Ajax : A Beginner's Guide | Beginner's Guide

Ajax : A Beginner's Guide

Authors: Steven Holzner

Published: September 2008

eISBN: 9780071595315 0071595317 | ISBN: 9780071494298

Contents

Introduction

1 Essential Ajax

What Is Ajax?

An Example: Ajax-driven Tom Riddle’s Diary

Try This: Tom Riddle’s Diary

Updating Web Page Text with Ajax

Chatting in Real Time with Ajax

Dragging and Dropping with Ajax

Downloading Images with Ajax (and Dynamic HTML)

2 Getting to Know JavaScript

Try This: Test ajax.html

Introducing JavaScript

Getting Started with JavaScript

Try This: Get javascript.html to Work

Adding Comments to Your Code

Using External JavaScript Files

Handling Events in the Browser

Try This: Get click.html to Work

Working with JavaScript Functions

Passing Data to Functions

Try This: Pass Data to Functions

Returning Data from Functions

Try This: Return Data from Functions

Working with Variables

Putting It All Together with Operators

Grooving with the if Statement

Try This: Test the if Statement

Using the else Statement

Try This: Test the else Statement

Working with the Logical Operators

Try This: Test the Or Operator

Over and Over with the for Loop

Try This: Test the for Loop

Keep on Looping with the while Loop

Which Browser Does the User Have?

Try This: Use browser.html

3 Creating Ajax Applications

Try This: Get ajax.html to Work

Taking ajax.html Apart

Creating the JavaScript

Creating the XMLHttpRequest Object

Opening the XMLHttpRequest Object

Getting Ready for the Data Download

Using the readyState Property

Using the status Property

Displaying the Fetched Data

Connecting to the Server

Adding Some Server-Side Programming

Try This: Get ajax2.html to Work

Sending Data to the Server Using GET

Sending Data with URL Encoding

Writing the PHP

Interacting with dataresponder.php

Sending Data to the Server Using POST

Writing the PHP

Interacting with dataresponderpost.php

Using Ajax Together with XML

4 Full Throttle Ajax

Handling Multiple XMLHttpRequest Objects in the Same Page

Using Two XMLHttpRequest Objects

Try This: Get double.html to Work

Using an Array of XMLHttpRequest Objects

Try This: Get array.html to Work

Using Inner Functions

Try This: Get Inner Functions to Work

Downloading JavaScript

Try This: Download JavaScript

Connecting to Google Suggest

Creating the Search Term Field

Writing the JavaScript

Displaying the Matches

Creating google.php

Downloading from Other Domains with Ajax

Try This: Contact Another Server Using Ajax

Getting More Info: HTML Header Requests and Ajax

Try This: Get a Specific HTML Header

Defeating Caching

5 Using Ajax Frameworks

Creating ajaxframework.js

Downloading Text with the downloadText Function

Try This: Get downloadText.html to Work

Downloading XML with the downloadXml Function

Try This: Get downloadXml.html to Work

Posting Data and Downloading Text with the postDataDownloadText Function

Posting Data and Downloading XML with the postDataDownloadXml Function

Using the libXmlRequest JavaScript Ajax Framework

Using the AJAXLib JavaScript Ajax Framework

6 Handling XML in Ajax

Building Some XML

Working with XML in JavaScript

Getting the Document Element

Try This: Get the Number of Children of the Document Element

Accessing Any XML Element

Try This: Find the Second Guest

Handling Whitespace in Firefox

Handling Cross-Browser Whitespace

Accessing XML Data Directly

Validating Your XML

7 Working with Cascading Style Sheets with Ajax

Drawing the User’s Attention to Downloaded Text

Styling Text Using CSS

Try This: Change the Size of Text

Styling Colors and Backgrounds Using CSS

Try This: Use Preassigned Colors

Setting Element Location in Web Pages

Try This: Adding an Additional Button

Setting the Stacking Order of Web Page Elements

A Complete Ajax CSS Example: menus.html

8 Handling Dynamic HTML with Ajax

Updating Pages with Dynamic HTML Methods

Updating Pages with Dynamic HTML Properties

Using Text Ranges in Internet Explorer

Creating New HTML Elements with createElement

Editing Tables On-the-Fly

Try This: Remove Table Rows On-the-Fly

Using document.write to Write Documents to the Browser

9 Introducing PHP with Ajax

Getting Started with PHP

Returning Text to the Browser

Try This: Send HTML to the Browser

Returning XML to the Browser

Adding Comments to Your PHP Code

Storing Data in Variables

Storing Numbers in Variables

Storing Text Strings in Variables

Interpolating Variables into Text Strings

Handling Data in PHP Arrays

Handling Data with Operators

Branching with the if Statement

Using for Loops in PHP

Looping with the while Loop

Try This: Display a Message Multiple Times

Looping with the do...while Loop

Looping with the foreach Loop

10 PHP in Depth

Introducing PHP Functions

Passing Data to Functions in PHP

Try This: Pass Multiple Items to a Function

Creating Default Arguments in Functions

Returning Data from Functions

Working with HTML Controls in PHP

Using Text Fields

Using Checkboxes

Using Radio Buttons

Using List Boxes

Using Image Maps

11 Validating User Input with Ajax and PHP

Displaying All the Data in an HTML Form

Creating the HTML

Creating the PHP

Working with PHP Server Variables

Creating the HTML

Creating the PHP

Getting Your Data in Array Format

Creating the HTML

Creating the PHP

Wrapping Applications into a Single PHP Page

Validating Input from the User

Validating Integers

Validating Text

12 Using the HTML DOM and Ajax

Getting to Know the DOM

Appending New Elements to a Web Page Using the DOM and Ajax

Replacing Elements Using the DOM

Handling Timeouts in Ajax

Downloading Images with Ajax

Index