Project Description
nComet is a .NET implementation of the Comet (reverse-AJAX push) architecture. This server-side pipeline uses long-lived client-initiated HTTP connections to push messages to the client. Once the client receives a response, it immediately opens another HTTP request, which the server holds until a message is ready. This architecture allows the server to push dynamic html/xml/json/etc to the browser, rather than the browser polling the server.

This project is scoped to the .NET server-side architecture, initially providing a HttpListener (for a custom host communicating with HTTP.SYS directly) as well as a ASP.NET implementation, where the ASP.NET implementation can be hosted inside IIS as well as an external process. The library will simplify the implementation of common message patterns such as pushing the latest data, as well as sync. Example code and links to multiple client-side javascript implementations will also be provided.

• More information on the Comet architecture

Initial release
Look for an initial beta release in November...

Sample
To run the time sample included:

• comets.exe time http://localhost/
  • after time, you can add multiple URLs and a timezone, such as "Eastern Standard Time" or "Pacific Standard Time"
    • ex: comets.exe time http://localhost/ http://mycomputer/ncomet/time/ "Eastern Standard Time"
• In Vista, you must run this sample as administrator, or delegate the HTTP namespace

Future Direction

• Support of the bayeux protocol.
• Support for events to hook to an existing enterprise service bus or publish-subscribe infrastructure, such as pubsubXEP-0060, nServiceBus, Mass Transit,Velocity, and even the new Azure Service Bus. Integration with existing distributed messaging systems is the preferred design.