Two simultaneous AJAX requests won't run in parallel

Question

I have problem with two simultaneous AJAX requests running. I have a PHP script which is exporting data to XSLX. This operation take a lot of time, so I'm trying to show progress to the user. I'm using AJAX and database approach. Actually, I'm pretty sure it used to work but I can't figure out why, it's no longer working in any browser. Did something change in new browsers?

$(document).ready(function() {

        $("#progressbar").progressbar();

        $.ajax({
            type: "POST",
            url: "{$BASE_URL}/export/project/ajaxExport",
            data: "type={$type}&progressUid={$progressUid}" // unique ID I'm using to track progress from database
        }).done(function(data) {
            $("#progressbar-box").hide();
            clearInterval(progressInterval);
        });

        progressInterval = setInterval(function() {
            $.ajax({
                type: "POST",
                url: "{$BASE_URL}/ajax/progressShow",
                data: "statusId={$progressUid}" // the same uinque ID
            }).done(function(data) {
                data = jQuery.parseJSON(data);
                $("#progressbar").progressbar({ value: parseInt(data.progress) });
                if (data.title) { $("#progressbar-title").text(data.title); }
            });
        }, 500);

    });

• the progress is correctly updating in database
• the JS timer is trying to get the progress, I can see it in console, but all these request are loading the whole duration of the first script, as soon as the script ends, these ajax progress calls are loaded

So, why is the second AJAX call waiting for the first one to finish?

Answer 1

Sounds like a session blocking issue

By default PHP writes its session data to a file. When you initiate a session with session_start() it opens the file for writing and locks it to prevent concurrent edits. That means that for each request going through a PHP script using a session has to wait for the first session to be done with the file.

The way to fix this is to change PHP sessions to not use files or to close your session write like so:

<?php
    session_start(); // starting the session

    $_SESSION['foo'] = 'bar'; // Write data to the session if you want to

    session_write_close(); // close the session file and release the lock

    echo $_SESSION['foo']; // You can still read from the session.

Answer 2

Be aware, that session_write_close()(answer of chrislondon) may not resolve the problem if you have enabled output buffering (default in PHP 7+). You have to set output_buffering = Off in php.ini, otherwise session won't be closed correctly.