not a great solution for data sharing. Perhaps you could lessen the risks by your script checking file sizes and mod times and doing nothing until the second iteration when those values remain static (so you can be confident that in the course of one minute no changes have taken place).