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Ajax is a very hot topic on the web. It seems almost every Internet
product has Ajax enabled or Ajax powered. A friend of mine asked me about
adding some Ajax to a project. However, after working on this a bit I
realized we were actually talking about two different things. Yes, you
can add Ajax to your i.LON SmartServer applications; most applications already
use a Ajax method to update and display data. But my friend really wanted
some exciting visual effects and in the next several weeks, we will be covering
this topic. I hope to cover how to add those cool sliding panels, picture
zooms, dynamic Flash graphics, and more. But before we go down this road,
I want to cover what is this Ajax thing and what is not.
Ajax is a buzzword that started to be used several years ago. Things have
gotten a little more confusing as the term started to spread in general
use. In the general public, now seems as if just about anything moves or
changes on a web page, it is the work of Ajax. However, this is not
really the case. Most the time if you see a cool moving graphic or
something similar, it is a JavaScript framework that did that. Nor is
there really an Ajax product from some company that you have to have to make it
work. What term Ajax attempts to describe is a method of using JavaScript and
XML to create interaction within web pages (see the defination at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_(programming)).
Sort of like when SOAP came to the web. It made for a lot of confusion.
So to repeat, Ajax really refers to the exchange of data from the client (in
our case, the browser) and the server. It is the little updates of
information. For example, say I have a page that displays the temperature
outside my office. As the day progresses, the temperature will rise and
fall. Now, if a loaded that page in the morning it might say it was 32
degrees (F). And if I checked the same page without refreshing it (basically
not reloading it), I would see the temperature was the same. Now an Ajax
enabled page would actually update the information as changes were available
for the value of the outside temperature without forcing a reload of the
page. Behind the scenes, the client (the browser) is being updated from
the server using Ajax.
So, there you have it. The i.LON SmartServer already does Ajax and its
older cousins have been doing it for years. Isn't that great? Now, the
next question you might be asking is, "Ok, I know what Ajax is. But still,
how do I add some cool effects to my pages?"
I have some good and bad news about that. The good news is, that yes
you can add some really cool effects to your pages. The bad news is, it
will have to wait till next time.