Verified ICEfaces EE-4.0.0 r41144. Tomcat 7, IE 11, FF 34, Chrome 40, ios 7

1) I don't think we have a problem here. The delay depends on when the server discovers that the blocking connection is not recreated and the fixed interval that server waits until it decides to send the cloud push notification.

2) This issue was fixed as a commit for PUSH-348.

Tested with ICEfaces 4 trunk r44189. Tomcat 7, ios 7 and android 4.4.2.
1.) Using the Disconnect Push button does allow the sending of messages without minimizing the browser however the messages come much later (3 mins) as opposed to the browser minimize method which takes < 1 min.
2.) Attempting to access the showcase demo (with anything appended to the URL such as /showcase-mobile.jsf , direct link to any demo or bookmark) in desktop browsers or devices can cause the following server error and showcase can not be reached:
Mar 10, 2015 10:37:00 AM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve invoke
SEVERE: Servlet.service() for servlet [Faces Servlet] in context with path [/showcase] threw exception [null] with root cause
java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.icepush.Browser.getBrowserIDFromCookie(Browser.java:250)
at org.icepush.Browser.getBrowserID(Browser.java:80)
at org.icepush.PushContext.createPushId(PushContext.java:89)
at org.icefaces.impl.event.BridgeSetup.generateViewID(BridgeSetup.java:270)
at org.icefaces.impl.event.BridgeSetup.assignViewID(BridgeSetup.java:261)
at org.icefaces.impl.event.BridgeSetup.access$300(BridgeSetup.java:44)
at org.icefaces.impl.event.BridgeSetup$AssignViewID.beforePhase(BridgeSetup.java:293)
at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.handleBeforePhase(Phase.java:228)
at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.doPhase(Phase.java:99)
at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.RestoreViewPhase.doPhase(RestoreViewPhase.java:121)
at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.execute(LifecycleImpl.java:198)
at javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:646)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:305)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:210)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:222)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:123)
at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:502)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:171)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:99)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.invoke(AccessLogValve.java:953)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:118)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:408)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1023)
at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:589)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AprEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(AprEndpoint.java:1852)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1145)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:615)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

Added to the cloud push demo a button for closing the blocking connection so the user can remain on the page and test away the priority push notifications. This button avoids having the pushID discarded when window is closed (which in turn discards the priority message that was just sent).

Modified ICEpush to still use cookies (in parallel with parameters) to keep track of the browser ID. This is necessary for the use case where the push ID is generated on the server and sent to the browser along with the markup of the page.