Gross Ajax Patterns and Best Practices

1. Auflage 2006
ISBN: 978-1-4302-0131-1
Verlag: APRESS
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 416 Seiten, eBook

Ajax is taking us into the next generation of web applications. Ajax has broken the client-server barrier by decoupling the client from the server, but an Ajax application still needs a server to extract content from. The most effective use of Ajax and the server requires an understanding of REST, an architectural style used to define Web services.Ajax Patterns and Best Practices explores dynamic web applications that combine Ajax and REST as a single solution. A major advantage of REST is that, like Ajax, it can be used with today's existing technologies. This is an ideal book whether or not you have already created an Ajax application. Because the book outlines various patterns and best practices, you can quickly check and verify that you're building an efficient Ajax application.Inside the book, the patterns will answer the following questions:What is Ajax, and REST, and why do you even care? And if I should care what are some examples of websites that make effective use of Ajax and REST? What are the absolute basics of Ajax and REST and what parts of those basics should I use? How should deal with large amounts of data? Should I cache the data? Should I get the data piece fed to me? (Patterns: Cache Controller, and Infinite Data) People keep telling me that sessions and cookies are bad? Are they bad? What should I do? And while I think about how about generating content for other devices? (Permutations pattern) I want to fix the back-button problem of the HTML browser. (State Navigation pattern) What is the best way to create a mashup? (REST Based Model View Controller pattern) My page has so many links managed by JavaScript, and I am losing control, help me make this more organized! (Decoupled Navigation pattern) I understand that HTTP means I send data to the server, how about the server sending me some data without asking for it? (Persistent Communications pattern) My server side code looks like a mess with tags and code pieces everywhere. How can I organize and make my HTML page behave like a SOA client and use REST based web services? (Content chunking pattern)

Zielgruppe

Popular/general

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gross, Christian

Inhaltsverzeichnis

to Ajax.- The Nuts and Bolts of Ajax.- Content Chunking Pattern.- Cache Controller Pattern.- Permutations Pattern.- Decoupled Navigation Pattern.- Representation Morphing Pattern.- Persistent Communications Pattern.- State Navigation Pattern.- Infinite Data Pattern.- REST-Based Model View Controller Pattern.

Leseproben

Chapter 1 Introduction to Ajax (p. 1-2)

Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax)1 is both something old and something new—old because already existing technologies are used, but new because it combines these existing technologies into techniques that very few considered previously. Simply put, because of Ajax a new generation of applications and ideas are bubbling on the developer scene. A very brief definition of Ajax is as follows: Ajax is a technology that complements Web 2.0 and the integration of many web services at once.

This brief definition poses more questions than it answers, as now you are likely wondering what Web 2.0 is and what the integration of many web services are. Web 2.0 can be thought of as the Internet economy.2 Think about something as typical as an encyclopedia, and you will start to think about salespeople who carry extremely heavy books and knock on doors. In a Web 2.0 context, an encyclopedia means Wikipedia (http:// www.wikipedia.org). The Wikipedia project is an open effort by humanity to record itself. Whereas for a traditional encyclopedia a set of writers and editors write about certain topics, Wikipedia is created by people who write about what they know. Get enough people together and you get an encyclopedia that is on the Internet. What is thought-provoking about the Wikipedia project is that anybody can edit it, and therefore it usually contains more current and unusual information than a traditional encyclopedia. In some instances Wikipedia’s selfcorrecting capabilities have proven to be problematic, but considering the scale and depth of the project, those instances have been exceptions.

The second part of Ajax is the integration of many web services at once. Ajax allows a higher level of interactivity in a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) page than was possible without Ajax technologies. The result is that an Ajax application changes from a web application to a web service manipulation technology. In a traditional web application, navigating content meant changing HTML pages. With Ajax, navigating content means navigating web services that could be generating HTML content, or Extensible Markup Language (XML) content, or other content.

Pictures Are Worth a Thousand Words

The definition explains Ajax, but you are probably still wondering what Ajax does. There is a saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, and the following images and their associated explanations illustrate best what Ajax does. Map.search.ch was one of the first major Ajax applications, and it illustrates the elegance of what an Ajax application can be. In a nutshell, Map.search.ch is used to find restaurants, houses, parking spots, and more throughout Switzerland. When you surf to the website http://map.search.ch, you will see something similar to Figure 1-1.

Über Autor(innen)

Christian Gross is a consultant with vast experience in the client/server world. He has consulted for Microsoft on DNA solutions, and he has held consulting positions with Daimler Benz, Microsoft, NatWest, and other major corporations. Gross was a contributor to Professional Active Server Pages, Professional SQL Server 6.5 Administration, Professional NT Internet Information Server Administration, and Programming Microsoft Windows 2000 Unleashed. He is the author of A Programmer's Introduction to Windows DNA.