jQuery, simple polling example

jQuery.Deferred() can simplify management of asynchronous sequencing and error handling.

polling_active = true // set false to interrupt polling

function initiate_polling()
    {
    $.Deferred().resolve() // optional boilerplate providing the initial 'then()'
    .then( () => $.Deferred( d=>setTimeout(()=>d.resolve(),5000) ) ) // sleep
    .then( () => $.get('/my-api') ) // initiate AJAX
    .then( response =>
        {
        if ( JSON.parse(response).my_result == my_target ) polling_active = false
        if ( ...unhappy... ) return $.Deferred().reject("unhappy") // abort
        if ( polling_active ) initiate_polling() // iterative recursion
        })
    .fail( r => { polling_active=false, alert('failed: '+r) } ) // report errors
    }

This is an elegant approach, but there are some gotchas...

• If you don't want a then() to fall through immediately, the callback should return another thenable object (probably another Deferred), which the sleep and ajax lines both do.
• The others are too embarrassing to admit. :)

I created a tiny JQuery plugin for this. You may try it:

$.poll('http://my/url', 100, (xhr, status, data) => {
    return data.hello === 'world';
})

https://www.npmjs.com/package/jquerypoll

This solution:

1. has timeout
2. polling works also after error response

Minimum version of jQuery is 1.12

$(document).ready(function () {
  function poll () {
    $.get({
      url: '/api/stream/',
      success: function (data) {
        console.log(data)
      },
      timeout: 10000                    // == 10 seconds timeout
    }).always(function () {
      setTimeout(poll, 30000)           // == 30 seconds polling period
    })
  }

  // start polling
  poll()
})

(function poll() {
    setTimeout(function() {
        //
        var search = {}
        search["ssn"] = "831-33-6049";
        search["first"] = "Harve";
        search["last"] = "Veum";
        search["gender"] = "M";
        search["street"] = "5017 Ottis Tunnel Apt. 176";
        search["city"] = "Shamrock";
        search["state"] = "OK";
        search["zip"] = "74068";
        search["lat"] = "35.9124";
        search["long"] = "-96.578";
        search["city_pop"] = "111";
        search["job"] = "Higher education careers adviser";
        search["dob"] = "1995-08-14";
        search["acct_num"] = "11220423";
        search["profile"] = "millenials.json";
        search["transnum"] = "9999999";
        search["transdate"] = $("#datepicker").val();
        search["category"] = $("#category").val();
        search["amt"] = $("#amt").val();
        search["row_key"] = "831-33-6049_9999999";



        $.ajax({
            type : "POST",
            headers : {
                contentType : "application/json"
            },
            contentType : "application/json",
            url : "/stream_more",
            data : JSON.stringify(search),
            dataType : 'json',
            complete : poll,
            cache : false,
            timeout : 600000,
            success : function(data) {
                //
                //alert('jax')
                console.log("SUCCESS : ", data);
                //$("#btn-search").prop("disabled", false);
                // $('#feedback').html("");
                for (var i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
                    //
                    $('#feedback').prepend(
                            '<tr><td>' + data[i].ssn + '</td><td>'
                                    + data[i].transdate + '</td><td>'
                                    + data[i].category + '</td><td>'
                                    + data[i].amt + '</td><td>'
                                    + data[i].purch_prob + '</td><td>'
                                    + data[i].offer + '</td></tr>').html();
                }

            },
            error : function(e) {
                //alert("error" + e);

                var json = "<h4>Ajax Response</h4><pre>" + e.responseText
                        + "</pre>";
                $('#feedback').html(json);

                console.log("ERROR : ", e);
                $("#btn-search").prop("disabled", false);

            }
        });

    }, 3000);
})();