Reload AJAX data every X minutes/seconds, jQuery

Question

I programmed a CMS that has a log of who has recently logged into the system. Presently, this data is fed into a jQuery UI tab via Ajax. I would like to put this information

Answer 1

PHP side, use json_encode().

Client side, use $.getJSON():

function refreshUsers(){
  $.getJSON(url, postData, function (data, textStatus){
    // Do something with the data
  });
}

// Keep interval in a variable in case you want to cancel it later.
var refreshInterval = setInterval(refreshUsers, 30 * 1000);

With these 2, you should have a lot to get started with. More than this, you'd be asking us to work for you :)

Answer 2

The simplest way (whether its the best way is subjective - for the use case you've presented I'd say its fine) would be to do:

var updateInterval = setInterval(function() {
  $('#whereIWantToDisplayIt').load('/thePathToThatScript.php');
},30*1000);

Every 30 seconds, this would load the output of your PHP script, and put that output into the element with ID = whereIWantToDisplayIt

I prefer Seb's answer though.