4:15pm Joe Rinehart - Make AJAX Easy with Model-Glue

Joe gave a good Intro to Ajax Technology and began by pointing out that most people don't use XML to transfer data from server to client, but use JSON or HTML instead.

The XMLHttpRequest object is used to make the request to the server. Many frameworks can be used to hide the complexity of these calls.

Joe likes the Prototype framework which is very simple to use. A single call can say get this URL and stick the results in a div tag.

For the example application he also used script.aculo.us, an extension to prototype, which provides some additional JS features.

He demonstrated how to create an event handler that deletes a record,
Include the AJAX and JS frame works,
Fade the deleted row,
You should also give some clues to the user that AJAX is being used.

Firebug was used to show the traffic between the Firefox browser and the server.