Ajax Design Patterns By Michael Mahemoff ............................................... Publisher: O'Reilly Pub Date: June 2006 Print ISBN-10: 0-596-10180-5 Print ISBN-13: 978-0-59-610180-0 Pages: 655 Table of Contents | Index Ajax, or Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, exploded onto the scene in the spring of 2005 and remains the hottest story among web developers. With its rich combination of technologies, Ajax provides a strong foundation for creating interactive web applications with XML or JSON-based web services by using JavaScript in the browser to process the web server response. Ajax Design Patterns shows you best practices that can dramatically improve your web development projects. It investigates how others have successfully dealt with conflicting design principles in the past and then relays that information directly to you. The patterns outlined in the book fall into four categories: Foundational technology: Examines the raw technologies required for Ajax development Programming: Exposes techniques that developers have discovered to ensure their Ajax applications are maintainable Functionality and usability: Describes the types of user interfaces you'll come across in Ajax applications, as well as the new types of functionality that Ajax makes possible Development: Explains the process being used to monitor, debug, and test Ajax applications Ajax Design Patterns will also get you up to speed with core Ajax technologies, such as XMLHttpRequest, the DOM, and JSON. Technical discussions are followed by code examples so you can see for yourself just what is-and isn't-possible with Ajax. This handy reference will help you to produce high-quality Ajax architectures, streamline web application performance, and improve the user experience. Michael Mahemoff holds a PhD in Computer Science and Software Engineering from the University of Melbourne, where his thesis was "Design Reuse in Software Engineering and Human-Computer Interaction." He lives in London and consults on software development issues in banking, health care, and logistics. "Michael Mahemoff's Ajax Design Patterns is a truly comprehensive compendium of web application design expertise, centred around but not limited to Ajax techniques. Polished nuggets of design wisdom are supported by tutorials and real-world code examples resulting in a book that serves not only as an intermediate to expert handbook but also as an extensive reference for building rich interactive web applications." --Brent Ashley, remote scripting pioneer Ajax Design Patterns By Michael Mahemoff ............................................... Publisher: O'Reilly Pub Date: June 2006 Print ISBN-10: 0-596-10180-5 Print ISBN-13: 978-0-59-610180-0 Pages: 655 Table of Contents | Index Copyright Preface Part I: Introduction Chapter 1. Introducing Ajax Section 1.1. Ajax and the Usable Web Section 1.2. The Rise of Ajax Section 1.3. Ajaxifying the Web: The Story of Portals Section 1.4. Webifying the Desktop: The Story of Office Applications Section 1.5. Characteristics of Ajax Applications Section 1.6. The Ajax Technologies Section 1.7. Anatomy of a Server Call Section 1.8. Ajax Trends Section 1.9. Conclusions Chapter 2. A Pattern-Led Tutorial Section 2.1. Ajax Technologies in a Blink Section 2.2. Ajaxifying a Web App: One Pattern at a Time Section 2.3. Projects and Katas Section 2.4. Conclusions Chapter 3. Ajax Design: Principles and Patterns Section 3.1. Desirable Attributes of Ajax Applications Section 3.2. Designing for Ajax Section 3.3. Ajax Patterns Overview Section 3.4. Anatomy of a Pattern Section 3.5. Ajax Patterns Demos Section 3.6. Conclusions Part II: Foundational Technology Patterns Chapter 4. Ajax App Section 4.1. Ajax App Chapter 5. Display Manipulation Section 5.1. Display Morphing Section 5.2. Page Rearrangement Chapter 6. Web Remoting Section 6.1. Web Service Section 6.2. XMLHttpRequest Call Section 6.3. IFrame Call Section 6.4. HTTP Streaming Section 6.5. On-Demand JavaScript Chapter 7. Dynamic Behavior Section 7.1. User Action Section 7.2. Scheduling Chapter 8. Extended Technologies Section 8.1. Richer Plugin Part III: Programming Patterns Chapter 9. Web Services Section 9.1. RESTful Service Section 9.2. RPC Service Section 9.3. Ajax Stub Section 9.4. HTML Message Section 9.5. Plain-Text Message Section 9.6. XML Message Section 9.7. JSON Message Chapter 10. Browser-Server Dialogue Section 10.1. Call Tracking Section 10.2. Periodic Refresh Section 10.3. Submission Throttling Section 10.4. Explicit Submission Section 10.5. Distributed Events Section 10.6. Cross-Domain Proxy Chapter 11. DOM Population Section 11.1. XML Data Island Section 11.2. Browser-Side XSLT Section 11.3. Browser-Side Templating Chapter 12. Code Generation and Reuse