Negus Live Linux Series Ajax Construction Kit: Building Plug-and-Play Ajax Applications by Michael Morrison Publisher: Prentice Hall Pub Date: June 29, 2007 Print ISBN-10: 0-13-235008-4 Print ISBN-13: 978-0-13-235008-2 Pages: 312 Table of Contents | Index Overview Supercharge Your Sites with Ajax Right Now No Scripting Expertise Needed! You've heard how great Ajax is how it can help make your Web sites more usable, more interactive, more responsive, more successful Ajax Construction Kit lets you put Ajax to work right now, even if you've never written a script! Just learn a few essentials, check out a few examples, then run the live CD and discover all the plug-and-play code you need to hit the ground running Ajax Construction Kit's built-in applications work right out of the box And with easy guidance from Michael Morrison, you'll gradually deepen your understanding learn how to customize, extend, and reuse these applications and even build skills for creating new ones Walk away an expert Use Ajax Construction Kit's ten complete applications to Dynamically load Web data Dynamically populate lists Tap into RSS news feeds Use AutoComplete to reduce input errors Create more responsive GUIs with real-time validation Build a killer interface for viewing images Present information or advertising with slick pop-ups Provide an up-to-the-minute weather forecast Build an e-commerce product shipping calculator Add ratings tools to your site And more CD-ROM Includes Your complete Ajax projects: Run the Ajax projects (HTML, JavaScript, and PHP source code) that are included on the CD from your Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux system Your complete Ajax environment: Boot the CD as an Ubuntu Linux live CD to immediately begin working with the Ajax projects (no setup required) Ready-to-run tools on the CD include the XAMPP Web server, Firefox Web browser, and Bluefish HTML editor System Requirements: Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac (OS X or higher) Processor: Intel-based processor (Pentium or higher) Memory: 128 MB RAM or more Disk space: None required; USB thumb drive optional to store data Optical drive: CD reader Negus Live Linux Series Your Practical, Hands-On Guides to Getting Real Results with Free Software Add the free software and examples from the book's CD to your Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux system to follow along with the projects described in the book Or boot the CD directly to use a complete, prepackaged set of free software tools to play, display, and modify those projects Start as a novice, by trying out examples and finish with professional Ajax-enabled Web content! SERIES EDITOR CHRISTOPHER NEGUS is the bestselling author of the Red Hat Linux Bible series, Linux Toys series, and this series's flagship title, Linux Live CDs Introduction 1 Part I Ajax Boot Camp Ajax and a Brave New World Wide Web 9 Inside an Ajax Application 25 Part II Building Real-World Ajax Applications Dynamically Loading Web Data: An XML E-Book Viewer 49 Using Ajax to Dynamically Populate Lists: A Stock Picker 75 Tapping into RSS News Feeds 97 Reading the User's Mind with Auto-Complete 121 Creating Responsive GUIs with Real-Time Validation 139 A Killer Interface for Image Viewing 159 Presenting Information with Slick Popups 171 10 Forecasting the Weather with Ajax 189 11 Building an Ajax Shipping Calculator 205 12 Adding an Ajax-Powered Rating System to Your Site 231 Part III Appendices Appendix A The Past, Present, and Future of Ajax 257 Appendix B A Quick and Dirty XMLHttpRequest Reference 261 Appendix C Using the Live Linux CD 271 Negus Live Linux Series Ajax Construction Kit: Building Plug-and-Play Ajax Applications by Michael Morrison Publisher: Prentice Hall Pub Date: June 29, 2007 Print ISBN-10: 0-13-235008-4 Print ISBN-13: 978-0-13-235008-2 Pages: 312 Table of Contents | Index Copyright Negus Live Linux Series Acknowledgments About the Author Introduction The Audience for This Book The Organization of This Book About the CD-ROM for This Book What You Need to Use This Book Part I: Ajax Boot Camp Chapter 1 Ajax and a Brave New World Wide Web Dining with Ajax Ajax, Sting, and Asynchronicity To Reload, or Not Reload What Exactly Is Ajax? Real-World Ajax Ajax Isn't for Everything The Shipping Charge Calculator Revisited Summary Chapter 2 Inside an Ajax Application The Nuts and Bolts of Ajax The Ajax Request Lifecycle Getting to Know the Ajax Toolkit Dismantling the E-Book Viewer Customizing the E-Book Viewer Summary Part II: Building Real-World Ajax Applications Chapter 3 Dynamically Loading Web Data: An XML E-Book Viewer The Challenge: Loading Data in Smaller Chunks The Design: Designing an XML E-Book Viewer Putting Together the E-Book Viewer Testing Booker Giving Booker an Extreme Ajax Makeover Summary Chapter 4 Using Ajax to Dynamically Populate Lists: A Stock Picker The Challenge: Displaying Selected Stock Information The Design: Designing a Stock Picker Putting Together the Stock Picker Testing Picker Giving Picker an Extreme Ajax Makeover Summary Chapter 5 Tapping into RSS News Feeds The Challenge: Querying News Feeds Dynamically The Design: Designing a News Feed Application Putting Together the News Feeder Application Testing the News Feeder Giving News Feeder an Extreme