Make flarum real time?

[deleted]

Hello!

Is it possible in the future to make flarum a real-time forum software without turning it into a web app?

What I mean by a real-time forum software is for example:

Someone posts or edits something 

It appears in my screen instantly without the need of a reload

And the reason I don't want this to be a web app is because that will make flarum incompatible with web hosting plans and people will end up needing a vps which is wayyy more expensive.

So what do you think? Is it possible?

meetdilip

It is possible even now. Just on cost of very high load on server. Refreshing pages frequently will affect bandwidth as well, badly.

Ralkage

Ajax loading, I used to have this add-on for Vbulletin when I used it called AJAX Threads, and since I don't like linking to other forums unless necessary, here's the description:

AJAX Threads brings your threads alive, making them automatically refresh without needing to reload the page.

Uses:

AJAX Threads is the ideal product for forums with busy threads or which deal with any sort of "event" be that TV shows, sports or game releases!
AJAX Threads allows you to make topics "auto update" without the user having to refresh. This can give performance benefits when applied to threads which receive a lot of refresh requests, and can increase user participation.
Topics can be turned live by admins individually, or you can set whole forums to have their threads be live automatically. You can even allow only VIP usergroups to have threads refresh automatically to increase subscription numbers.

meetdilip

It;s actually the opposite really, real-time refreshing (without user input) takes less of a hit than a user constantly spamming F5.

meetdilip

vB3 had a plugin called iSpy which was discontinued after vB4 release. It used to do something like this.

Ralkage It;s actually the opposite really, real-time refreshing (without user input) takes less of a hit than a user constantly spamming F5.

I was talking about a situation when page gets refreshed every 2-3 seconds through auto refresh.

Ralkage

meetdilip Ah, well, how about allowing an option for the elapsed amount of time before the page auto-refreshes?

jordanjay29

Does Flarum's Pusher extension (enabled here) not satisfy this requirement?

[deleted]

jordanjay29 link?

Edit : never mind... turned out it comes built in with flarum ? let me test it out and see if it satisfies my needs

Ralkage

jordanjay29 The only problem I have with Pusher is when you hit that limit and you don't have the $$$ to keep up with those 100+ connections, RIP ?

But to quote Toby:

Toby The reason we've made a Pusher extension is for speed of development. We just want to get beta out the door, then we'll focus on other options etc.

In fact, you can self-host a Pusher implementation with Slanger.

I believe Slanger would be the more "modern" approach if you wanted something without a plan but also dependent on server performance.

Though a simple AJAX solution wouldn't be too complicated since you just want posts to appear while you type/view the discussion you're in.

jordanjay29

Ralkage I knew about Slanger but didn't know it was already compatible. Great news if it is, as I'm right there with you for the cost concerns.

luceos

Slanger was originally meant to keep up compatibility with the Pusher javascript library. At some point they lost it and they haven't been very stable either. Pusher recently improved their plans and their cost actually is worth what you get in return, Flarum simply uses only a small facet of its power.

Pusher (or rather websockets) could easily be used to auto append new posts or discussions too. I think this is or was discussed as an issue on Github as well.

Freddy

No; Flarum is written in PHP, regardless of what you do, then PHP never was and never will be, a language intended for real time communication. This is where languages like JavaScript, NodeJS and Go usually come in (Along with many many others).

Tho, there are ways to get close-to-realtime behavior in PHP, simulate it, call-it-what-you-will, but do NOT call it real-time, as mentioned by other posters, at heavy costs on resources and load, tho it is possible, then it is under no circumstance recommended, I can't speak for the developers in regards to what they think, might or will do, but based on PHP's intended use, then no, Flarum will never be real time, if so, it's written in the completely wrong language.

luceos

Freddy websockets are not resource intensive.. Not sure you're speaking of them, but your conclusion simply is not true.

The WebSocket protocol enables interaction between a browser and a web server with lower overheads, facilitating real-time data transfer from and to the server.

source

Freddy

Websockets != PHP

0E800

There goes drop dead freddy, sidejacking another thread with his bs personal opinion, spoken like it's the 10 commandments.
I would think it would be pretty quick on a internal LAN.
padding to make my post center. Homer Simpson likes doughnuts and beer.