SSE is an acronym that stands for Server-Sent Events. It is a unidirectional communication method used in web development, specifically for real-time data updates from the server to the client. It is a part of the HTML5 specification and provides a straightforward and efficient way to push data from the server to the browser.
The SSE protocol enables a long-lived connection between the client and the server, where the server can send updates to the client whenever new data is available. Unlike other real-time communication techniques, such as WebSockets, SSE is based on a simple HTTP connection established using regular HTTP request and response headers.
To establish an SSE connection, the client makes an initial HTTP request to a server-side endpoint specifically created to handle SSE. The server responds with a special header indicating it supports SSE and a continuous stream of server-generated events. These events consists of a unique identifier, an event type, and the actual data payload.
Once the SSE connection is established, the server can send periodic updates or push notifications to the client, and the client's browser can handle these events as they occur, processing and displaying the new data without the need for any additional requests.
SSE is particularly useful in scenarios where real-time updates are required for displaying live feeds, updates from social media, live statistic updates, stock market prices, or any application that needs to reflect real-time changes to the user.
