How does Facebook's live chat feature work in terms of data transmission?

After finally joining Facebook (I know, a bit late to the party), I couldn't help but notice a curious thing about their live-chat module. It seems like the system is constantly searching for new answer messages every second, which, in my opinion, is quite fast. I can't imagine how they keep their servers from overheating.

I'm really curious about the concept behind this or at least how they manage to achieve such speed.

I haven't had the chance to inspect the XHR requests using Firebug yet.

My theory is that if the live-chat is held within an iframe and the XHRs are sent to a separate HTTP server, it would help maintain the "main" server's temperature. Additionally, utilizing the iframe method could prevent excessive bandwidth use due to cookies used by the main website.

Please refrain from responding with "They have hundreds of servers receiving millions of requests per minute, they'll be fine." I know there must be some unique tricks up their sleeves that I'm missing out on.

Does anyone have any ideas or insights on this matter?

javascriptfacebookoptimizationxmppxmlhttprequest

Answer №2

It's possible that the system is utilizing websockets or a similar technology to maintain a continuous connection with the server, rather than repeatedly opening and closing an HTTP connection whenever data transmission is required.

Answer №3

It could be helpful to look up information about XMPP

Answer №4

During my last inspection using Firebug, although it was a while back, it appeared that they were implementing the comet technique. An XHR request would remain open for around a minute, either fetching new data or resulting in nothing after the elapsed time.

Similar questions

If you have not found the answer to your question or you are interested in this topic, then look at other similar questions below or use the search

Upgrade to the latest version of MaterialUI - V4

After attempting to upgrade materialUI/core from version 3.9.3 to 4.4.1 and materialUI/icons from version 3.0.2 to 4.4.1, I encountered the following error: Error: TypeError: styles_1.createGenerateClassName is not a function I am currently importing crea ...

javascriptreactjsmaterial-ui

What is the best way to pass local storage information through a JavaScript AJAX call and display the returned data in a Django template?

I've been trying to send itemids from localStorage to Django views using Ajax but haven't been successful after 4 days. Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated as I am still learning Javascript and have a basic understanding of Django. ...

javascriptjquerydjangodjango-viewsdjango-templates

Is it Possible for Angular Layout Components to Render Content Correctly even with Deeply Nested ng-container Elements?

Within my Angular application, I have designed a layout component featuring two columns using CSS. Within this setup, placeholders for the aside and main content are defined utilizing ng-content. The data for both the aside and main sections is fetched fr ...

javascriptangulartypescriptrxjs

Implement models in NodeJS that can handle versioning and variations

Utilizing NodeJS on my server, I have various server-side business models such as products, customers, widgets, and documents that can all be stored in the database. I am interested in adding the following features to some of these models: versionable va ...

javascriptnode.js

Challenges compiling 'vue-loader' in Webpack caused by '@vue/compiler-sfc' issues

The Challenge Embarking on the development of a new application, we decided to implement a GULP and Webpack pipeline for compiling SCSS, Vue 3, and Typescript files. However, my recent endeavors have been consumed by a perplexing dilemma. Every time I add ...

javascriptvue.jswebpackvuejs3

Guide on creating a donut visualization with canvas?

I am in need of assistance, as I am trying to create a donut chart using canvas and JavaScript. Here is the code I have so far, but I am unsure how to complete it: <body> <canvas id="chart" width="500" height="500" style="background-color:bl ...

javascripthtmlcanvas

Clicking on the current component should trigger the removal of CSS classes on its sibling components in React/JSX

Currently, I am working on creating a navigation bar using React. This navigation bar consists of multiple navigation items. The requirement is that when a user clicks on a particular navigation item, the class 'active' should be applied to that ...

javascriptjquerycssreactjs

Adding a clear field icon to an input field: Step-by-step guide

When using AngularJS 1.3, a standard input field with type="date" comes with a convenient "Clear field" icon as shown here. Is there a method to incorporate this same "Clear field" icon into an input field with type="text"? ...

javascripthtmlangularjsangularjs-directive

Facing issues with Typescript imports for validatorjs?

Utilizing TypeScript with validator JS and encountering dependency issues: "dependencies": { "@types/validator": "^12.0.1", "validator": "^12.2.0" } Attempting to import isDividibleBy yields an error: import { isDivisibleBy } from "validato ...

javascriptnode.jstypescripttypes

What is the best way to conceal the outline in a popup window?

I have successfully implemented a popup/modal window using JavaScript, but now I need to find a way to hide the outline map container. The initialization code for the map is as follows: self.mapDialogOptions = { autoOpen: false, m ...

javascriptjquerycssknockout.js

The wonders of jQuery popup windows

A code was discovered that displays a popup, but it currently relies on transparency (opacity: 0). I would like to modify it to use display: none instead, as the transparent window in the center of my website is causing issues. Here is the JavaScript code ...

javascriptphpjquerycss

Looping through textboxes in JavaScript to compare values

Just to clarify, I'm not working with arrays in this scenario. Having said that, I need some assistance. I have developed a webform in PHP that retrieves data from a MySQL table and displays it using its own mysqli_fetch_array command. Within this lo ...

javascriptphpjqueryajax

Switch tabs with JavaScript

I'm encountering an issue with changing tabs using JavaScript and Ajax. The script I have works when not using Ajax but fails to work properly with it. Here is the script: $(document).ready(function(){ $("#mtabs li").click(function() { ...

javascriptjqueryajax

Guide on incorporating text input areas into specific positions within a string

Looking for a way to replace specific words in a string with input fields to enter actual values? For example... Dear Mr. [Father_name], your son/daughter [name] did not attend class today. This is what I want it to look like... Dear Mr. Shankar, your ...

javascriptangulartypescript

An effective method for regularly uploading JSON data to the backend

As a newcomer to JS development, I am seeking advice on implementing a solution for efficiently loading a large amount of data into backend memory periodically. The goal is to have this data readily available for the UI without causing delays. Here's ...

javascriptjsonreactjsazureserverless

After completing form submission on a page, the NextJs Next Link router query is returning undefined

In the realm of Next.js, I have a page that showcases a list of all clients. By clicking on each client name, it redirects (utilizing next/link) to a dedicated page for that specific client. The data loads correctly using useEffect and useState upon manual ...

javascriptreactjsnext.jsaxiosnext-link

Is it possible for me to modify the text in the address bar without leaving the current page?

My client asked me to create a search page, but the challenge is that the actual search functionality is within an iframe, and the user sees a decorative shell around it. The shell passes URL parameters to the iframe, which processes them and carries out t ...

javascripthtmliframe

Concealing the URL Once Links are Accessed

I have a Movie / TV Shows Streaming website and recently I've noticed visitors from other similar sites are coming to my site and copying my links. Is there a way to hide the links in the address bar to make it more difficult for them to access my con ...

phpjavascripthtml

What is the best way to handle '<%=>' syntax in grunt?

Many grunt plugins support the following syntax for including files: ['<%= src_dir %>/common/**/*.js', '<%= src_dir %>/app/**/*.js'] or ['<%= test_files.js %>'] Is there a way to utilize a library that ca ...

javascriptnode.jsfileparsinggruntjs

What are some solutions for repairing unresponsive buttons on a webpage?

My task is to troubleshoot this webpage as the buttons are not functioning correctly. Here’s a snippet of the source code: <!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> ... </head> <body> <div id="container" ...

javascripthtmlcssbarcode