Asynchronous JavaScript Part 4 - AJAX (a quick introduction)

In the previous 3 parts of this series on asynchronous JavaScript, I have talked at length about ADIJ. I suggest starting at part 1 to catch up!

AJAX is a term which has been bastardised to describe any sort of interactive behaviour in a web page. A number of years ago, these interactions were known as dHTML (dynamic HTML). Neither AJAX nor dHTML perfectly describe these types of interactions, but I prefer the latter name.

AJAX to me should mean Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. This is not perfect as it is often the case that XML is not appropriate and sometimes JavaScript, JSON, HTML or even plain text is required instead. Nonetheless, the acronym AJAX still has one definite meaning to me!

For the purposes of this post and the remainder of this series I will use it to mean any form of asynchronous HTTP request whose response will be handled using JavaScript code whatever form that response takes.

AJAX is a very useful and powerful technique invented by Microsoft for Outlook Web Access and later adopted by other browser vendors. When used in a fairly light touch manner, AJAX techniques can give the user a greatly enhanced experience.

AJAX involves sending an HTTP request to a web server and getting a response asynchronously which is handled in JavaScript. This means more data can be requested from the server or passed to the server without the user seeing the web page refresh.

An asynchronous request happens in the background - it allows other operations to be performed whilst the HTTP cycle is completed. You provide a callback function to the AJAX object which is called once the HTTP cycle is complete. I wont go into more detail around implementation and what it all means as there are many excellent tutorials already written. The W3Schools has one of their own.

Using AJAX it is possible do things such as post a form or update the content of a web page without the user going through a page refresh cycle. This makes the web page seem more like an application and can make it better for users to interact with.

Of course, JSquared has an AJAX component which is extremely simple to use yet offers flexibility and power. In part 5 of this series, I will walk through the AJAX object and then discuss how to use it.