Add some Ajax to your i.LON webpages - but I already did!

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.