© 2010 Marty Hall

The jjQueryy JavaScript

p Libraryy
Part I: Ajax Support
(jQuery
(j y 1.4 Version))
Originals of Slides and Source Code for Examples:
http://courses.coreservlets.com/Course-Materials/jquery.html
p jq y
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Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.

© 2010 Marty Hall

For live Ajax & GWT training, see training

courses att http://courses.coreservlets.com/.
htt // l t /
Taught by the author of Core Servlets and JSP,
More Servlets and JSP,
JSP and this tutorial.
tutorial Available at
public venues, or customized versions can be held
on-site at your organization.
• Courses
C d
developed
l d and
d ttaught
ht b
by M
Marty
t HHallll
– Java 6, servlets/JSP (intermediate and advanced), Struts, JSF 1.x, JSF 2.0, Ajax, GWT 2.0 (with GXT), custom mix of topics
Customized
– Ajax courses Java
can concentrate on 1EE Training:
library http://courses.coreservlets.com/
(jQuery, Prototype/Scriptaculous, Ext-JS, Dojo, Google Closure) or survey several
• Courses developed and taught by coreservlets.com experts (edited by Marty)
Servlets,– Spring,
JSP, JSF 2.0, Struts,
Hibernate/JPA, Ajax,
EJB3, GWT
Web 2.0,Ruby/Rails
Services, Spring, Hibernate, SOAP & RESTful Web Services, Java 6.
Developed and taught by well-known author
Contact and developer. At public
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for details
 Topics in This Section
• Overview of jQuery
• Installation and documentation
• Quick summary of jQuery selectors
• Data centric Ajax: the “$.ajax” function
– Basics
– Options
O ti
– Sending data: static String, data object, String from the
“serialize” function
• Content-centric Ajax: the “load” function
g JSON data
• Handling
• Comparing Ajax support to other libraries
5
– Prototype, Dojo, Ext-JS, GWT, YUI, Google Closure

© 2010 Marty Hall

Introduction

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 Overview of jQuery
• Ajax utilities (this tutorial)
– General: $.ajax(…), $(…).load(…)
– Shortcuts: $.get, $.post, $.getJSON
• DOM search and manipulation utilities
– $("p.myStyle").addClass("extraStyle").show();
• Simple animation
– Not as extensive as Scriptaculous, but easy to use
• Cross-browser event model
– Assigns
A i h dl programmatically,
handlers ti ll hides
hid browser
b differences
diff
• General JavaScript utilities
– Functions operating on strings and arrays
• Rich GUIs
7
– jQuery UI provides widgets, fancier effects, drag/drop

Ajax Utilities
• $.ajax({options})
– Makes an Ajax request. Example:
• $.ajax({ url: "address", success: responseHandler});
• The response handler is passed the response text, not the
response object. Don’t forget the “.” before “ajax”!
• load(url)
– Makes
k Ajax
j request andd loads
l d result
l into
i HTML element
l
• $("#some-id").load("address");
g or object
• A data string j is an optional
p second arg
g
• Shortcuts
– $.get, $.post, $.getJSON
• Slightly simpler forms of $.ajax. However, they support
fewer options, so many developers just use $.ajax.
8
 Downloading and Installation
• Download
– http://jquery.com/
• For development, use uncompressed file
– E.g.,
g , jquery-1.4.3.js
jq y j
• For deployment, use compressed file
– E.g., jquery-1.4.3.min.js
– For easier upgrades without changing HTML files
• Rename file to jquery.js (or possibly jquery-1.4.js)
• Installation
– Load jquery.js before any JS files that use jQuery
• That’s it: just a single file to load for core jQuery.
• jQuery UI (covered in later tutorial) is a bit more involved
• Online API and tutorials
9 – http://docs.jquery.com/

Browser Compatibility
• Firefox
– 2.0
2 0 or later
l (vs.
( 1.51 5 or later
l for
f Prototype)
P )
• Internet Explorer
– 6.0 or later (does not work in IE 5.5)
• Chrome
– All (i.e., 1.0 or later)
• Safari
– 3.0 or later (vs. 2.0 or later for Prototype)
• Opera
– 9.0 or later (vs. 9.25 or later for Prototype)
• To check
– Run the test suite at http://jquery.com/test/
10
 Industry Usage
(Job Postings)

11

Industry Usage
(Google Searches)

12
 © 2010 Marty Hall

jQuery Selectors:
Basics
Note: brief intro only. More details in next tutorial section.

