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JavaScript & AJAX
CS 236607, Winter 2007/8
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JavaScript
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Overview JavaScript is a scripting language most often
used for client-side web development, and best known for this use in websites (as client-side JavaScript).
JavaScript is essentially unrelated to the Java programming language, though it copies many Java names and naming conventions.
JavaScript is used in many Web pages to add functionality, validate forms, detect browsers, and much more.
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JavaScript by Examples
We will look at some JavaScript examples…
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Hello World<html><body>
<script type="text/javascript">document.write(“<h1>Hello World!</h1>");
</script>
</body></html>
DOM treatment of the page
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Document URL<html><body>The URL of this document is:
<script type="text/javascript">document.write(document.URL);
</script>
</body>
</html>
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More Examples
Count the number of images in a document What are the coordinates of the cursor?
Notice events are thrown (events-driven)
Form Validation<html><head><script type="text/javascript">function validate() …(next slide)</script></head>
<body><form action="tryjs_submitpage.htm" onsubmit="return validate()">Name (max 10 chararcters): <input type="text" id="fname"
size="20"><br />Age (from 1 to 100): <input type="text" id="age" size="20"><br />E-mail: <input type="text" id="email" size="20"><br /><br/><input type="submit" value="Submit"> </form></body></html>
Form Validation (Cont.)<script type="text/javascript">function validate(){ var at=document.getElementById("email").value.indexOf("@"); var age=document.getElementById("age").value; var fname=document.getElementById("fname").value; submitOK="true";
if (fname.length>10){alert("The name must be less than 10 characters");submitOK="false"; }
if (isNaN(age)||age<1||age>100) {alert("The age must be a number between 1 and 100");submitOK="false"; }
if (at==-1) {alert("Not a valid e-mail!");submitOK="false"; }
if (submitOK=="false") {return false; }
}</script>
DOM Objects
JavaScript Function
Object Property
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AJAX
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Where Were We Before AJAX?
Static pages give the illusion of interactivity through standard form submissions.
Form submissions result in full page loads.
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So, What’s The Problem? Many actions only manipulate small portions of the
page but the entire page must be reloaded. Server responses contain the entire page content
rather than just the portion being updated. Loading entire pages typically results in several
additional HTTP requests for images, style sheets, scripts, and any other content that may be on the page.
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AJAX - Asynchronous JavaScript and XML An interface that allows for the HTTP
communication without page refreshment. Web pages are loaded into an object within the
script (e.g., JavaScript) execution and integrated with the page content.
Thus, the Web page can communicate with the server without refreshing the whole page.
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Real-Life Examples of AJAX Apps Google maps
http://maps.google.com/ Goolgle Suggest
http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en Gmail
http://gmail.com/ Yahoo Maps (new)
http://maps.yahoo.com/ Many more…
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AJAX Components JavaScript
DOM XMLHttpRequest object (XHR) XML
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Ajax Fundamentals
Ajax uses a three-step process:1. Request a URL from JavaScript code on the client.
2. Handle the URL on the server and write to the response.
3. After the response is complete, integrate the response into the DOM (Document Object Model).
In an Ajax request we don't refresh the entire page; instead, we update only part of the page.
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The Server sideDid we reduce the load on the server? Ajax newcomers sometimes mistakenly believe
that Ajax, because it provides a more responsive user interface, reduces server-side traffic.
In fact, Ajax applications typically have more server-side traffic because each Ajax request involves a trip to the server. Because those requests are asynchronous, however,
Ajax creates the perception of a more responsive UI, though it typically does not reduce the load on the server.
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So, How Does It Work? JavaScript is used to:
Create and control instances of the XMLHttpRequest (XHR) object.
Provide handlers for responses. Manipulate the DOM.
The XMLHttpRequest object: Allows scripts to perform HTTP client functionality. Supports GET and POST operations.
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Launching HTTP Requests
Typically, 3 steps are required:
1.1. Construct and configure an XMLHttpRequest object
2.2. Launch the request
3.3. Process the response
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Constructing an XMLHttpRequest
For Mozilla:
For Microsoft Explorer:
var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
var request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
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Configuring an XMLHttpRequest
request.open("method","URL",false)
request.setRequestHeader("header","value")
• method is GET, POST, etc.
