Ajax

Ajax, shorthand for Asynchronous Javascript and XML, is a set of technologies that allows you to create Web applications that don't need to refresh Web pages in the browser. You can operate behind the scenes, connecting to the server, uploading and downloading data, and display the results in the browser using dynamic HTML. Using Ajax gives your Web pages the feel of a desktop application-the whole display will no longer flash when you click a button. VTC Author Steve Holzner helps you get started developing and building your own Ajax capable web pages. A familiarity with JavaScript, XML, PHP is recommended for this course. To begin learning, simply click the links.

Introduction
Welcome

System Requirements

Getting to know Ajax

Downloading Data Behind the Scenes

Modifying Web Pages on the Fly

Searching in Real Time with Live Searches

Getting the Answer With Autocomplete

Dragging and Dropping HTML Elements With Ajax

Getting Instant Login Feedback

Writing Ajax

Working With JavaScript in Browsers

Creating an XMLHttpRequest Object in JavaScript

Checking the XMLHttpRequest Object's readyState property

Checking the XMLHttpRequest Object's status property

Getting Your Data With the XMLHttpRequest Object

Problems creating an XMLHttpRequest Object

Fetching Text Data From the Browser

Decoding the Fetched Data

Selecting Relative or Absolute URLs

Getting XMLHttpRequest Objects in Other Ways

Using Server-Side Scripting

Storing Ajax Data in XML

Fetching XML Data From the Server

Extracting Data From XML

Passing Data to the Server with GET

Passing Data to the Server with POST

Getting More Ajax Power

Determining Which Browser the User Has

Handling Head Requests for More Data

Creating a Live Search Pt.1

Creating a Live Search Pt.2

Connecting to Google Suggest

Calling a Different Domain Safely

Using Two XMLHttpRequest objects

Handling Multiple XMLHttpRequest Requests

Returning JavaScript Objects From the Server

Creating Ajax Applications

Downloading Images Using Ajax

Creating a Shopping Cart

Handling Mouse Events

Enabling Dragging

Handling Drops

Communicating With the Shopping Cart on the Server

Creating an Ajax-driven Drop-down Menu System

Downloading Data with Drop-down Menu System

Displaying a Menu with a Drop-down Menu System

Exploring The Browser-Side Ajax Frameworks

Introducing Ajax Frameworks

Creating Ajax With libXmlRequest

Creating Ajax With AjaxLib

Creating Ajax With XHConn

Creating Ajax With Sack

Creating Ajax With Interactive Website Framework

Creating Ajax With Sarissa

Exploring the Server-Side Ajax Frameworks

Creating Ajax With PHP and Sajax Pt.1

Creating Ajax With PHP and Sajax Pt.2

Creating Ajax With PHP and Xajax

Using XML With Ajax

Understanding XML

Loading XML into a Browser Object

Navigating through XML Documents Using JavaScript

Extracting data from text nodes

Handling White Space in Mozilla and Firefox

Accessing Attribute Values in XML Elements

Accessing XML Elements by Name

Validating XML You Get From the Server

Validating XML With a DTD

Using CSS With Ajax in Web Pages

Introducing CSS

Setting Styles

Using an External Style Sheet

Working with Text Styles

Setting Colors and Backgrounds

Getting Newly-displayed Text Noticed

Showing Ajax Results

Hiding Ajax Results

Positioning Elements

Positioning Elements: Absolute Positioning

Positioning Elements: Relative Positioning

Stacking

Using PHP and Ajax

Using PHP in Web Pages

Understanding Basic PHP Syntax

Working With Variables

Working With Operators

Working With Strings

Working With Arrays

Making Choices With the if Statement

Using the switch Statement

Using for Loops in PHP

Using while Loops in PHP

Sending Data to the Server

Extracting Data from Text Fields

Extracting Data from Checkboxes

Extracting Data from Radio Buttons

Extracting Data from Listboxes

Uploading Files

Reading Uploaded Files

Redirecting the Browser

Doing It Right: Ajax Best Practices

Handling the Back Button

Remember - Google Can't See Your Ajax Content

Watching Out for Browser Caching

Giving Visual Cues

Wrap-up

Credits

About the Author