Ajax Bible

Chapter 7

Using Server-Side Ajax Frameworks

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Using the Sajax framework
• Using the Xajax framework
• Using the LibAjax framework
• Using the Direct Web Remoting framework
• Using the Ajax Tags framework
• Using the SWATO framework
• Working with Ajax and Ruby on Rails

Besides the client-side Ajax frameworks you've seen in the previous two chapters, there are a number of server-side Ajax frameworks as well, and this chapter is about them.

Server-side Ajax frameworks make life easier for you by helping with both the server-side programming and the client-side programming of an Ajax application. They can generate the JavaScript you'll need in the browser automatically. For example, all you need to do is write your server-side code — the framework does the rest.

Server-side Ajax frameworks are available in many different languages. Perhaps the most popular is the server-side scripting language PHP, so this chapter starts with a discussion of PHP-based server-side frameworks. You'll also see Java-based server-side frameworks as well as Ruby on Rails frameworks in this chapter.

Working with PHP-Based Frameworks

One of the most popular server-side scripting languages is PHP. It is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded in to HTML.

Using Sajax and PHP

Sajax is a server-side Ajax framework that lets you create the JavaScript needed in an Ajax application on the server. All you need is server-side code, which can be in many different programming languages, including ...