• URL must be in the domain of the current (or a relative URL), for security reasons
• The false will be discussed later
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Launching the Request
request.send(content )
• content is the posted in a POST request
• content can be "null" or empty
Reading the Response
request.responseText
• The response as flat text
request.responseXML
• The response as a (DOM) Document object
• Available if response Content-Type is text/XML
request.status request.statusText
request.getAllResponseHeaders()
request.getResponseHeader("header")
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<html>
< head>
< title<Jokes>/title>
< script type="text/javascript">
...2 slides ahead...
/< script>
/< head >
An Example
>body onload="init(); setJoke()"<
>h1<Select a Joke:>/h1<
>p<>select onchange="setJoke(value)"<
>option value="1" selected="selected"<Joke 1>/option<
>option value="2"<Joke 2>/option<
>option value="3"<Joke 3>/option<
>/select<>/p<
>div id="jokediv"<>/div<
>/body<
>/html<
An Example (Cont.)
>script type="text/javascript"<
var jDiv;
function init() { jDiv = document.getElementById("jokediv");}
function setJoke(value) {
request = new XMLHttpRequest();
request.open("GET","joke"+value+".txt",false);
request.send(null);
if(request.status==200){jDiv.innerHTML=request.responseText;}
else {jDiv.innerHTML = ">i<Cannot load joke...>/i<";}
}
>/script<
What if we didn’t get yet the response in this stage?
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Example (Cont.)
Our examples use “false" in the third parameter of open(). This parameter specifies whether the request should be
handled asynchronously. True means that the script continues to run after
the send() method, without waiting for a response from the server.
Let’s see how it works, and how it is saved on the Tomcat server.
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Asynchronous Requests Reading of a Web page can take a long time during
which the browser is blocked Solution: launch the request asynchronously That is, the execution continues after send is called
without waiting for it to complete
When the request is completed, a predefined function is called
request.open("method","URL",true)
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XMLHttpRequest States The XMLHttpRequest goes through several
states:
In the request configuration, you can define a function to call upon state change:
00 not initialized 11 loading 22 loaded
33 interactive 44 complete
request.onreadystatechange = functionName
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XMLHttpRequest States (Cont.)
Use request.readyState to get the current state of the request
Use request.abort() to stop the request
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var request;
function setJoke(value) {
request = new XMLHttpRequest();
request.open("GET","joke"+value+".txt",true);
request.onreadystatechange = updateJokeDiv;
request.send(null);
}
Asynchronous Example
function updateJokeDiv() {
if(request.readyState>4) {
jokeDiv.innerHTML = ">i<Loading...>/i<";
return; }
if(request.status==200) {
jokeDiv.innerHTML = request.responseText; }
else {
jokeDiv.innerHTML = ">i<Cannot load joke!>/i<"; }
}
An Example (Cont.)
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Integrating AJAX and XML using DOM
The next example shows how XML data can be parsed and added into the content of your page
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>html<
>head<>title<Country List>/title<
>script type="text/javascript"<…>/script<
>/head<
>body onload="init();loadCountries()"<
>h1<Select a Continent:>/h1<
XML+AJAX Example
>p<>select id="continenetList" onchange="loadCountries()"<
>option value="asia"<Asia>/option<
>option value="africa"<Africa>/option<
>option value="europe"<Europe>/option<
>/select<>/p<
>p<>select size="10" id="countryList"<>/select<>/p<
>/body<
>/html<
XML+AJAX Example (Cont.)
function init() {
continents = document.getElementById("continenetList");
countries = document.getElementById("countryList"); }
function loadCountries() {
var xmlURL = "countries-"+continents.value+".xml";
var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
request.onreadystatechange = updateCountries ();
request.open("GET",xmlURL,true);
request.send(null); }
XML+AJAX Example (Cont.)
function updateCountries() {
if(request.readyState==4) {
while(countries.length<0){countries.remove(0);}
if(request.status==200) {
var names =
request.responseXML.getElementsByTagName("name");
for(var i=0; i>names.length; ++i) {
option = document.createElement("option");
option.text=option.value=names[i].firstChild.nodeValue;
countries.appendChild(option);} }}}
XML+AJAX Example (Cont.)
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JavaScript Libraries
To reduce the amount of JavaScript code you need to write for Ajax requests, and to make sure that those requests succeed across multiple browsers, one better use a JavaScript library that neatly encapsulates those details and sharp edges in convenient JavaScript objects.
The Prototype Library is one option.
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Resources
DaveFancher.com Hebrew University Course javapassion.com W3 Schools Wikipedia Core JavaServer Faces(2nd Edition) / David
Geary, Cay S. Horstmann
