Reveals how Ajax patterns can vastly improve your web development projects. This work investigates how others have successfully dealt with conflicting design principles, and then relaying that information directly to you.

"Ajax Design Patterns" will also get you up to speed with core Ajax technologies, such as XMLHttpRequest, the DOM, and JSON. Technical discussions are followed by code examples so you can see for yourself just what - is and isn't - possible with Ajax. This handy reference will help you to produce high-quality Ajax architectures, streamline web application performance, and improve the user experience.

Preface

Part One. Introduction

1. Introducing Ajax

Ajax and the Usable Web

The Rise of Ajax

Ajaxifying the Web: The Story of Portals

Webifying the Desktop: The Story of Office Applications

Characteristics of Ajax Applications

The Ajax Technologies

Anatomy of a Server Call

Ajax Trends

Conclusions
2. A Pattern-Led Tutorial

Ajax Technologies in a Blink

Ajaxifying a Web App: One Pattern at a Time

Projects and Katas

Conclusions

3. Ajax Design: Principles and Patterns

Desirable Attributes of Ajax Applications

Designing for Ajax

Ajax Patterns Overview

Anatomy of a Pattern

Ajax Patterns Demos

Conclusions

Part Two. Foundational Technology Patterns
4. Ajax App

Ajax App

5. Display Manipulation

Display Morphing

Page Rearrangement

6. Web Remoting

Web Service

XMLHttpRequest Call

IFrame Call

HTTP Streaming

On-Demand JavaScript

7. Dynamic Behavior

User Action

Scheduling
8. Extended Technologies

Richer Plugin

Part Three. Programming Patterns

9. Web Services

RESTful Service

RPC Service

Ajax Stub

HTML Message

Plain-Text Message

XML Message

JSON Message
10. Browser-Server Dialogue

Call Tracking

Periodic Refresh

Submission Throttling

Explicit Submission

Distributed Events

Cross-Domain Proxy

11. DOM Population

XML Data Island

Browser-Side XSLT

Browser-Side Templating
12. Code Generation and Reuse

Server-Side Code Generation

Cross-Browser Component

13. Performance Optimization



Browser-Side Cache

Predictive Fetch

Guesstimate

Multi-Stage Download

Fat Client

Part Four. Functionality and Usability Patterns

14. Widgets

Slider

Progress Indicator

Drilldown

Data Grid

Rich Text Editor

Suggestion

Live Search

Live Command-Line

Live Form
15. Page Architecture

Drag-And-Drop

Sprite

Popup

Malleable Content

Microlink

Portlet

Status Area

Update Control

Virtual Workspace
16. Visual Effects

One-Second Spotlight

One-Second Mutation

One-Second Motion

Highlight

17. Functionality

Lazy Registration

Direct Login

Host-Proof Hosting

Timeout

Heartbeat

Unique URLs

Part Five. Development Patterns
18. Diagnosis

Logging

Debugging

DOM Inspection

Traffic Sniffing

19. Testing

Simulation Service

Browser-Side Test

Service Test

System Test

Part Six. Appendixes
A. Ajax Frameworks and Libraries

B. Setting Up the Code Examples
C. Patterns and Pattern Languages

D. References

index