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Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.

Selecting DOM Elements

• Idea
– Use
U $("
$("css selector")
l ") to get a set off DOM elements
l
• Then, perform operations on each (see next page)
• Much more detail given in next tutorial section
• Examples
– $("#some-id")
• Return 1-element
1 element set (or empty set) of element with id
• Simplest use, and most common for Ajax (note the “#”!)
– $("p")
• Return all p elements
– $(".blah")
• Return all elements that have class="blah"
– $("li b span.blah")
span blah")
• Return all <span class="blah"> elements that are inside b
elements, that in turn are inside li elements
14
 Manipulating DOM Elements
• Common functions on matched elements
– $("#some-id").val()
$("# id") l()
• Returns value of input element. Used on 1-element sets.
– $("selector").each(function)
• Calls function on each element
element. “this”
this set to element
element.
– $("selector").addClass("name")
• Adds CSS class name to each. Also removeClass, toggleClass
– $(
$("selector")
selector ).hide()
hide()
• Makes invisible (display: none). Also show, fadeOut, fadeIn, etc.
– $("selector").click(function)
• Adds onclick handler
handler. Also change,
change focus,
focus mouseover,
mouseover etc.
etc
– $("selector").html("<tag>some html</tag>")
• Sets the innerHTML of each element. Also append, prepend
• Chaining
– $("a").click(funct1).addClass("name").each(funct2)
15

Example: Randomizing
Background Colors (JavaScript)
function randomizeHeadings() { Call setRandomStyle function on each h3 element
$("h3")
$( h3 ).each(setRandomStyle);
each(setRandomStyle);
$("h3.green").hide("slow");
} Slowly hide every h3 that has CSS style “green”

function setRandomStyle() {
$(this).addClass(randomStyle());
}
Add “red”, “yellow” or “green” CSS names to each
function randomStyle() {
a sty
var styles
es = [
["red",
ed , "yellow",
ye o , "green"];
g ee ];
return(randomElement(styles));
}
( y) {
function randomElement(array)
var index = Math.floor(Math.random()*array.length);
return(array[index]);
16 }
 Example: Randomizing Colors
(JavaScript Continued)
function revertHeadings() {
$("h3
$( h3.green
green")
).show(
show("slow");
slow );
$("h3").removeClass("red").removeClass("yellow")
.removeClass("green");
}
Like smart window.onload. Explained in next section.

$(function() {
$("#b tt 1") li k(
$("#button1").click(randomizeHeadings);
d i H di )
$("#button2").click(revertHeadings);
});
Sets onclick handlers

17

Example: Randomizing Colors

(Style Sheet)
.red { background-color: red }
.yellow
yellow { background-color: yellow }
.green { background-color: green }

Names set by setRandomStyles function

18
 Example: Randomizing Colors
(HTML)
…
<head><title>jQuery Basics</title>
<link rel="stylesheet"
During development, renamed jquery-1.4.3.js to jquery.js and used it
href="./css/styles.css" here. For deployment, replaced it with renamed jquery-1.4.3.min.js
type="text/css"/>
<script src="./scripts/jquery.js"
type="text/javascript"></script>
<
<script
i t src="./scripts/jquery-basics.js"
" / i t /j b i j "
type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

19

Example: Randomizing Colors

(HTML Continued)
…
<h3>Foo bar,
<h3>Foo, bar baz</h3>
<h3>Blah, blah, blah</h3>
<h3>Yadda, yadda, yadda</h3>
<h3>Foo bar,
<h3>Foo, bar baz</h3>
<h3>Blah, blah, blah</h3>
<h3>Yadda, yadda, yadda</h3>
<h3>F
<h3>Foo, b
bar, b </h3>
baz</h3>
The ids to which click
<h3>Blah, blah, blah</h3> handlers are attached.

<h3>Yadda, yadda, yadda</h3>

<input type="button" id="button1"
1
value="Randomize Headings"/>
<input type="button" id="button2"
value="Revert Headings"/>
…
20
 Example: Randomizing Colors
(Results)
After “Randomize Headings”. Some headings turned
green, then gradually disappeared.

