Friends Timeline snippets

client.js

// Create an EventSource object,
// passing it the URL of the server sccript
var evtSrc = new EventSource( "server.php" ),
  // Setup event types, provide explicit values if nec. 
  eventTypes = {
    message: "status",
    checkin: 1,
    forward: 1,
    direct: 1
  };

// Create listeners for each event type
[].forEach.call( Object.keys( eventTypes ), function( type ) {

  var eventType = eventTypes[ type ],
    // determine if the className should be overridden by explicit value
    className = eventType === 1 ? eventType : type;

  evtSrc.addEventListener( type, function( e ) {

    addMessage( className, JSON.parse(e.data) );

  }, false);
});

// Parse the data and insert the message in the timeline
// with the appropriate className
function addMessage( className, data ) {
  //console.log( className, data );
}

messages.txt

data: {"from": "Sandrine", "msg": "dressed in blue today", "location":"Brussel"}

event: direct
data: {"from": "yann", "msg": "You should check your inbox", "location": "Boston"}

event: checkin
data: {"from": "Peter", "place": "StarCoffee", "location": "Berlin"}

event: forward
data: {"from": "roland", "through": "Sasha", "msg": "watch this! http://youtu.be/LybAHotsvOg", "location": "Mexico"}

server.php

<?php
// Send appropriate mime type
header("Content-Type: text/event-stream\n\n");

// Read messages
$filename = "messages.txt";
$handle = fopen($filename, "r");
$contents = fread($handle, filesize($filename));
fclose($handle);

// Split the messages into an array
$messages = preg_split( "/\n\n/", $contents );

// Send one message every 2 to 7 seconds
foreach ( $messages as $message ) {
	echo $message;
	echo "\n\n";

	ob_flush();
	flush();

	sleep( rand(2, 7) );
}
?>