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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-13T08:33:33+00:00

Suppose there is a webpage with dynamically generated content — say a div containing

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Suppose there is a webpage with dynamically generated content — say a div containing the current number of connected browsers. When the count changes on the server I want all connected browsers to reload the count so that everyone sees the increment/decrement.

What’s the best way to accomplish this?

Keywords: ajax, broadcast, browser, div, jquery

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Here’s how to do server-push using ajax long-polling. The browser makes an ajax request which initiates server-side self-polling. The ajax request remains open, waiting for a response until the file changes, and as soon as it gets a response, it makes a new long-polling request.

    Here’s what it looks like with jQuery and php, implementing the example of live-updating a div in the html showing the number of clients currently connected:

    index.html:

    <html>
<head>
<title>Comet Test</title>
  <script type="text/javascript" src="jquery.js"></script>
  <script type="text/javascript" src="longpolling.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
  Number of connected users: <div id="total">0</div>
</body>
</html>

    longpolling.js:

    $(document).ready(function() { connectToServer(1); });

function connectToServer( incp ) {
  $.get("LongPolling.php",
        { inc: incp },
        function(resp) {
          $('#total').html(resp);
          connectToServer(0);
        }
       );
}

    LongPolling.php:

    <?php

# (over)write file with contents, locking the file while doing so.
# just barf and die if there's an error.
function update($file, $contents)
{
  $f = fopen($file, 'w');
  if(!$f) { echo "ERROR1"; exit; } # couldn't open file for writing.
  if(!flock($f, LOCK_EX)) { echo "ERROR2"; exit; } # couldn't get lock.
  fwrite($f, $contents);
  fclose($f);  # this also releases the lock.
  return $contents;
}

# fetch the contents of the given file.
# if the file doesn't exist, create it with contents "0"
function fetch($file)
{
  if(file_exists($file)) {
    if(!is_readable($file)) { echo "ERROR3"; exit; }
    $x = file_get_contents($file);
  } else {
    $x = 0;
    update($file, $x);
  }
  return $x;
}

$fc = 'connx.txt';   # file that stores the number of connections.

if ( $_REQUEST['inc'] == 1 ) {  # someone just connected.
  echo update($fc, fetch($fc)+1);
} else {  # someone is reconnecting (also happens immediately after connect).
  $last = filemtime($fc);
  do {  # wait until some other instance causes $fc to change...
    sleep(1);
    clearstatcache(); # otherwise filemtime() results are cached!
  } while(filemtime($fc) == $last);
  echo fetch($fc);
}
?>

    NOTE: This does not track disconnects, so it’s more like live-tracking the total number of pageviews.
    See Running server-side function as browser closes for info on keeping track of browser disconnects, ie, server-side action on client disconnect.

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