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Adding Ajax

By Shelley Powers
First Edition  June 2007 
Pages: 399
ISBN 10: 0-596-52936-8 | ISBN 13: 9780596529369
starstarstarstarstar (Average of 2 Customer Reviews)

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Book description

Ajax can bring many advantages to an existing web application without forcing you to redo the whole thing. This book explains how you can add Ajax to enhance, rather than replace, the way your application works. You already know the "business-side" of applications-web forms, server-side driven pages, and static content. This book demonstrates how to make your web pages livelier, more fun, and much more interactive.
Full Description

Ajax can bring many advantages to an existing web application without forcing you to redo the whole thing. This book explains how you can add Ajax to enhance, rather than replace, the way your application works. For instance, if you have a traditional web application based on submitting a form to update a table, you can enhance it by adding the capability to update the table with changes to the form fields, without actually having to submit the form. That's just one example.

Adding Ajax is for those of you more interested in extending existing applications than in creating Rich Internet Applications (RIA). You already know the "business-side" of applications-web forms, server-side driven pages, and static content-and now you want to make your web pages livelier, more fun, and much more interactive. This book:

  • Provides an overview of Ajax technologies, and the importance of developing a strategy for changing your site before you sit down to code
  • Explains the heart and soul of Ajax: how to work with the XMLHttpRequest object
  • Introduces and demonstrates several important Ajax libraries, including Prototype, script.aculo.us, rico, Mochikit
  • Explores the interactive element that is Ajax, including how to work with events and event handlers that work across browsers
  • Introduces the concept of web page as space, and covers three popular approaches to managing web space
  • Explains how to make data updates, including adding new data, deleting, and making updates, all from within a single page
  • Describes the effects Ajax has on the Web-breaking the back button, losing browser history, dynamic effects that disappear when the page is refreshed, and more
  • Covers advanced CSS effects, including drag and drop "scroll bars", pagination, and the use of SVG and the Canvas object
  • Explores mashups-Ajax's ability to combine data from different web services in any number of ways, directly in our web pages
You don't need to start over to use Ajax. You can simply add to what you already have. This book explains how.

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Cover | Table of Contents | Colophon


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Simon St. Laurent photo Issues with code listings and sample code,  May 15 2008
Submitted by Simon St. Laurent   [Respond | View]

I think you might want to look further into the code examples zip. The examples from the book are titled things like:

ch01-01mod.xhtml

There is a lot of other material in there, but lots of pieces get referenced by multiple examples.

I think you'll find the core pieces you're seeking are in fact there, and not too hard to find.

Thanks,
Simon St.Laurent
Editor, Adding Ajax


Issues with code listings and sample code,  May 13 2008
Submitted by Anonymous Reader   [Respond | View]

I thought everything was excellent until I tried to get the book's examples. There was no folder/chapter structure in the zip file. I couldn't tell which files went with which chapters, and worst of all, most of the program listings presented in the book are not identified by name. I don't have time to load all the samples one-by-one and then try to find which listings in the book are a match. This is a shame because I otherwise really like the content, and I was going to adopt as a text for a course.


"Only add water",  April 21 2008
Rating: StarStarStarStarStar
Submitted by joshSVUG   [Respond | View]

The key to this book is its title: "Adding Ajax". The emphasis is on the Adding.
The book clearly states its purpose of adding life to existing applications (without breaking them or hindering Accessibility).

The discussion of "brewing" your own Ajax library or reusing existing ones (Dojo, YUI...) was useful, especially as Ms. Powers points out pros and cons for each.

I found a few of the examples and ideas immediately useful and added a few to the internal applications I own at work. The "Dynamic Data" chapter (6) was intriguing.

Thanks Ms. Powers!


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The jumpstart I needed,  October 28 2007
Rating: StarStarStarStarStar
Submitted by Techworx   [Respond | View]

Very helpful introduction to adding Ajax to existing web pages including XHTML and CSS best practices. Author shares lessons learned (so I won't shoot myself in the foot as I proceed).

Media reviews
"Any web programmer's collection should have Adding Ajax: it discusses easy integration of Ajax into existing systems and operations."
-- James Cox, The Bookwatch: The Computer Shelf



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"Any web programmer's collection should have Adding Ajax..."
--James Cox, The Bookwatch: The Computer Shelf