[eluser]Durkin[/eluser]
At the moment I have a basic chat application built with no framework that is very simple to use, with only core features. I am working on a new version, and will be basing it around the Code Igniter framework. My question is, should the chat application be added on to the whole application, or should I rewrite with Code Igniter. As it makes use of AJAX calls frequently to update etc, my real concern is if using a framework (which really isn't needed) for a large quantity of calls will increase the overhead. While I assume that it will increase the overhead, it will be easier to maintain.
As I have no experience with Code Igniter, I've just had a quick look through the documentation, do you mix Code Igniter files and have a sub folder with just normal php, or is this a maintenance nightmare. As it is a chat application, my main thoughts are for speed, however I have no experience as to whether Code Igniter will create a large overhead for requests that don't need the full functionality. Any thoughts?