Pushing notifications to a JavaScript?

Question

I'm just wondering if there is a way to have a server push information to a JavaScript function. Essentially I have a Dashboard-type page that has a javaScript function to get updates from the server and update the dashboard.

I would like my server to be able to "ping" the JS.

I don't even know how that could be possible (I'm guessing Twitter and Facebook use polling?), but I'd thought I ask.

I heard of Comet, but I don't know if that works with a plain standard IIS 7 installation? (It's a SharePoint 2010 site if that matters in any way) If I understand it correctly, Comet is essentially a constantly open connection, so it seems like it's actually the opposite of what I want (reducing # of requests and therefore load)

Answer 1

If you're looking for a comet server for IIS, check out WebSync; it's exactly that :)