AJAX

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AJAX

• JaxFusion April 2006
• David Fekke

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Who am I?

• David Fekke
• Lead Software EngineerData Inteligence Group
• http//www.fekke.com/blog/
• davidfekke_at_gmail.com

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Ajax?

• What is Ajax?

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Just kidding!

• Asynchronous JavaScript and XML
• Makes use XMLHttpRequest object in concert with
  the dynamic html and XML

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Whats all the hype about

• Fully buzzword compliant
• Web 2.0
• Build truly dynamic web applications

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Some examples

• Google Maps
• Gmail
• Local.live.com

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History

• Nothing new here
• Remote scripting 1998
• Major differences between IE4 and Netscape 4,
  IFRAME vs LAYER
• Term coined by Adaptive Path

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XMLHttp Request Object

• Syntax different depending on browser
• Mozilla, Safari, Opera new XMLHttpRequest()
• Internet Explorer new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XM
  LHTTP")

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XMLHttp methods and properties

• XMLHTTPObj.open(get,url,true)
• .setRequestHeader(name,value)
• .send()
• .responseText
• .responseXML

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XML methods properties

• getElementsByTagName()
• childNode1.nodeValue
• firstChild.nodeValue
• UDF getElementTextNS()

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DHTML methods properties

• getElementById()
• innerHTML
• createElement()
• appendChild()
• createTextNode()

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Transport methods

• SOAP
• REST

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ColdFusion Ajax frameworks

• Cfajax
• AjaxCFC
• JSMX
• IBM WSAjax

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Pros

• Pull back small pieces of data without having to
  reload the whole page.
• Can save bandwidth
• More Interactive

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Cons

• Back button does not work as expected
• Security issues
• Network latency
• Compatibility, older browsers, JavaScript
  inactivated
• Accessibility

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Compatible Browsers

• IE5
• Gecko based browsers, Mozilla, Firefox, Netscape
  7.1 . . .
• KHTML, Konqueror, Safari 1.2
• Opera 8

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Non compatible browsers

• Opera 7 and lower
• Lynx, text based
• Visually impaired browsers

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Resources

• http//adaptivepath.com
• http//www.indiankey.com/cfajax/
• http//developer.apple.com/internet/webcontent/xml
  httpreq.html
• http//www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/
  library/ws-wsajax/