Ajax Patterns and Best Practic

You probably picked up this book because of the buzzwords Ajax, REST, and patterns. You willprobably read this introducTIon and skim through the pages. But I want to stop you from skimmingthrough the pages, at least for a moment. I want you to read this introducTIon and then decidewhether you want to buy the book.Here are the things you need to know about Ajax:• Ajax is an acronym, and the ramificaTIons of the acronym are immense.• Ajax is not just about a fat client, JavaScript, XML, or asynchronous behavior, but aboutdeveloping the next generaTIon of web applications.• We are at the beginning of building the next generation of web applications.You are still reading, and that means I still have your interest, which is a good thing. So nowlet me tell you what this book is about:• Using Ajax is the act of creating a web application that implies using REST, that impliesusing HTTP, and that implies using the Internet. The patterns of this book illustrate howJavaScript can be used to control the XMLHttpRequest object to make XMLHttpRequest callsthat process XML or HTML.• This book for the server side focuses on using Java and C# .NET. The patterns can be usedwith Python or Ruby on Rails. I focus on Java and C# because at the time of this writing Ifeel that most developers are using them. In the next edition of this book, I want to extendthe materials to include Python and Ruby on Rails examples, because I happen to be anavid Python programmer.• The patterns in this book can be used in other contexts, such as Flex (Flash Ajax). Forexample, the Permutations pattern can be used to generate Flex content.Good, you’re still reading and haven’t closed the book. That means you are still interestedand probably willing to spend a few more moments. Here is what I suggest: finish reading theIntroduction because it includes a road map of the patterns. Skim Chapter 1 to get an idea ofwhat Ajax does and is. Then skim the patterns and focus on reading the “Motivation” and“Architecture” sections. ■CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Ajax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1■CHAPTER 2 The Nuts and Bolts of Ajax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19■CHAPTER 3 Content Chunking Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53■CHAPTER 4 Cache Controller Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79■CHAPTER 5 Permutations Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111■CHAPTER 6 Decoupled Navigation Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153■CHAPTER 7 Representation Morphing Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197■CHAPTER 8 Persistent Communications Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225■CHAPTER 9 State Navigation Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265■CHAPTER 10 Infinite Data Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303■CHAPTER 11 REST-Based Model View Controller Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333