Ajax Makeover Summary Chapter 6 Reading the User's Mind with Auto-Complete The Challenge: Anticipating Data Entry The Design: Designing an Auto-Complete Application Putting Together the Completer Application Testing Completer Giving Completer an Extreme Ajax Makeover Summary Chapter 7 Creating Responsive GUIs with Real-Time Validation The Challenge: Checking User Input in Real Time The Design: Designing a Validator Application Putting Together the Validator Application Testing Validator Giving Validator an Extreme Ajax Makeover Summary Chapter 8 A Killer Interface for Image Viewing The Challenge: Loading Images Dynamically The Design: Designing a Dynamic Image Viewer Putting Together the Imaginator Application Testing Imaginator Giving Imaginator an Extreme Ajax Makeover Summary Chapter 9 Presenting Information with Slick Popups The Challenge: Creating Linked Popups The Design: Designing an Information Popup Application Putting Together the Informer Application Testing Informer Giving Informer an Extreme Ajax Makeover Summary Chapter 10 Forecasting the Weather with Ajax The Challenge: Gathering Dynamic Weather Information The Design: Designing a Weather Forecaster Putting Together the Forecaster Application Testing Forecaster Giving Forecaster an Extreme Ajax Makeover Summary Chapter 11 Building an Ajax Shipping Calculator The Challenge: Retrieving Live Shipping Charges The Design: Designing a Shipper Application The Client Request The Server Response Making Sense of the Client-to-Server Conversation Putting Together the Shipper Application The Shipper Web Page The Shipper Server Script Testing Shipper Giving Shipper an Extreme Ajax Makeover Summary Chapter 12 Adding an Ajax-Powered Rating System to Your Site The Challenge: Adding Ratings to a Web Site The Design: Designing a Rater Application Putting Together the Rater Application Testing Rater Giving Rater an Extreme Ajax Makeover Summary Part III: Appendices Appendix A The Past, Present, and Future of Ajax The Road to Ajax The Ajax Boom What's Next for Ajax? Appendix B A Quick and Dirty XMLHttpRequest Reference Methods Properties Events Appendix C Using the Live Linux CD Inside the Live CD Running the Live CD Running the Live CD Directly on a Windows PC Running the Live CD Directly on a Mac PC Running the Live CD in Other Ways Index Copyright 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 the publisher was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed with initial capital letters or in all capitals The author and publisher have taken care in the preparation of this book, but make no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of the use of the information or programs contained herein The publisher offers excellent discounts on this book when ordered in quantity for bulk purchases or special sales, which may include electronic versions and/or custom covers and content particular to your business, training goals, marketing focus, and branding interests For more information, please contact: U.S Corporate and Government Sales (800)382-3419 corpsales@pearsontechgroup.com For sales outside the United States, please contact: International Sales international@pearsoned.com Visit us on the Web: www.prenhallprofessional.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Morrison, Michael, 1970 Ajax construction kit : building plug-andplay Ajax applications / Michael Morrison p cm ISBN 978-0-13-235008- overrideMimeType() method overview readyState property responseText property responseXML property send() method setRequestHeader() method status property statusText property responses Booker application Completer application Forecaster application Informer application News Feeder application Picker application Rater application Shipper application Validator application responseText property (XMLHttpRequest object) responseXML property (XMLHttpRequest object) restaurant analogy RSS news feeds creating embedding in Web pages history of news aggregators News Feeder application adding news feeds to ajaxkit.js file client requests client/server conversation domkit.js file files, list of newsfeeder.css style sheet 2nd newsfeeder.html Web page 2nd newsfeeder.php server script 2nd newspaper.gif file server responses testing user interface design wait.gif file overview 2nd querying dynamically Scientific American Web site USA Today Web site running Ajax Construction Kit live CD installing on hard drives on Mac OS X tar archives as virtual client from Web server on Windows PCs Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Scientific American news feeds scripts booker.php completer.php 2nd forecaster.php 2nd 3rd newsfeeder.php 2nd quoter.php ratingkit.php server.php server script ziplookup.php tag (HTML) 2nd send() method server.php server script servers conversations [See client/server conversations.] logs responses [See responses.] role of scripts [See scripts.] XAMPP server, backing up setRating() function 2nd setRequestHeader() method Shipper application (shipping calculator) accessing USPS production server challenge of retrieving live shipping charges client requests client/server conversation overview server responses server.php server script shipper.html Web page tag getShipRate() function handleRequest() function initForm() function element