When page originally loaded, or after “Revert Headings”

21

Understanding Operations on
Sets of Elements
• Instead of this
function randomizeHeadings() {
$("h3").each(setRandomStyle);
$("h3 green") hide("slow");
$("h3.green").hide("slow");
}
y () {
function setRandomStyle()
$(this).addClass(randomStyle());
}
• Why can’t I simply do this?
function randomizeHeadings() {
$("h3") ddCl ( d St l ())
$("h3").addClass(randomStyle())
$("h3.green").hide("slow");
22
}
 © 2010 Marty Hall

$.ajax: Basics

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Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.

$.ajax: Basic Syntax

• $.ajax(optionsObject)
– Minimal form: $.ajax({url: "address", success: funct});
• Don’t forget the “.”. It is $.ajax(…), not $ajax(…).
– The handler function gets the response text, not the
response object. jQuery guesses if it should be plain text,
XML or JSON from the response type.
XML, type If you want to
enforce that handler gets given type, use dataType option
• Options
p for $.ajax({…})
$ j ({ })
– Almost-always used
• url, success
– Other common options
• cache, data, dataType, error, type, username, password
24
 More on “success” Handler
• Simplest form
– function someHandler(text) { … }
• Note that it gets the response text, not the response object
• And, “text”
text can really be XML or JSON, depending on the
dataType option
• Full form
– function
f i someHandler(text,
dl ( status, request)) { … }
• text
– Response
p data from server
• status
– String describing the status: "success" or "notmodified". Rarely
useful. In error handlers, the status string is more meaningful.
• request
– The raw XMLHttpRequest object.
25

Data-Centric Ajax with and

without Toolkits
• With basic JavaScript
function getRequestObject() {
if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
return(new XMLHttpRequest());
} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
return(new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"));
} else { return(null); }
}
function sendRequest() {
var request = getRequestObject();
request.onreadystatechange =
function() { someFunct(request); };
request.open("GET", "some-url", true);
request.send(null);
}
26
 Data-Centric Ajax with and
without Toolkits
• jQuery (handler passed response text)
$.ajax({url: "address",
success: handlerFunct});
• Prototype (handler passed response object)
new Ajax.Request("address",
{onSuccess: handlerFunct});
• Ext (handler passed response object)
Ext.Ajax.request({url: "address",
success: handlerFunct});
• Dojo (handler passed response text)
dojo.xhrGet({url:
d j h G t({ l " "address",
dd "
load: handlerFunct});
27

$.ajax Example Code:

JavaScript
function showTime1() {
$ ajax({ url: "show
$.ajax({ "show-time.jsp",
time jsp"
success: showAlert,
cache: false });
The cache option is not required,
required but is a convenient option when
} using GET and the same URL (including query data) yields different
responses. This way, you don’t have to send Cache-Control and
Pragma headers from server.

function showAlert(text) {
alert(text);
} This is the response text, not the response object. Use three-argument
version if you need the raw XMLHttpRequest object. Also note that
recent Firefox versions do not let you pass native functions here, so
yyou cannot use alert instead of showAlert for the success p
property.
p y

28
 $.ajax Example Code:
HTML
...
<head><title>jQuery and Ajax</title>...
Ajax</title>
<script src="./scripts/jquery.js"
type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="./scripts/jquery-ajax.js"
/ /
type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>...
<fieldset>
<legend>$.ajax:
g $ j Basics ((Using
g onclick
handler in HTML)</legend>
<input type="button" value="Show Time"
onclick showTime1() />
onclick='showTime1()'/>
</fieldset>

29

$.ajax Example Code:

JSP
It is now <%= new java.util.Date() %>

30
 $.ajax: Results

31

Registering Event Handlers in

JavaScript
• Basic approach
– Previous example set the onclick handler in the HTML.
Although this is common with some Ajax libraries,
jQuery advocates setting it in the JavaScript instead
• Often referred to as “unobtrusive JavaScript”: no explicit
JavaScript anywhere in the HTML page
• jQuery support
– $(function() {…});
• Function runs after the DOM is loaded,, but does not wait
for images, as with window.onload
• Use this approach to set up all event handlers
– $(
$("#some-id")
#some id ).click(someHandler);
click(someHandler);
• Assigns to onclick handler. Handler is passed an Event
object with characteristics that are unified across browsers
32
 Redoing Time Alert: JavaScript
$(function() {
$("#time button 1") click(showTime1);
$("#time-button-1").click(showTime1);
});

function showTime1() {
$.ajax({ url: "show-time.jsp", These two functions
success: showAlert, are unchanged from
previous example.
cache: false });
}

function showAlert(text) {
alert(text);
}
33

Redoing Time Alert: HTML

<fieldset>
<l
<legend>$.ajax:
d>$ j B
Basics
i (U
(Using
i click
li k
function in JavaScript)</legend>
<input type="button" value="Show Time"
id='time-button-1'/>
</fieldset>

34
 Redoing Time Alert: Results

Works exactly the same as previous example.

