The a4j:poll component defines a way to periodically poll a server in order to trigger state changes, or update parts of your page. You can use the same options, and settings as the a4j:ajax or a4j:commandButton. So you can set execute, and render attributes, as well as any normal JSF action attributes. RichFaces uses a standard form based request, so the form around the a4j:poll component is required.

The example below updates the date and time on the page based on the data on the server. To turn off polling, press "Stop Polling" button.

NOTE: polling is automatically disabled in this demo after one minute.