Execute code after a 10 minute delay in PHP

Question

I need to delay the execution of some code in PHP (for example; sending an email) by 10 minutes after an event (form submission).

What is the best way to accomplish this?

Would be my only option be to run a Cronjob every minute? Is this practical on shared hosting?

Answer 1

Using cronjobs is the best way.

If you can't use a cronjob on your shared hosting (ask the customer support), you can run a cronjob on a machine connected to the internet (i.e. your home computer) that runs a wget to a php page on your server, authenticate on it and then run the php code to send your email.

For the PHP code part I'll use a database table with all the emails to be sent, a creation_date field and a status field.

Your PHP code called by the job will simply do (in pseudo code):

$batchRecords = takeAbunchOfRecordsWhereStatus(NOT_SENT);
while($batchRecords) {
    if($creationDate + 10 minutes >= now()) {
        sendEmail();
        markRecordAsSent();
    }
}