Section 12.1. Server-Side Code Generation Section 12.2. Cross-Browser Component Chapter 13. Performance Optimization Section 13.1. Browser-Side Cache Section 13.2. Predictive Fetch Section 13.3. Guesstimate Section 13.4. Multi-Stage Download Section 13.5. Fat Client Part IV: Functionality and Usability Patterns Chapter 14. Widgets Section 14.1. Slider Section 14.2. Progress Indicator Section 14.3. Drilldown Section 14.4. Data Grid Section 14.5. Rich Text Editor Section 14.6. Suggestion Section 14.7. Live Search Section 14.8. Live Command-Line Section 14.9. Live Form Chapter 15. Page Architecture Section 15.1. Drag-And-Drop Section 15.2. Sprite Section 15.3. Popup Section 15.4. Malleable Content Section 15.5. Microlink Section 15.6. Portlet Section 15.7. Status Area Section 15.8. Update Control Section 15.9. Virtual Workspace Chapter 16. Visual Effects Section 16.1. One-Second Spotlight Section 16.2. One-Second Mutation Section 16.3. One-Second Motion Section 16.4. Highlight Chapter 17. Functionality Section 17.1. Lazy Registration Section 17.2. Direct Login Section 17.3. Host-Proof Hosting Section 17.4. Timeout Section 17.5. Heartbeat Section 17.6. Unique URLs Part V: Development Patterns Chapter 18. Diagnosis Section 18.1. Logging Section 18.2. Debugging Section 18.3. DOM Inspection Section 18.4. Traffic Sniffing Chapter 19. Testing Section 19.1. Simulation Service Section 19.2. Browser-Side Test Section 19.3. Service Test Section 19.4. System Test Part VI: Appendixes Ajax Frameworks and Libraries Section A.1. JavaScript Multipurpose Frameworks Section A.2. JavaScript Remoting Frameworks Section A.3. JavaScript Effects Frameworks Section A.4. JavaScript Flash Frameworks Section A.5. JavaScript XML Frameworks Section A.6. JavaScript Specialized Frameworks Section A.7. Multilanguage Ajax Frameworks Section A.8. C++ Ajax Frameworks Section A.9. ColdFusion Ajax Frameworks Section A.10. .NET Ajax Frameworks Section A.11. Java Ajax Frameworks Section A.12. Lisp Ajax Frameworks Section A.13. Perl Ajax Frameworks Section A.14. PHP Ajax Frameworks Section A.15. Python Ajax Frameworks Section A.16. Ruby Ajax Frameworks Setting Up the Code Examples Patterns and Pattern Languages References About the Author Colophon Index Ajax Design Patterns by Michael Mahemoff Copyright © 2006 Michael Mahemoff. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc. 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472 O'Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. Online editions are also available for most titles (safari.oreilly.com). For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: (800) 998-9938 [email protected] . Editor: Simon St.Laurent Production Editor: Mary Brady Copyeditors: Mary Brady and Lydia Onofrei Indexer: Julie Hawks Cover Designer: Mike Kohnke Interior Designer: Marcia Friedman Illustrators: Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read Printing History: June 2006: First Edition. The O'Reilly logo is a registered trademark of O'Reilly Media, Inc. Ajax Design Patterns and related trade dress are trademarks of O'Reilly Media, Inc. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and O'Reilly Media, Inc. was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons License Attribution 2.0. To view a copy of this License, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 543 Howard Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, California 94105-3013, USA. ISBN: 0-596-10180-5 [M] Preface AJAX DESIGN PATTERNS IS A REFERENCE FOR DEVELOPERS, DESIGNERS, AND MANAGERS WHO WANT TO know how Ajax is being used in the real world. Ajax is a new label to describe rich, desktop-like Internet applications that run in standard web browsers and do not require any special plugins. Its popularity stems from high-profile Ajax applications like Gmail, Google Maps, and 37signals' Basecamp, and it is becoming popular in the enterprise as well. The patterns in this book fall into four categories. Foundational Technology patterns overview the raw technologies required for Ajax development, such as the XMLHttpRequest object. Programming patterns expose techniques developers have been discovering to ensure their Ajax applications are maintainable and performant. Functionality and Usability patterns are about the kinds of user- interfaces you'll come across in Ajax applications and the new types of functionality that Ajax makes possible. Finally, Development patterns explain the processes being used to monitor, debug, and test their Ajax applications. Who Should Read This Book? You should read this book if you want to: Learn what's possibleand what's notwith Ajax, and see how Ajax is being used in the real world. Get up to speed with core Ajax technologies such as XMLHttpRequest, the DOM, and JSON.