35

© 2010 Marty Hall

$.ajax:
$ ajax:
Sendingg Data

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Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.
 Overview
• $.ajax({ url: …, success: …, data: …});
– Can
C bbe a S
String,
i in
i which
hi h case it
i is
i sent unchanged.
h d
• On end of URL or in POST data, depending on HTTP type
• String can be built automatically using “serialize” function
– Can be an object, in which case query string gets built out
of property names and URL-encoded property values
• Works identically to “parameters” option in Prototype
• Equivalent examples
– $.ajax({… data: "param1=foo+bar%21&param2=baz"});
– $.ajax({…
$ ajax({ data: { param1: "foo
foo bar!"
bar! , param2: "baz"}});
baz }});
• Note: the val function
– val reads the value of an input
p element
• var text = $("#some-textfield-id").val();
• Works for all input elements, even multiselectable select
37
elements (in which case it returns an array)

Three Alternatives
• Explicit string
– S
Supplyl an explicit
li it string
t i for
f data
d t property.t We
W will
ill hardcode
h d d it
in this example, but it can also be built from data in the page
as with earlier Ajax examples.
• $.ajax({url:
$ ajax({url: …, data: "a=foo&b=bar"
a=foo&b=bar , success: …});
});
• Data object
– Supply an object for data property. Property names become
param names andd URL-encoded
URL d d property values
l become
b
param values. URL-encoding of values is automatic.
• var params = { a: "value 1", b: "another value!"};
• $.ajax({url:
$ ajax({url: …, data: params
params, success: …});
});
• String built by “serialize”
– Give id to the form. Give names (not ids) to input elements.
When you call serialize on form, it builds the same query
string as a browser would on normal form submission.
38
• $.ajax({url: …, data: $("#form-id").serialize(), success: …});
 The “data” Option with Explicit
String: JavaScript
$(function() {
$("#data button 1") click(showParams1);
$("#data-button-1").click(showParams1);
…
});

function showAlert(text) {
alert(text);
}
Same function used in earlier examples.

function showParams1()
() {
$.ajax({ url: "show-params.jsp",
data: "param1=foo&param2=bar",
success: showAlert });
}
The cache option is not used since the same data always results in the same response.

39

The “data” Option with Explicit

String: HTML
…
<fieldset>
<legend>$.ajax: The 'data' Option
(Fixed String)</legend>
<input type="button" value="Show Params"
id="data-button-1"/>
</fieldset>

40
 The “data” Option with Explicit
String: JSP
param1 is ${param.param1},
param2 is ${param
${param.param2}.
param2}

All three examples with the "data" option use this same JSP page.

41

The “data” Option with

Explicit String: Results

42
 The “data” Option with Data Object:
JavaScript
$(function() {
$("#data-button-2")
$( #data button 2 ).click(showParams2);
click(showParams2);
…
});

function showAlert(text) {
alert(text);
}

function showParams2() {
a pa
var params
a s =
{ param1: $("#field1").val(),
param2: $("#field2").val() };
$.ajax({
$ j ({ url: "show-params.jsp",
p j p ,
data: params,
success: showAlert });
43 }

The “data” Option with Data Object:

HTML
…
<fieldset>
<legend>$.ajax: The 'data' Option
(Object)</legend>
param1:
<input type="text" id="field1"/><br/>
param2:
<input type="text" id="field2"/><br/>
<input type="button" value="Show Params"
/
id="data-button-2"/>
</fieldset>

44
 The “data” Option with Data Object:
JSP
param1 is ${param.param1},
param2 is ${param
${param.param2}.
param2}

All three examples with the "data" option use this same JSP page.

