What are some best practices for ensuring accurate user online status display in a PHP forum?

To ensure accurate user online status display in a PHP forum, it is important to regularly update the user's last activity timestamp in the database and check it against the current time to determine their online status. Additionally, you can implement a session-based approach to track user activity and update their status accordingly. 

// Update user's last activity timestamp in the database
// Check against current time to determine online status

// Example code for updating user's last activity timestamp
$user_id = $_SESSION['user_id'];
$current_time = time();
$update_query = "UPDATE users SET last_activity = $current_time WHERE user_id = $user_id";
mysqli_query($conn, $update_query);

// Check if user is currently online based on last activity timestamp
$online_threshold = 300; // 5 minutes threshold for online status
$is_online = ($current_time - $user['last_activity']) < $online_threshold;

// Display user's online status
if($is_online){
    echo "User is online";
} else {
    echo "User is offline";
}

Keywords

session management database queries AJAX real-time updates user authentication

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