How do you integrate WebSockets into a Wicket application?

Wicket ships native WebSocket support through the wicket-native-websocket module, which lets server-pushed events update a page's components without the client having to poll or initiate every exchange itself, unlike the request-driven model regular AJAX components use.

1. Add the native WebSocket module as a dependency and register the appropriate WebSocketBehavior (or a subclass like WebSocketPushBroadcaster depending on the exact use case) on the component that needs push updates.
2. Implement message handling by overriding methods like onMessage() or onConnect() on the behavior, similar in spirit to overriding onClick() on a Link.
3. Push updates from server-side code (say, a background job or another user's action) using a broadcaster that finds the target page's WebSocket connection and sends it an update, which the behavior then turns into a partial component re-render, much like an AJAX response.
4. Fall back gracefully for clients or proxies that don't support WebSockets, since not every deployment environment guarantees a persistent connection stays open.

The practical use case is exactly what you'd expect — live notifications, real-time dashboards, chat features — anywhere the update needs to originate from the server without waiting for the browser to ask first, which a purely AJAX-driven, click-triggered model can't do on its own.