added live tester page. Confirmed all works.

README.rst

@@ -278,6 +278,7 @@ How to use:
      1. ``badge_id`` (default ``live_notify_badge``) - The `id` attribute of the element to show the unread count, that will be periodically updated.
      #. ``menu_id`` (default ``live_notify_list``) - The `id` attribute of the element to insert a list of unread items, that will be periodically updated.
      #. ``refresh_period`` (default ``15``) - How often to fetch unread items from the server (integer in seconds).
+     #. ``to_fetch`` (default ``5``) - How many notifications to fetch each time.
      #. ``callbacks`` (default ``<empty string>``) - A comma-separated list of javascript functions to call each period.
      #. ``api_url_name`` (default ``list``) - The name of the API to call (this can be either ``list`` or ``count``).
 
@@ -337,6 +338,15 @@ For example, the below function would get the recent list of unread messages and
         }
     }
 
+Testing the live-updater
+------------------------
+
+1. Clone the repo
+2. Set the 'NOTIFICATION_TEST' environemnt variable. E.g. `export NOTIFICATION_TEST=1`
+3. Run `./manage.py runserver`
+4. Browse to `yourserverip/test/`
+5. Click 'Make a notification' and a new notification should appear in the list in 5-10 seconds.
+
 
 ``django-notifications`` Team
 ==============================

manage.py

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import os
 import sys
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
-    if 'test' in sys.argv:
+    if 'test' in sys.argv or 'NOTIFICATION_TEST' in os.environ.keys():
         os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE", "notifications.tests.settings")
     from django.core.management import execute_from_command_line
 

notifications/static/notifications/notify.js

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ function fill_notification_list(data) {
         menu.innerHTML = "";
         for (var i=0; i < data.unread_list.length; i++) {
             var item = data.unread_list[i];
-            menu.innerHTML = menu.innerHTML + "<li>"+item.object+" "+item.verb+" "+item.subject+"</li>";
+            menu.innerHTML = menu.innerHTML + "<li>"+item.object+" "+item.verb+" "+item.subject+" at " +item.timestamp + "</li>";
         }
     }
 }

notifications/templatetags/notifications_tags.py

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ def notifications_unread(context):
 
 # Requires vanilla-js framework - http://vanilla-js.com/
 @register.simple_tag
-def register_notify_callbacks(badge_id='live_notify_badge',menu_id='live_notify_list',refresh_period=15,callbacks="",api_name='list'):
+def register_notify_callbacks(badge_id='live_notify_badge',menu_id='live_notify_list',refresh_period=15,callbacks="",api_name='list',to_fetch=5):
     refresh_period=int(refresh_period)*1000
 
     if api_name=='list':
@@ -31,7 +31,15 @@ def register_notify_callbacks(badge_id='live_notify_badge',menu_id='live_notify_
         notify_api_url='{api_url}';
         notify_unread_url='{unread_url}';
         notify_mark_all_unread_url='{mark_all_unread_url}';
-        notify_refresh_period={refresh};""".format(badge_id=badge_id,menu_id=menu_id,refresh=refresh_period,api_url=api_url,unread_url=reverse('notifications:unread'),mark_all_unread_url=reverse('notifications:mark_all_as_read'))
+        notify_to_fetch='{to_fetch}';
+        notify_refresh_period={refresh};""".format( badge_id=badge_id,
+                                                    menu_id=menu_id,
+                                                    refresh=refresh_period,
+                                                    api_url=api_url,
+                                                    unread_url=reverse('notifications:unread'),
+                                                    mark_all_unread_url=reverse('notifications:mark_all_as_read'),
+                                                    to_fetch=to_fetch,
+                                                    )
         
     script = "<script>"+definitions
     for callback in callbacks.split(','):

notifications/tests/settings.py

@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
+import os
+BASE_DIR = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 SECRET_KEY = 'secret_key'
 SOUTH_TESTS_MIGRATE = True
-
+DEBUG = True
 TESTING = True
 
 DATABASES = {
     'default': {
         'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
-        'NAME': ':memory:',
+        'NAME': 'test.sqlite3',
    }
 }
 
@@ -20,11 +22,18 @@ INSTALLED_APPS = (
     'django.contrib.admin',
     'django.contrib.auth',
     'django.contrib.contenttypes',
+    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
     'django.contrib.sessions',
+    'notifications.tests',
     'notifications',
 )
 
 ROOT_URLCONF = 'notifications.tests.urls'
+STATIC_URL = '/static/'
+STATICFILES_DIRS = [
+    os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "static"),
+]
+STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "static-files")
 
 
 # Need to skip migrations for now as migrations created with python2 break with python3

notifications/tests/static/notifications/live-test.js

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+console.log('running tester')
+
+function make_notification() {
+    var r = new XMLHttpRequest();
+    r.open("GET", '/test_make/', true);
+    r.send();
+}

notifications/tests/templates/test_live.html

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+{% load static notifications_tags %}
+
+<script src="{% static 'notifications/notify.js' %}" type="text/javascript"></script>
+<script src="{% static 'notifications/live-test.js' %}" type="text/javascript"></script>
+{% register_notify_callbacks callbacks='fill_notification_list,fill_notification_badge' to_fetch=20 refresh_period=5 %}
+
+There are this many notifications pending: <span id='live_notify_badge'></span>
+
+<button onclick='make_notification()'>Make a notification</button>
+<ul class="notifications" id="live_notify_list">
+  {% for notice in notifications %}
+    {% include 'notifications/notice.html' %}
+  {% endfor %}
+</ul>

notifications/tests/urls.py

@@ -8,5 +8,7 @@ from notifications import urls
 urlpatterns = patterns('',
     url(r'^login/$', 'django.contrib.auth.views.login', name='login'), # needed for Django 1.6 tests
     url(r'^admin/', include(admin.site.urls)),
+    url(r'^test_make/', 'notifications.tests.views.make_notification'),
+    url(r'^test/', 'notifications.tests.views.live_tester'),
     url(r'^', include(urls, 'notifications')),
 )

notifications/tests/views.py

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.contrib.auth.decorators import login_required
+from django.shortcuts import get_object_or_404, render
+
+from notifications import notify
+import random
+
+def live_tester(request):
+    notify.send(request.user, recipient=request.user, verb='you loaded the page')
+
+    data = {
+        'unread_count': request.user.notifications.unread().count(),
+        'notifications': request.user.notifications.all()
+    }
+    return render(request,'test_live.html',data)
+    
+def make_notification(request):
+
+    the_notification = random.choice([
+        'reticulating splines',
+        'cleaning the car',
+        'jumping the shark',
+        'testing the app',
+        ])
+
+    notify.send(request.user, recipient=request.user, verb='you asked for a notification - you are '+the_notification)
+