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Ajax

Asyncronous Javascript And XML (AJAX, or Ajax) is a set of techniques used in HTML documents so that a portion of the page can be updated by a Javascript program without browsing to a new URL. Ajax data transfer representations (between Javascript and web server) include plain text, XML, and JSON. Ajax techniques include hidden frames, submission throttling, page pre-load, calling a SOAP web service, and many others. Technologies which may be involved in Ajax include CSS, HTML, HTTP, Javascript, JSON, REST (which really is just HTTP), SOAP, TCP, Web Services, and XML.

With Ajax, parts of a web page refresh themselves as needed, while other parts stay the same. A well-known application of Ajax is Google Maps, in which the Google server sends an XML document to the visitor's web browser. Javascript in the browser does all the formatting, and the visitor can pan and zoom without reloading the entire page.

Ajax slides (Powerpoint):

• Ajax (Pat's site)
• Ajax
• XML
• MVC and web applications (Pat's site)

Various general information (such as MVC) about web applications, possibly relevant to Ajax but not only to Ajax, has been moved from here to a new web applications page.

Ajax GET, POST, SOAP, and GET caching handouts: (from W July 11, minus handwritten comments)

• HTTP handouts
• HTML handouts

Javascript links have been moved to the Javascript page.

Links:

• Ajax tutorial: http://www.w3schools.com/ajax/
• Considering Ajax on ibm.com (a discussion on the hype around Ajax)
• MySpace worm info (an Ajax worm that used Javascript's eval() to circumvent MySpace safety checks)
• Web 2.0, AJAX Bring New Era of Threats (article on Ajax security risks)
• Javascript Lint (checks for common mistakes in javascript code)

This page last modified on August 01, 2007, at 03:47 PM