Ajax

AJAX TUTORIAL
1) Introduction
Before you continue you should have a basic understanding of the following:

HTML / XHTML CSS JavaScript / DOM
AJAX allows web pages to be updated asynchronously by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes. This means that it is possible to update parts of a web page, without reloading the whole page. Classic web pages, (which do not use AJAX) must reload the entire page if the content should change. Examples of applications using AJAX: Google Maps, Gmail, Youtube, and Facebook tabs. How AJAX works
AJAX is based on internet standards, and uses a combination of: XMLHttpRequest object (to exchange data asynchronously with a server) JavaScript/DOM (to display/interact with the information) CSS (to style the data) XML (often used as the format for transferring data)
AJAX applications are browser- and platform-independent! Example:

<html> <head> <script type="text/javascript"> function loadXMLDoc() { var xmlhttp; if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {// code for IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari xmlhttp=new XMLHttpRequest(); } else {// code for IE6, IE5 xmlhttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); } xmlhttp.onreadystatechange=function() { if (xmlhttp.readyState==4 && xmlhttp.status==200) { document.getElementById("myDiv").innerHTML=xmlhttp.responseText; } } xmlhttp.open("GET","ajax_info.txt",true); xmlhttp.send(); } </script> </head> <body> <div id="myDiv"><h2>Let AJAX change this text</h2></div> <button type="button" onclick="loadXMLDoc()">Change Content</button> </body> </html>
2) Create an XMLHttpRequest object

The keystone of AJAX is the XMLHttpRequest object. XMLHttpRequest Object All modern browsers support the XMLHttpRequest object (IE5 and IE6 uses an ActiveXObject). The XMLHttpRequest object is used to exchange data with a server behind the scenes. This means that it is possible to update parts of a web page, without reloading the whole page
Create an XMLHttpRequest Object All modern browsers (IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera) have a built-in XMLHttpRequest object. Syntax for creating an XMLHttpRequest object: variable=new XMLHttpRequest(); Old versions of Internet Explorer (IE5 and IE6) uses an ActiveX Object: variable=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); To handle all modern browsers, including IE5 and IE6, check if the browser supports the XMLHttpRequest object. If it does, create an XMLHttpRequest object, if not, create an ActiveXObject: var xmlhttp; if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {// code for IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari xmlhttp=new XMLHttpRequest(); } else {// code for IE6, IE5 xmlhttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); }
3) Send a Request to a server

To send a request to a server, we use the open() and send() methods of the XMLHttpRequest object: xmlhttp.open("GET","ajax_info.txt",true); xmlhttp.send(); Method Description Specifies the type of request, the URL, and if the request should be handled asynchronously or not.
open(method,url,a sync) method: the type of request: GET or POST url: the location of the file on the server async: true (asynchronous) or false (synchronous) Sends the request off to the server. send(string) string: Only used for POST requests
GET or POST? GET is simpler and faster than POST, and can be used in most cases. However, always use POST requests when: A cached file is not an option (update a file or database on the server) Sending a large amount of data to the server (POST has no size limitations) Sending user input (which can contain unknown characters), POST is more robust and secure than GET
GET Requests A simple GET request: xmlhttp.open("GET","demo_get.asp",true); xmlhttp.send(); In the example above, you may get a cached result. To avoid this, add a unique ID to the URL: xmlhttp.open("GET","demo_get.asp?t=" + Math.random(),true); xmlhttp.send(); If you want to send information with the GET method, add the information to the URL: xmlhttp.open("GET","demo_get2.asp? fname=Henry&lname=Ford",true); xmlhttp.send(); POST Requests A simple POST request: xmlhttp.open("POST","demo_post.asp",true); xmlhttp.send(); To POST data like an HTML form, add an HTTP header with setRequestHeader(). Specify the data you want to send in the send() method: xmlhttp.open("POST","ajax_test.asp",true); xmlhttp.setRequestHeader("Content-type","application/x-www-formurlencoded"); xmlhttp.send("fname=Henry&lname=Ford");
Method
Description Adds HTTP headers to the request.
setRequestHeader(header,value ) header: specifies the header name value: specifies the header value
4) Server Response
To get the response from a server, use the responseText or responseXML property of the XMLHttpRequest object. Property responseText responseXML Description get the response data as a string get the response data as XML data
The responseText Property: If the response from the server is not XML, use the responseText property. The responseText property returns the response as a string, and you can use it accordingly:
document.getElementById("myDiv").innerHTML=xmlhttp.responseText;
The responseXML Property If the response from the server is XML, and you want to parse it as an XML object, use the responseXML property:
xmlDoc=xmlhttp.responseXML; txt=""; x=xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("ARTIST"); for (i=0;i<x.length;i++) { txt=txt + x[i].childNodes[0].nodeValue + "<br />"; } document.getElementById("myDiv").innerHTML=txt;
5) The onreadystatechange Event

When a request to a server is sent, we want to perform some actions based on the response. The onreadystatechange event is triggered every time the readyState changes. The readyState property holds the status of the XMLHttpRequest.
Three important properties of the XMLHttpRequest object: Property Description onreadystatechaStores a function (or the name of a function) to be called nge automatically each time the readyState property changes Holds the status of the XMLHttpRequest. Changes from 0 to 4: readyState 0: request not initialized 1: server connection established 2: request received 3: processing request 4: request finished and response is ready 200: "OK" 404: Page not found
status
In the onreadystatechange event, we specify what will happen when the server response is ready to be processed. When readyState is 4 and status is 200, the response is ready:
xmlhttp.onreadystatechange=function() { if (xmlhttp.readyState==4 && xmlhttp.status==200) { document.getElementById("myDiv").innerHTML=xmlhttp.responseText; } } Note: The onreadystatechange event is triggered four times, one time for each change in readyState.
Using a Callback Function A callback function is a function passed as a parameter to another function. If you have more than one AJAX task on your website, you should create ONE standard function for creating the XMLHttpRequest object, and call this for each AJAX task. The function call should contain the URL and what to do on onreadystatechange (which is probably different for each call):
function myFunction() { loadXMLDoc("ajax_info.txt",function() { if (xmlhttp.readyState==4 && xmlhttp.status==200) {
document.getElementById("myDiv").innerHTML=xmlhttp.responseText; } }); }

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AJAX TUTORIAL

HTML / XHTML CSS JavaScript / DOM

AJAX applications are browser- and platform-independent! Example:

2) Create an XMLHttpRequest object

3) Send a Request to a server

Description Adds HTTP headers to the request.

5) The onreadystatechange Event

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