45

The “data” Option with Data

Object: Results

46
 The “data” Option with String from
“serialize
serialize ”:: JavaScript
$(function() {
$("#data-button-3")
$( #data button 3 ).click(showParams3);
click(showParams3);
…
});

function showAlert(text) {
alert(text);
}

function showParams3() {
$.ajax({
$.aja ({ u
url:
: "show-params.jsp",
s o pa a s.jsp ,
data: $("#data-form").serialize(),
success: showAlert });
}

47

The “data” Option with String from

“serialize
serialize ”:: HTML
…
<fieldset>
<legend>$.ajax: The 'data' Option
(String Built by "serialize")</legend>
<form id="data-form" action="#">
#
param1:
<input type="text" name="param1"/><br/>
param2:
<input type="text" name="param2"/><br/>
p
<input type="button"
yp value="Show Params"
id="data-button-3"/>
</form>
</fieldset>

The reason for action="#" on the form is that, technically, the action attribute of form is required. So, just to satisfy
48 formal HTML validators, we put in dummy action value. But, of course, the action is not used in any way.
 The “data” Option with String from
“serialize
serialize ”:: JSP
param1 is ${param.param1},
param2 is ${param
${param.param2}.
param2}

All three examples with the "data" option use this same JSP page.

49

The “data” Option with String

from “serialize
serialize ”:: Results

50
 © 2010 Marty Hall

$.ajax:
$ ajax:
Options
p and Shortcuts

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Overview
• Options (almost) always used: url, success
– $.ajax({url: "some-address", success: someFunction});
• success is not strictly required; you might want to just fire
off some data to the server and not display
p y anything
y g
• Common options: example
$.ajax({
url:
l "address",
" dd "
success: successHandlerFunction,
data: { param1: "foo bar", param2: "baz"},
error: errorHandlerFunction,
cache: false,
yp
dataType: "json",
j ,
username: "resig",
password: "scriptaculous-fan" });
52
 Options
Name Description Default
async Should
Sh ld the
th requestt be
b asynchronous?
h ? Use
U synchronous
h requests
t with
ith t
true
caution since they lock up the browser.
beforeSend Function to modify XMLHttpRequest object before it is sent (e.g., None
to set custom headers). The XHR is automatically passed to
function.
cache Is browser permitted to cache the page? Set to false if you use GET true
and you could get different responses back from the same data. (except false if
Equivalent to having the server send Cache
Cache-Control:
Control: no
no-cache
cache and dataType is script
Pragma: no-cache. or json)

complete Function to be called after error or success function is finished. None

contentType Content
Content-Type
Type of data sent to server. Rarely needed. application/
pp
x-www-form-
urlencoded
data Data to send to server (possibly after conversion). Sent in the Empty
appropriate place depending on whether it is GET or POST. Can be
a String or an object. If a String, sent unchanged. If an object,
property names become param names and property values get URL-
encoded and become param values. & and = inserted automatically.
53 If a value is an array, it is serialized with repeated param names.

Options (Continued)
Name Description Default
d t Filt
dataFilter R
Response-data
d t sanitizing
iti i function.
f ti R l used.
Rarely d N
None
dataType The format in which to pass the response to the handler function. html , xml,
Legal values are text, html (same as text except embedded scripts or json
are run),
), xml,, jjson,, jjsonpp ((JSON with Padding),
g), and script
p (makes intelligent
(evaluates the response as JavaScript and returns it as plain text). guess)
error Function to be called if request fails. Function is passed 3 args: the None
XHR object, a string describing the error type, and an optional
exception object.
object Possible values for the second argument are null,
null
"timeout", "error", "notmodified" and "parsererror".
global jQuery lets you set global defaults for various handlers: should they true
be used if set?
ifModified Should the request be considered successful only if the response has false
changed since the last request (based on the Last-Modified header)?
jsonp Override the callback function name in a jsonp request. JSONP is a callback
JSON extension
e tension in which
hich the name of a callback function
f nction is
specified as an input argument of the call itself.
password Username and password to be used in response to HTTP None
54 username authentication request.
 Options (Continued)
Name Description Default
processData Should the value of the “data”
data property,
property if an object,
object be turned into true
a URL-encoded query string?
scriptCharset Forces the request to be interpreted as a certain charset. Only for None
requests with dataType of “jsonp” or “script” and type of “GET”.
success Function to be called if request succeeds. Function passed 3 args: None
the data returned from the server (formatted according to the
dataType property), a string describing the status, and the XHR.
ti
timeout
t Timeoutt in
Ti i milliseconds.
illi d If requestt takes
t k longer,
l the
th error handler
h dl Global timeout,
timeout if
will be called instead of the success handler. set via
$.ajaxSetup
traditional Should data with arrays be serialized in traditional manner false
( h ll ) or recursively
(shallow), i l (deep).
(d )
type The HTTP method to use for the request. “get” and “post” are get
main options, but some browsers support other methods.
url The address to request
request. Should be a relative URL
URL. None
xhr Callback for creating your own custom XMLHttpRequest object. ActiveXObject if
available (IE),
XMLHttpRequest
55 otherwise

