buntin.org

I wanted to create a chatting application and decided to create a jQuery polling plugin specifically for that purpose. I don't know for sure if this is useful to anyone else but it works for me.

   (function($) {
       $.fn.poll = function(options){
           var $this = $(this);
           // extend our default options with those provided
           var opts = $.extend({}, $.fn.poll.defaults, options);
           setInterval(update, opts.interval);
           // method used to update element html
           function update(){
               $.ajax({
                   type: opts.type,
                   url: opts.url,
                   success: opts.success
               });
           };
       };
       // default options
       $.fn.poll.defaults = {
           type: "POST",
           url: ".",
           success: '',
           interval: 2000
       };
   })(jQuery);

Usage

   $("#chat").poll({
       url: "/chat/ajax/1/messages/",
       interval: 3000,
       type: "GET",
       success: function(data){
           $("#chat").append(data);
       }
   });