you’re on your way �
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xml versus json
Chapter 1: Boards ‘R’ Us
Chapter 2: Break Neck Pizza
Chapter 3: Ajax Coffee Maker
Chapter 5: Break Neck Revisited
Chapter 4: Top 5 CDs
Chapter 6: Boards ‘R’ Us (expanded)
PHP script
<?php
require(‘lib.php’);
function go() {
$myVar = ...
return ...
}
?>
PHP script
<?php
require(‘lib.php’);
function go() {
$myVar = ...
return ...
}
?>
Plain Text
Requests
Plain Text
Responses
Plain Text
Request
XML Response
Everything in the rst part of the
book sent text to the server using
name/value pairs.
All these earlier apps got text
back from the server, too.
Remember, even with POST
requests in Chapter 5, we
were sending plain text.
Chapter 4 was all about
the DOM... no requests or
responses here.
In Chapter 6, we were still
sending text in our requests.
The server nally got to say
more, though, and sent XML
back in its responses.
A review of request and response formats
Before we dive into the JSON versus XML debate, let’s review the data
formats we’ve already used in the rst six chapters.
XML makes it easy
for the server to
send more complex
responses to your
requests... but your
requests are still
usually better off
as plain text.