Keep the user up to date

Question

I have a servlet that does a lot of processing within a for loop.
i.e. it takes a lot of time for the server to finish its job.
e.g.
for(1000 objects)
   //do work
  //takes very long
}what i would like to do is to keep the user up to date of the current status of the processing e.g. if the servlet is working on object no. 500, the user will be updated accordingly. I am looking for a very user friendly method if it is at all possible because the users may not be technical users.
If you have any ideas please message me.
any help would be appreciated. thnx

Answer 1

thnx for the valuable discussion.
"no. as long as you don't close the OutputStream, you're still in the same response. you just can't send another full response. "
what do you mean by full response?
What i really want is that when the user presses the button on the browser he can follow up the long long wait he has to put up with. It can be hours.
So basically the ideal thing would be to have a small box at the side of the window. when i press the button it starts showing how many objects have been executed, how many are left and how much time it has taken to execute up to the current status.
It sounds a bit complicated, but i think it should is not be a new problem.
You are right!!! there can be many clients at the same time (i.e. waiting for their own processes to finish) and i want to supply each of them their specific information.
thank you for your help so far, i appreciate it