Who here can code AJAX?

[Trax]

can you? email me with some details on you and your work
thx

[djscrib]

if you have any specific ajax questions i might be able to help, i'm bored and can't sleep so might has well do something productive in this thread.

[Trax]

i can code a little bit php which is it
i have no questions as I got zero clue
i need someone able to code for me
my current guy isn't ajax compliant

[djscrib]

Here's the thing about AJAX, it's not a language, it's a fancy acronym for shit you can do if you know javascript.

If you know javascript and XML, then all you do is have to learn the syntax for the XMLHttpRequest object and you're off to the races. On the server side, make special PHP scripts that output xml instead of formatted html.

So long story short, if your guy is any good at javascript/dhtml he can figure out Ajax in a couple days. If not, consider a new guy.

[Trax]

awesome information
thanks a lot for taking the time to enlighten me
didnt know that
appreciated

[djscrib]

The other thing to consider is what do you want to use Ajax for specifically and spec that out first. 90% of ajax implementations are someone who just wanted to use it for something and it winds up breaking the back button, making the UI worse, and not working for half of visitors.

a couple common uses though

extended information via a rollover popup(see netflix)

form submission without changing pages (gmail)

for any adult site the rollover popup is probably the most useful. For example popping up a full size image of a thumbnail if the person hovers over it.

[Trax]

hehe
got me there
i like your way of thinking
I might hit you up on ICQ in the near future and pay you back in some way

[djscrib]

awesome information
thanks a lot for taking the time to enlighten me
didnt know that
appreciated

Ok let's try this. Below code will call a server script if the user hovers over a thumbnail image for longer than .5 seconds. If the server script returns data in the format

<data>
<description>My Description</description>
<thumbnail>http://www.image.com/image.jpg</thumbnail>
</data>

the code will parse this xml, and then display a floating popup window
with the description text and the new image.

The code is slightly pseudo-code.

--How to do a rollover poup.

<div id="popup" style="position:absolute;visibilitydden;">
<img id="popup_img">
</div>

That is a div element that is intially invisible


<span onMouseOver="ShowDesc();" onMouseOut="ClearDesc();">
<img src="thumbnail">
</span>

This is a thumbnail image, if the user mouses over it we want to pop up the full size picture and description if they hover the mouse for more than .5 seconds.

<script>
var popTimer = null;

//kill the timer to cancel any pending popup events
function ClearDesc()
{
window.clearTimeout(popTimer);
}

//call the function ShowThumb in .5 seconds, if the user
//does a mouseout it effectively kills the timer. This mimics a
//"hover" event so that you don't do a popup if the user is flicking
//his mouse over the thumbnail
function ShowDesc()
{
popTimer = window.setTimeout("DownloadThumb();",500);
}

var xmlRequest = null;//our xml http request object
function DownloadThumb()
{
//create the xml object, set the callback, send it
xmlRequest = new ActiveXObject("XMLHTTPRequest");
xmlHttp.onreadystatechange = stateChangeHandler;
xmlHttp.open("GET","get_info.php?id=45",true);
xmlHttp.send();
}

//this function is called when the http request returns
function stateChangeHandler()
{
//readyState of 4 or 'complete' represents that data has been returned
if (xmlHttp.readyState hahahaha 4 || xmlHttp.readyState hahahaha 'complete'){
//Gather the results from the callback
//parse the xml
if(xmlHttp.status hahahaha 200)
{
try
{
var desc = xmlHttp.responseText;
//var root = desc.documentElement;

var parser = xmlHttp.responseXML;
var parser = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
var loaded = parser.loadXML(desc);
var desc = parser.getElementsByTagName("Description")[0].firstChild.data;
var thumb = parser.getElementsByTagName("Thumbnail")[0].firstChild.data;

popup.innerText = desc;

popup_img.src = thumb;
}
catch(e)
{
}
}
}
}
</script>

[Trax]

youre too good for gfy
run while you can lol

[Theo]

lol get out of here!

[djscrib]

You're webmasters for christ sake doesn't anyone code?

Or are your web programmers all chained to rusty desks in the basement pecking away feverishly at the keyboard fearful of another lashing.

Hrm, actually that's not a bad idea for my team now that I think about it.

[Trax]

I am a professional html coder

[studiocritic]

You're webmasters for christ sake doesn't anyone code?

Or are your web programmers all chained to rusty desks in the basement pecking away feverishly at the keyboard fearful of another lashing.

Hrm, actually that's not a bad idea for my team now that I think about it.

there's about 3-4 of us here on gfy who know php thoroughly. including you and i. my usage of xmlhttp has been limited, but i've found some pretty unique behind the scenes uses for it.