title: Best way to refresh multiple PHP values every x seconds?
body: <p>I have an <code>index.php</code> file that I would like to run <code>getdata.php</code> every 5 seconds.</p>
  
  <p><code>getdata.php</code> returns multiple variables that need to be displayed in various places in <code>index.php</code>.</p>
  
  <p>I've been trying to use the jQuery <code>.load()</code> function with no luck.<br>
  It's refreshing the 12 <code>&lt;div&gt;</code> elements in various places on the <code>index.php</code>, but it's not re-running the <code>getdata.php</code> file that should get the newest data.</p>
  
  <p>But If I hit the browser refresh button, the data is refreshed.</p>
  
  <p><code>getdata.php</code> returns about 15 variables.</p>
  
  <p>Here is some sample code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;script&gt;
      var refreshId = setInterval(function()
      {
           $('#Hidden_Data').load('GetData.php'); // Shouldn´t this return $variables
           $('#Show_Data_001').fadeOut("slow").fadeIn("slow");
           $('#Show_Data_002').fadeOut("slow").fadeIn("slow");
           $('#Show_Data_003').fadeOut("slow").fadeIn("slow");
           $('#...').fadeOut("slow").fadeIn("slow");
      }, 5000); // Data refreshed every 5 seconds
      */
  &lt;/script&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Here's an example of <code>GetData.php</code>:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$query = "SELECT column1, COUNT(column2) AS variable FROM table GROUP BY column";
  $result = mysql_query($query) or die(mysql_error());
  
  while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)){
  $column1 = $row['column1 '];
  $variable = $row['variable '];
  
  if($column1 == "Text1") { $variable1 = $variable; }
      elseif($column1 == "Text2") { $variable2 = $variable; }
                ... continues to variable 15 ...
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Then further down the page the HTML elements display the data:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;div id="Hidden_Data"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  &lt;div id="Show_Data_001"&gt;&lt;?php echo $variable1; ?&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  &lt;div id="Show_Data_002"&gt;&lt;?php echo $variable2; ?&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  &lt;div id="Show_Data_003"&gt;&lt;?php echo $variable3; ?&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  ...
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I tried using the data parameter as suggested here:
  <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/a/8480059/498596">https://stackoverflow.com/a/8480059/498596</a></p>
  
  <p>But I couldn't fully understand how to load all the variables every 5 seconds and call them on the index page.</p>
  
  <p>Today the <code>GetData.php</code> page just returns <code>$variable1 = X; $variable2 = Y</code> and so on.</p>
  
  <p><strong>UPDATE</strong><br>
  For some reason the jQuery is not loading the <code>GatData.php</code> file and refreshing the variables.</p>
  
  <p>I tried adding to "Hidden_Data" to the <code>include('GetData.php')</code> and then the variables are readable on the page.</p>
  
  <p>If I remove this part, the page displays "variable not set" warning that suggesting that the jQuery is not loading the <code>GetData.php</code> script into the <code>Hidden_Data</code> <code>&lt;div&gt;</code>.</p>