Ajax Construction Kit

This is the eBook version of the printed book.

Supercharge Your Sites with Ajax Right Now...No Scripting Expertise Needed!

You've heard how great Ajax is--how it can help make your Web sites more usable, more interactive, more responsive, more successful. Ajax Construction Kit lets you put Ajax to work right now, even if you've never written a script! Just learn a few essentials, check out a few examples, then run the live CD and discover all the plug-and-play code you need to hit the ground running. Ajax Construction Kit's built-in applications work right out of the box. And with easy guidance from Michael Morrison, you'll gradually deepen your understanding--learn how to customize, extend, and reuse these applications--and even build skills for creating new ones. Walk away an expert.



Use Ajax Construction Kit's ten complete applications to



Dynamically load Web data
Dynamically populate lists
Tap into RSS news feeds
Use AutoComplete to reduce input errors
Create more responsive GUIs with real-time validation
Build a killer interface for viewing images
Present information or advertising with slick pop-ups
Provide an up-to-the-minute weather forecast
Build an e-commerce product shipping calculator
Add ratings tools to your site

And more...



CD-ROM Includes



Your complete Ajax projects: Run the Ajax projects (HTML, JavaScript, and PHP source code) that are included on the CD from your Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux system.
Your complete Ajax environment: Boot the CD as an Ubuntu Linux live CD to immediately begin working with the Ajax projects (no setup required).
Ready-to-run tools on the CD include the XAMPP Web server, Firefox Web browser, and Bluefish HTML editor.

System Requirements:



Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac (OS X or higher)
Processor: Intel-based processor (Pentium or higher)
Memory: 128 MB RAM or more
Disk space: None required; USB thumb drive optional to store data
Optical drive: CD reader

Negus Live Linux Series

Your Practical, Hands-On Guides to Getting Real Results with Free Software

Add the free software and examples from the book's CD to your Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux system to follow along with the projects described in the book. Or boot the CD directly to use a complete, prepackaged set of free software tools to play, display, and modify those projects. Start as a novice, by trying out examples...and finish with professional Ajax-enabled Web content!



SERIES EDITOR CHRISTOPHER NEGUS is the bestselling author of the Red Hat Linux Bible series, Linux Toys series, and this series's flagship title, Linux Live CDs.





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 Kill