Introduction 1
Part I Ajax Boot Camp
1 Ajax and a Brave New World Wide Web 9
2 Inside an Ajax Application 25
Part II Building Real-World Ajax Applications
3 Dynamically Loading Web Data: An XML E-Book Viewer 49
4 Using Ajax to Dynamically Populate Lists: A Stock Picker 75
5 Tapping into RSS News Feeds 97
6 Reading the User's Mind with Auto-Complete 121
7 Creating Responsive GUIs with Real-Time Validation 139
8 A Killer Interface for Image Viewing 159
9 Presenting Information with Slick Popups 171
10 Forecasting the Weather with Ajax 189
11 Building an Ajax Shipping Calculator 205
12 Adding an Ajax-Powered Rating System to Your Site 231
Part III Appendices
Appendix A The Past, Present, and Future of Ajax 257
Appendix B A Quick and Dirty XMLHttpRequest Reference 261
Appendix C Using the Live Linux CD 271
In the spirit of hitting the ground running with real-world examples, the first part of the book relies on a single chapter to lay the groundwork for what is to come in the form of a quick and dirty AJAX primer. A few popular AJAX applications are presented for context, and then the underlying technologies that make AJAX possible are briefly explained. Finally, the applications covered in the remainder of the book are presented to help spark the reader to dive into the meat of the topic. The second part of the book is where everything interesting takes place. In no particular order, except possibly in increasing complexity, nine distinct AJAX examples are presented chapter-by-chapter. Each example serves as a stand-alone application or application enhancement, and can be easily customized and reused with minimal effort on the part of the reader. Each chapter is organized with a similar structure to help build familiarity as the projects unfold: a challenge followed by a design, and then culminating in a construction process and test. Following each application test there is also an "Extreme AJAX Makeover" section that lays out possible enhancements the reader can make to the example code to make it even more useful and powerful.
Michael Morrison is a writer, developer, toy inventor, and author of a variety of books covering topics such as Java, Web scripting, game development, and mobile devices. Some of Michael’s notable writing projects include JavaScript Bible, 6th Edition (Wiley, 2006), Teach Yourself HTML and CSS in 24 Hours, 7th Edition (Sams Publishing, 2005), Beginning Mobile Phone Game Programming (Sams Publishing, 2004), and Java Unleashed (Sams Publishing, 1997). Michael is the instructor of several Web-based courses, including DigitalThink’s Introduction to Java 2 series, JavaBeans for Programmers series, and Win32 Programming series (www.digitalthink.com). In addition to his primary profession as a writer and technical consultant, Michael is the founder of Stalefish Labs (www.stalefishlabs.com), an entertainment company specializing in games, toys, and interactive media. When not glued to his computer, skateboarding, playing hockey, or watching movies with his wife, Masheed, Michael enjoys hanging out by his koi pond.
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