Sending messages from php to java

Question

My app is a feed aggregator. The frontend is programmed in php, but I have a Java program running periodically to update the feeds database. Under the current scheme if a user adds a feed to be aggregated he must have to wait until the aggregator runs and updates the database to see the news from the feed he subscribed. What I want to do is to securely send a message from the php script to the aggregator issuing an exceptional feed update.

Answer 1

Open a server socket in Java application. Then send the data over it. You may use SSL to secure the communication.

Socket Communication in PHP

Socket Communication in Java

Answer 2

Would having the java app waiting for commands on a socket be an acceptable option?

Answer 3

If the java program is on the PHP server can't you just simply open a shell from php to run the java program with arguments to trigger the update ?

Answer 4

You can use some well-established language agnostic remote communications protocols like SOAP or REST (both supported by java and php) or develop you own socket based solution.

Additional option might be php-java bridge which promises to be performance wise effective.