As I've said frequently, I have a column on exactly that.

Since your application takes a long time, you might want to try the approach in my "watch long processes" CGI column as well. In fact, that'd be neat, because the second guy coming along would simply watch the result along with the first guy. Cool. In fact, that could be another column. {grin}

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker
Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.