Ajax and website

does the book cover both Java and Windows platform?

is it possible to use Ajax in IIS?

I'm thinking to build simple/mostly static website with XML files as data source (no database) and rendering them to HTML using XSLT? is Ajax make things easier?

thanks again
anthony

Hi Anthony

On the server-side, the book covers the .NET framework and PHP. It doesn't deal with Java.

Yes, it's possible to use Ajax on IIS. Ajax runs on the client although it can access server-side pages from any source.

If you use XML files as the data source, you can use either DOM scripting or the Ajax approach to access the contents and apply transormations. Ajax is an alternative to DOM scripting and in your scenario, I think they'd both be fairly equivalent.

Cheers

Sas Jacobs

Hi Sas,

are you saying that I can build website (with XML data and Ajax/DOM only) without using any programming languages?

thanks for clarifying

Hi,
I think if your web site use a database for data storing, you should you a server side programming language (like PHP, JSP...). Because AJAX use Java Script (JS), and JS is a client side language, your users can see your code, and if your code contain sensitive information, you know the result . In summary, AJAX just help you make your site more repsonsive, that all! Please correct me if I'm wrong, Sas.

Thanks Dang.
The reason I use XML as data files because it will be easy for non-IT person to update the data, and I guess there is free XML editor out there (I hope).

because the server doesn't support java, I will use asp.net for form processing for example.

thanks

Anthony

It depends how tightly you define programming languages! You'll need to use some type of scripting language on the client to process the contents of the XML document. This is usually JavaScript which some people don't consider a programming language.

You'll need a server-side language as well if you need to access contents from a database or apply a server-side transformation before the contents are loaded into the browser. VB.NET is a one of the .NET server-side languages.

I use XMLSpy to edit my XML documents. It's free and works really well. If you have Office 2003 you can also use it to generate XML really easily.

Does that help?

Sas Jacobs

a bit confuse now :roll:

"apply a server-side transformation before the contents are loaded into the browser."

is it possible to get/load XML directly (as data files that I mentioned before) from the server using JavaScript/Ajax and then apply xslt?

I used asp and servlet a bit before but for this simple website (non-profit organisation), I try as "simple" as possible - no database, no asp/java.

"Office 2003 you can also use it to generate XML really easily."
but the last time I try it, the XML produced is not easy to parse, I think.
does it can be render (some elements) to HTML?

Sorry to confuse you.

You can apply XSLT stylesheet transformations either on the server using a server side language or on the client using JavaScript.

Yes, you can load XML using the Ajax approach. This uses the XMLHttpRequest object with JavaScript. The JS can also apply your XSLT stylesheet.

Office 2003 creates whatever XML content you tell it to. Its native XML vocabularies are complicated but you can apply either an XML schema or an XSLT stylesheet to generate your own content. This includes XHTML.

Cheers

Sas Jacobs