Question

I’m making a chat script using jQuery and JSON, but my hosting suspends it due to ‘resources usage limit’. I want to know if it is possible (and how) to reduce these requests. I read one question in which they tell something about an Ajax timeout, but I’m not very good at Ajax. The code is:

function getOnJSON() {
    var from;
    var to;
    var msg_id;
    var msg_txt;
    var new_chat_string;

    //Getting the data from the JSON file
    $.getJSON("/ajax/end.emu.php", function(data) {
        $.each(data.notif, function(i, data) {
            from = data.from;
            to = data.to;
            msg_id = data.id;
            msg_txt = data.text;
            if ($("#chat_" + from + "").length === 0) {
                $("#boxes").append('...some stuf...');
                $('#' + from + '_form').submit(function(){
                    contactForm = $(this);
                    valor = $(this + 'input:text').val();
                    destinatary = $(this + 'input[type=hidden]').val();
                    reponse_id = destinatary + "_input";
                    if (!$(this + 'input:text').val()) {
                        return false;
                    }
                    else {
                        $.ajax({
                            url: "/ajax/end.emu.php?ajax=true",
                            type: contactForm.attr('method'),
                            data: contactForm.serialize(),
                            success: function(data){
                                responsed = $.trim(data);
                                if (responsed != "success") {
                                    alert("An error occured while posting your message");
                                }
                                else {
                                    $('#' + reponse_id).val("");
                                }
                            }
                        });
                        return false;
                    }
                });

                $('#' + from + '_txt').jScrollPane({
                    stickToBottom: true,
                    maintainPosition: true

                });
                $('body').append('<embed src="http://cdn.live-pin.com/assets/pling.mp3" autostart="true" hidden="true" loop="false">');
            }
            else {
                var pane2api = $('#' + from + '_txt').data('jsp');
                var originalContent = pane2api.getContentPane().html();
                pane2api.getContentPane().append('<li id="' + msg_id + '_txt_msg" class="chat_txt_msg">' + msg_txt + '</li>');
                pane2api.reinitialise();
                pane2api.scrollToBottom();
                $('embed').remove();
                $('body').append('<embed src="http://cdn.live-pin.com/assets/pling.mp3" autostart="true" hidden="true" loop="false">');
            }
        });
    });
}

The limit is of 600 reqs/5 min, and I need to make it almost each second. I had a year already paid and they have no refund, also I can’t modify the server, just have access to cPanel.

Answer 1

Well, 600 req/5 min is pretty restrictive if you want to make a request/sec for each user. Essentially, that gives you that each user will make 60 req/min. Or 300/5 min. In other words, even if you optimize your script to combine the two requests to one, at maximum you can have two users at your site 😉 Not much I guess…

You have two options:

1. Stick with making a chat system through Ajax requests and change the hosting provider. This might be actually cheaper if you don’t have the skills to do 2.

2. Forget about making an Ajax request to poll and potentially another to push every second. Implement something around web sockets, long-polling or even XMPP.
   If you go that route, I would look at socket.io for a transparent library that uses web sockets where they are supported and has fallbacks to long polling and others for the rest. For the XMPP-way, there is the excellent Strophe.js. Note that both routes are much more complex than your Ajax requests and will require a lot of server logic changes.