Head First jQuery

Chapter 8. jQuery and Ajax: Please Pass the Data

Using jQuery to do some cool CSS and DOM tricks is fun, but soon you’ll need to read information (or data) from a server and display it. You may even have to update small pieces of the page with the information from the server, without having to reload the page. Enter Ajax. Combined with jQuery and JavaScript, it can do just that. In this chapter, we’ll learn how jQuery deals with making Ajax calls to the server and what it can do with the information returned.

Bring the Bit to Byte race into this century

From: Webville MegaCorps Marketing

Subject: 42nd Annual Bit to Byte Race results page

Hey Web Design Team,

As you’re all aware, every year we sponsor Webville’s Annual Bit to Byte 10K run by providing the race results page. But our page is way behind the times, as we only update it after all the results are in. People want instant gratification, and with Twitter and Facebook, folks attending the race are beating us at providing real-time results.

So we’ve got a challenge for you with a sweet payoff. If you can update our Webville Results page by next week to provide real-time results, you’ll get to hang out in the VIP section at the end of the race. (Oh, and did we mention the race is in Maui this year?)

Here’s what we need: The page should provide the option to show either male or female runners, or all participants at once. It should provide ...