Server interact with client and vice versa

Question

I am wondering how I allow the server to interact with the client, and the client to interact with the server with PHP, javascript, or some other way. Like with javascript interacting with a server, so when I have a messaging program, the user does not have to refresh the page to see the message notification.

Answer 1

Your looking to make AJAX requests to the server. This can be done with pure JavaScript or jQuery.

http://api.jquery.com/jquery.ajax/

function getMessages(){
    $.ajax({
      url: 'get-messages.php',
      success: function(response){
        //Loop through retrieved  messages to append to DOM.
      }
    });
}

//Set interval to get new messages every second
setInterval(getMessages, 1000);