Shortcuts for $.ajax:

Equivalent Forms
• $.get
–$$.get("url",
(" l" dataObj,
d Obj someFunct)
F )
– $.ajax({url: "url", data: dataObj, success: someFunct});
• $.post
– $.post("url", dataObj, someFunct)
– $.ajax({url: "url", data: dataObj, success: someFunct,
type: "post"});
post });
• $.getJSON
– $.getJSON("url",
g ( , dataObj,
j, someFunct))
– $.ajax({url: "url", data: dataObj, success: someFunct,
dataType: "json"});
• Note
– get and post take the type as an optional fourth argument
56
 Pros and Cons of Shortcuts
• Advantages of shorthand functions
– Slightly
Sli h l shorter
h andd (arguably)
( bl ) clearer
l
• Disadvantages of shorthand functions
– If you want additional options later,
later you have to change
existing code more drastically
– There is no direct argument for supplying error handler.
Instead you must call ajaxError to set up error handler.
Instead, handler
– If you don’t have data, you have to pass in null. This is
less convenient than just omitting the “data” property.
• $
$.get("url",
t(" l" null,
ll someHandler);
H dl ) vs.
• $.ajax({url: "url", success: someHandler});
– In older jQuery versions, couldn’t use serialize.
• In jQuery 1.3 and earlier, the data cannot be a string. This
means you cannot use the serialize function to
57
automatically build the query string from the form

© 2010 Marty Hall

Simplifying
p y g Insertingg Results
into HTML:
the “load”
load Function

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 load: Basic Syntax
• Basic forms
– $("#result-area-id").load("url");
– $("#result-area-id").load("url", data);
– $("#result-area-id").load("url",
$("#result area id") load("url" data
data, handlerFunction);
• Helper utilities
– val: reading the value of an input element
• var text = $("#some-textfield-id").val();
• Works for all input elements, even multiselectable select
elements (in which case it returns an array)
– Filtering returned HTML
• Add jQuery selectors to the URL. Only elements that
match
t h will
ill b
be iinserted.
t d EE.g., tto iinsertt only
l li elements:
l t
– $("#result-id").load("address li");
59
– Go very light with filtering: use data-centric Ajax instead.

Content-Centric Ajax with and

without Toolkits (Basic JS Only)
function getRequestObject() { ... }

function ajaxResult(address, resultRegion) {

var request = getRequestObject();
request.onreadystatechange =
function() { showResponseText(request,
resultRegion); };
request.open("GET", address, true);
request send(null);
request.send(null);
}

p ( q , resultRegion)
function showResponseText(request, g ) {
if ((request.readyState == 4) &&
(request.status == 200)) {
document.getElementById(resultRegion).innerHTML =
request.responseText;
t T t
}
}
60
 Content-Centric Ajax with and
without Toolkits ($.ajax)
($ ajax)
function ajaxResult(address, resultRegion) {
$ ajax({
$.ajax({
url: address,
success: function(text) {
showResponseText(text resultRegion);
showResponseText(text,
}
});
}

function showResponseText(text, resultRegion) {

$(
$(resultRegion).html(text);
) ( )
}

Note: use the “html” function (as above) to replace the

innerHTML of the element. Use “append” to add to the
end of the innerHTML of the element.

61

Content-Centric Ajax with and

without Toolkits (Libraries)
• jQuery
function ajaxResult(address, resultRegion) {
$(resultRegion).load(address);
}
• Prototype
function ajaxResult(address, resultRegion) {
j p ( g , address);
new Ajax.Updater(resultRegion, );
}
• Dojo
– No explicit
l support for
f content-centric Ajax
• Ext-JS
function ajaxResult(address,
ajaxResult(address resultRegion) {
Ext.get(resultRegion).load({ url: address});
}
62
 load Example: JavaScript
$(function() {
$("#load-button")
$( #load button ).click(insertParams);
click(insertParams);
…
});

function insertParams() {
$("#params-result").load("show-params.jsp",
$("#load-form").serialize());
}

