How to get file contents via AJAX without visible spinner update on iphone

Question

I am developing a web application for iphone that requires the application to check for changes in a text file and as soon as a change is detected, to perform certain actions.

The text file changes approximately once every 3, but the change should be detected almost instantly, and therefore I am currently updating ajax every second.

This works fine on a desktop browser without a noticeable update, but on iphone the spinner's activity is almost constant.

Could this be suppressed? Or stopped?

NB I am currently using the jquery framework for ajax!

Answer 1

No, using the xmlhttprequest object (jquery is based on this object) is going to declare HTTP traffic, which will result in the counter loading.

Try a little less often and see if it stops.

You can also try using websockets, however I'm not sure if this will affect the spinner anyway.

http://lukeredpath.co.uk/blog/pushing-events-to-your-iphone-using-websockets-and-pusher.html

Sidenote: the spinner should tell your users that they are requesting traffic, imo trying to block this user feedback is bad ux.

Answer 2

You can not. This counter “warns” the user that bandwidth is being used.