Reusable components and patterns for Ajax-driven applications   Ajax is one of the latest and greatest ways to improve users’ online experience and create new and innovative web functionality. By allowing specific parts of a web page to be displayed without refreshing the entire page, Ajax significantly enhances the experience of web applications. It also lets web developers create intuitive and innovative interaction processes.   Ajax for Web Application Developers provides the in-depth working knowledge of Ajax that web developers need to take their web applications to the next level. The book shows how to create an Ajax-driven web application from an object-oriented perspective, and it includes discussion of several useful Ajax design patterns.   This detailed guide covers the creation of connections to a MySQL database with PHP 5 via a custom Ajax engine and shows how to gracefully format the response with CSS, JavaScript, and XHTML while keeping the data tightly secure. It also covers the use of four custom Ajax-enabled components in an application and how to create each of them from scratch.   The final section of the book combines the individual code examples and techniques from earlier chapters of the book into one larger, Ajax-driven application—an internal web mail application that can be used in any user-based application, such as a community-based web application. Readers will learn not only how to create and use their own reusable Ajax components in this application but also how to connect their components to any future Ajax applications that they might build.   Web Development/Ajax/JavaScript 

Table of Contents:
        Introduction             An Introduction to the Book Samples I: Getting Started     1    Introduction to Ajax             The XML DOM             Measuring the Benefits     2    The Request             An In-Depth Look at XMLHttpRequest                 A Standard XHR                 A Database-Enabled XHR                 Sending Data to a Database-Enabled XHR             Creating the Object             Asynchronous Data Transfers             The Ready State             HTTP Status Codes and Headers     3    The Response             XML                 Elements                 Attributes                 CDATA                 Parsing XML             JSON                 The Syntax                 Using JSON                 Parsing JSON     4    Rendering the Response with XHTML and CSS             XHTML             CSS II: Creating and Using the JavaScript Engine     5    Object-Oriented JavaScript                 Object-Oriented Approaches                 Using the new Operator                 Literal Notation                 Associative Arrays                 JScript.NET             Object Constructors                 Instances                 Properties                 Methods             Prototypes                 Instances                 Creating Properties                 Overriding and Overwriting Properties                 Property Protection                 Methods                 Extending Objects with Prototyped Methods     6    Creating the Engine             Creating a Custom Ajax Wrapper                 Making Requests                 The Ready State                 The Response             Creating an Ajax Updater                 Constructing the Object                 Updating the Request Object                 The Response     7    Using the Engine             Getting Started             Making a Request             Engine Methods and Properties     8    Debugging             The JavaScript onerror Event             responseText             IE Developer Toolbar                 Installing the Plug-in                 Disabling the Cache                 Navigating the DOM                 Viewing Class and ID Information             Safari Enhancer             Installing Safari Enhancer                 The JavaScript Console             FireBug                 Installing FireBug                 The Command Line                 Logging Messages in the Console                 Levels of Logging                 Inspecting Elements                 Spying on Ajax     9    Extending the Engine             Creating a Utilities Object             Handling Status Codes with an HTTP Object                 HTTP Status Code Categories                 Using the HTTP Object III: Creating Reusable Components     10    Accordion             Getting Started                 The XML Architecture                 Requesting the XML             Creating the Accordion Object             Panel Functionality and Data Display                 Creating the CSS     11    Tree View             Structuring the Data             Handling the Response             Rendering the GUI                 Adding Style to the Component     12    Client-Side Validation             Getting Started             Creating a Validation Object                 Validating User Input                 Providing Visual Feedback             The Server Side                 The Constructor                 Verifying User Information                 Registering and Logging In a User     13    Data Grid             Getting Started             Creating a DataGrid Object             Displaying the Data                 Creating a DataRow Object                 Creating a DataColumn Object                 Adding Design to the Component IV: AJAX Patterns     14    Singleton Pattern             An Overview of the Singleton Pattern             Creating an Object Using the Singleton Pattern             Using the Singleton Object     15    Model View Controller                 An Overview of the Pattern                 Creating the Pattern                 Using the Pattern     16    The Observer Pattern             Pattern Overview                 Register Observers Overview                 Notify Observers Overview                 Unregister Observers Overview Creating an Error-Handling Object                 Register Observers                 Notify Observers                 Unregister Observers             Using the Error-Handling Object     17    Data Reflection Pattern             An Overview                 The Multi-User Pattern             Creating the Pattern     18    Interaction Patterns             Creating a History with Cookies                 The Historian Object                 Creating and Displaying the XML                 The Navigation Object             Drag and Drop                 The DragDrop Object     19    Usability Patterns             Handling Feedback, Errors, and Warnings                 Designing with Code V: Server-Side Interaction     20    Understanding Ajax Database Interaction             Connecting with PHP                 Bridging the Gap                 Making the Requests                 Making the Connection     21    Interacting with a Database: The Server-Side             Connecting to ASP.NET             Connecting to ColdFusion     22    Advanced Ajax Database Interaction             Bulk Updates                 Sending Arrays                 Sending XML                 Sending JSON             Server-Side XML and JSON                 XML                 JSON VI: Finishing Touches     23    Securing Your Application             Security Holes             Password-Protecting Ajax Requests                 Creating Unique Passwords             Verifying Passwords on the Server-Side     24    Best Practices             Using the Engine                 Design Patterns                 Using Components                 Static Versus Dynamic Responses                 Error and Feedback Handling                 Application History                 Security 0672329123, TOC, 9/25/2006