63

load Example: HTML

...
<fieldset>
<legend>$.load: Simplifying HTML Insertion</legend>
<form id="load-form" action="#">
param1:
<input type="text" name="param1"/>
<br/>
param2:
<input type="text" name="param2"/>
<br/>
<input
put type
type="button"
butto value="Show
a ue S o Params"
a a s
id="params-button"/>
<h2 id="params-result"></h2>
</form>
/
</fieldset>

64
 load Example: JSP
param1 is ${param.param1},
param2 is ${param
${param.param2}.
param2}

Unchanged from previous examples

65

load Example: Results

66
 © 2010 Marty Hall

H dli JSON Data

Handling D t

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Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.

Approach
• Server
– Returns JSON object with no extra parens. E.g.:
• { "cto": "Resig ", "ceo": "Gates ", "coo": "Ellison" }
• Code that calls $
$.ajax
ajax
– Specifies dataType of json. E.g.:
• $.ajax({
j ({ url: address, success: handler, dataType:
y "json"
j });
})
• Response handler
– Receives JavaScript data as first argument. No need for
parsing
i or “eval”.
“ l” Must
M bbuild ild HTML from
f result.
l E.g.:
E
• function handler(companyExecutives) {
$("#some-id").html("<b>Chief
( ) ( Technology
gy Officer is " +
companyExecutives.cto + "</b>");
}
68
 Strict JSON
• JSON in practice
– Th
The way you would ld type a data
d structure into
i JavaScript.
J S i
– This is what “eval”, Prototype, and jQuery 1.3 support
• Strict JSON according to json.org
json org
– Subset of JavaScript where
• Object property names must be in double quotes
• Strings
St i are represented
t d with
ith double
d bl quotes
t onlyl ((nott
single quotes)
– This is what jQuery 1.4 supports. Since this is what is
clearl described at json.org,
clearly json org you
o should
sho ld follow
follo this
format when sending JSON from the server.
• MIME type
yp for JSON from server
– RFC 4627 says JSON should have "application/json" type
– No known libraries enforce this
69

JSON Example Code: Core

JavaScript
$(function() { …
$("#nums-button")
$( #nums-button ).click(showNums);
click(showNums);
});

function showNums() {
$.ajax({ url: "show-nums",
dataType: "json",
success: showNumberList
h N b Li t });
})
} Strings

function showNumberList(jsonData)
( ) {
var list = makeList(jsonData.fg, jsonData.bg,
jsonData.fontSize,
jsonData.numbers);
$("#nums-result").html(list); int
Array of doubles
70 }
 JSON Example Code: Auxiliary
JavaScript
function makeList(fg, bg, fontSize, nums) {
return(
listStartTags(fg, bg, fontSize) +
listItems(nums) +
listEndTags());
}

function
f ti li
listStartTags(fg,
tSt tT (f b
bg, f
fontSize)
tSi ) {
return(
"<div style='color:" + fg + "; " +
"background-color:" + bg + "; " +
"font-size:" + fontSize + "px'>\n" +
"<ul>\n");
}

71

JSON Example Code: Auxiliary

JavaScript (Continued)
function listItems(items) {
var result = "";;
for(var i=0; i<items.length; i++) {
result = result + "<li>" + items[i] + "</li>\n";
}
return(result);
}

function listEndTags() {
return("</ul></div>");
}

72
 JSON Example Code: HTML
<fieldset>
<l
<legend>$.ajax:
d>$ j T
Treating
ti R
Response as JSON</l
JSON</legend>
d>
<input type="button" value="Show Nums"
id='nums-button'/>
<div id="nums-result3></div>
</fieldset>

73

JSON Example Code: Servlet

public class ShowNumbers extends HttpServlet {
public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response)
throws ServletException, IOException {
response.setHeader("Cache-Control", "no-cache");
response.setHeader("Pragma",
p ( g , "no-cache");
)
String fg = ColorUtils.randomColor();
request.setAttribute("fg", fg);
String bg = ColorUtils.randomColor();
request.setAttribute("bg",
request.setAttribute( bg , bg);
String fontSize = "" + (10 + ColorUtils.randomInt(30));
request.setAttribute("fontSize", fontSize);
double[] nums =
{ Math.random(),
Math random() Math.random(),
Math random() Math.random()
Math random() };
request.setAttribute("nums", nums);
response.setContentType("application/json");
String outputPage = "/WEB-INF/results/show-nums.jsp";
RequestDispatcher dispatcher =
request.getRequestDispatcher(outputPage);
dispatcher.include(request, response);
74
}}
 JSON Example Code: JSP
{ "fg": "${fg}",
"b " "${bg}",
"bg": "${b }"
"fontSize:" ${fontSize},
"numbers": [ ${nums[0]},
{ [ ]}, ${nums[1]},
{ [ ]}, ${nums[2]}]
{ [ ]}]
}