updateTotal() function testing user interface wait.gif image shipper.html Web page tag getShipRate() function handleRequest() function initForm() function element updateTotal() function shipping calculator [See Shipper application (shipping calculator).] shopping carts 2nd showBiography() function showInfoWindow() function 2nd 3rd size of popup windows skateXXX.html Web pages 2nd skateXXX.jpg files smokiesXX.jpg files smokiesXX_thumb.jpg files Snap Preview service snapper.html Web page tag (HTML) star.gif file star_sm.gif file status property (XMLHttpRequest object) statusText property (XMLHttpRequest object) stock picker [See Picker application (stock picker).] tag 2nd stocks.xml file 2nd strtolower() function style sheets [See CSS (cascading style sheets).] Suggest (Google) Symbol Lookup synchronicity Synchronicity Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] tags (HTML) Completer application Forecaster application Imaginator application informer.html Web page News Feeder application Rater application shipper.html Web page snapper.html Web page

2nd

tags (XML) 2nd testing Booker application Complete application Forecaster application Imaginator application Informer application News Feeder application Picker application Rater application Shipper application Validator application tag (XML) toolkit ajaxkit.js file domkit.js file infowinkit.js file modalimgkit.js file overview ratingkit.js file validatekit.js file TRYNT Movie IMDb Web Service turning on/off diagnostic bar 2nd Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z]
, tag (HTML) UNINITIALIZED state (requests) updateTotal() function USA Today news feeds user interfaces Completer application Forecaster application Imaginator application Informer application News Feeder application Picker application Rater application Shipper application Validator application USPS Web Tools 2nd USS Ajax Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] validateAge() function validateDate() function 2nd validateEmail() function 2nd validateInteger() function 2nd 3rd validatekit.js file 2nd validateNonEmpty() function 2nd validateNumber() function 2nd validatePhone() function 2nd validateZipCode() function 2nd 3rd validating input [See input validation.] Validator application (input validation) ajaxkit.js file applying validation functions to other user-input forms client requests client/server conversation data types domkit.js file overview server responses testing user interface validatekit.js file validator.html Web page 2nd code listing getCityState() function getElementById() function handleCityStateRequest() function onblur event handler onload event handler validateInteger() function validateZipCode() function wait.gif file 2nd ziplookup.php script ziplookup.php server script validator.html Web page 2nd code listing getCityState() function getElementById() function handleCityStateRequest() function onblur event handler onload event handler validateInteger() function validateZipCode() function value attribute ( tag) version numbers of Web viewing images [See Imaginator application (image viewer).] Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] wait.gif file 2nd 3rd 4th The Warriors weather forecast window [See Forecaster application (weather forecast window).] Web pages, reloading [See also specific pages (for example, newsfeeder.html).] Web servers running Ajax Construction Kit live CD from XAMPP server, backing up Web sites Flickr Google Maps 2nd Google Suggest The Invisible Ad advertisement service Netflix Orkut shopping carts Web version numbers webserviceX.net windows modal windows popup windows [See also Imaginator application (image viewer).] advantages of Kontera service overview size of Snap Preview service weather forecast windows [See Forecaster application (weather forecast window).] Windows, running Ajax Construction Kit live CD on Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] XAMPP server, backing up XML (Extensible Markup Language) documents files overview tags 2nd XML e-books (Booker application) xml file extension XMLHttpRequest object abort() method getAllResponseHeaders() method getResponseHeader() method onreadystatechange event open() method overrideMimeType() method overview readyState property request lifecycle responseText property responseXML property send() method setRequestHeader() method status property statusText property Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] Yahoo!'s Symbol Lookup Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] ZIP code validator [See Validator application (input validation).] ziplookup.php server script 2nd ... Visit us on the Web: www.prenhallprofessional.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Morrison, Michael, 1970 Ajax construction kit : building plug- andplay Ajax applications / Michael Morrison p cm ISBN 978-0-13-235008-... Appendix B A Quick and Dirty XMLHttpRequest Reference 261 Appendix C Using the Live Linux CD 271 Negus Live Linux Series Ajax Construction Kit: Building Plug- and- Play Ajax Applications by Michael Morrison... What You Need to Use This Book Part I: Ajax Boot Camp Chapter 1 Ajax and a Brave New World Wide Web Dining with Ajax Ajax, Sting, and Asynchronicity To Reload, or Not Reload What Exactly Is Ajax? Real-World Ajax Ajax Isn't for Everything