Updating HTML interface from Server Script

Question

I have written a standard google web app script with server code and a html interface. The web interface prompts the user for a month and year then creates a google document (by copying a template document) for every day in the month selected.

I have got the code working but I would like to provide some sort of status as the code is running. It takes about 4 mins. I put out a message before calling the server code and a message when it completes but I would like to provide progress updates. i.e. "Docs Created 1", "Docs created 2" etc.

I guess what I am really asking is can google server code update something on the web page while it is running?

Thanks.

Will

Answer 1

No, it cannot (AFAIK).

But since it is taking 4 minutes (which is dangerously close to the 6 minute limit), I suggest you create only one document on your function, then return to the client-side. The client-side will then update the status on the screen and call your server-side function again, which will do the second document, return and so on, until you finish.

By doing this you not only updates your client-side but also avoid getting close to the maximum execution limit. The downside, of course, is that you'll add up some seconds to your total execution time. But for long tasks I don't much problem, actually informing the user of your script progress will make it feel faster in comparison.