• Notes
– Quotes around property names. Double, not single, quotes
– Client
Client-side
side code does not need wrap in parens and pass to
“eval”. JSON evaluation handled automatically by jQuery
– Types
• fg and bg: Strings
• fontSize: int
75 • numbers: Array of doubles

JSON Example Code: Auxiliary

Java Code
public class ColorUtils {
private static String[]
p g[] colors = {
"aqua", "black", "blue", "fuchsia", "gray",
"green", "lime", "maroon", "navy", "olive",
"purple", "red", "silver", "teal", "white", "yellow"
};

/** One of the official HTML color names, at random. */

public static String randomColor() {

return(RandomUtils.randomElement(colors));
}

private ColorUtils() {} // Uninstantiatable class}

}

76
 JSON Example Code: Auxiliary
Java Code
public class RandomUtils {
private static Random r = new Random();

public static int randomInt(int range) {

return(r nextInt(range));
return(r.nextInt(range));
}

public static int randomIndex(Object[] array) {

return(randomInt(array.length));
}

public static <T> T randomElement(T[] array) {

return(array[randomIndex(array)]);
}
}

77

JSON Example: Results

78
 © 2010 Marty Hall

Wrap-up

Customized Java EE Training: http://courses.coreservlets.com/

Servlets, JSP, JSF 2.0, Struts, Ajax, GWT 2.0, Spring, Hibernate, SOAP & RESTful Web Services, Java 6.
Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.

“Best” JavaScript
p Libraries
• General JS programming • Traditional Ajax support
– Leaders: Closure,
Closure Prototype – Tie
• Other programming (Java) • Server communication
– Leader (only): GWT – Leader: GWT
• DOM manipulation – 2nd tier:
ti DWR,
DWR JSON-RPC
JSON RPC
– Leader: jQuery • Usage in industry
• Others are copying jQuery
approach and closing gap. – Leader: jQuery
jQ
jQuery released
l d CSS – 2ndd tier:
i Ext-JS,
E JS D
Dojo,
j YUI
YUI,
matching library separately Prototype, Scriptaculous,
(http://sizzlejs.com) GWT
• Rich GUIs – Lowest: Google Closure
– Leaders: Ext-JS, YUI, Dojo • Support for extra-large
– 2nd tier: jQuery UI, GWT, projects
Google Closure
– Leaders: Closure,
Closure GWT
• Familiarity to JS
S developers nd
– 2 tier: Ext-JS, YUI, Dojo
– Lowest: GWT
80 – 2nd-lowest: Google Closure
 Books and References
• jQuery in Action
– by Bear Bibeault, Yehuda Katz, and John Resig
Makes global variable blunder when showing normal Ajax
• jQuery 1.4 Reference Guide
– by Jonathan Chaffer and Karl Swedberg
• http://docs.jquery.com/
– Very complete
– Moderately well organized
– Moderate number of explicit examples
• jQuery UI 1.7
– Byy Dan Wellman
– Looks good, but jQuery UI is changing rapidly (current
version is 1.8), so the online docs are perhaps better
81

Summary
• Assigning event handlers programmatically
$(function() {
$("#some-id").click(someFunction);
});

• General Ajax requests (data-centric Ajax)

$ j ({ url:
$.ajax({ l "relative-address",
l i dd
success: handlerFunction,
data: $("#form-id").serialize(),
d t T
dataType: "j
"json"
" })
});

• Loading result (content-centric Ajax)

$("#result-id").load("relative-address",
$("#form-id").serialize());
82
 © 2010 Marty Hall

Questions?

Customized Java EE Training: http://courses.coreservlets.com/

Servlets, JSP, JSF 2.0, Struts, Ajax, GWT 2.0, Spring, Hibernate, SOAP & RESTful Web Services, Java 6.
Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.