Re: AJAX pains

Ruby
1

Hi David,

Are you sure you’re in the right group? The reason I ask is because
you mention lots of things that aren’t ruby. AJAX, J2EE, etc…

If it’s Ruby on Rails you’re looking for, please try the Rails
mailing list… visit the Rails mailing list page at:

 http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails

If it’s not Rails you’re looking for, could you be more specific?

Sincerely,
Steve

2

Stephen W. wrote:

If it’s not Rails you’re looking for, could you be more specific?

Sincerely,
Steve

Whence the [OT] tag, this one was a shot in the blind hoping to avoid
stumbling blindly over Google results and pouring over documentation and
tiresome formal specifications by asking a community that has already
proven to be helpful. I did toy with the AJAX support in Rails, and I
wondered if by any weird twist of chance anyone can recommend from
experience a similarly well-integrated solution for a J2EE backend,
which will be the case in the project mentioned. (Alas.)

David V.

3

On Tuesday 10 January 2006 01:17 pm, David V. wrote:

experience a similarly well-integrated solution for a J2EE backend,
which will be the case in the project mentioned. (Alas.)

David V.

Have you tried doing an ultra-simple ajax yet? Maybe the simplest
possible
ajax program could work, and then you could increment from there.

I plan on doing a trivial Ajax program sometime this week, and I’ll let
you
know what I find out.

SteveT

4

Steve L. wrote:

Have you tried doing an ultra-simple ajax yet? Maybe the simplest possible
ajax program could work, and then you could increment from there.

I plan on doing a trivial Ajax program sometime this week, and I’ll let you
know what I find out.

AJAX tends to be fairly simple; the hard part is tasteful application.

James

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5

Steve L. wrote:

I went through some tutorials, but I believe I’ll need some
production-quality backing for the project. The schedule of it is pretty
thin stretched already, everyone else on the team has even less AJAX
experience than I do, and the requirement to implement a web-deployed
rich client is pretty much a given. That’s why I’d like to avoid
succumbing to the “Not Invented Here” syndrome and try to make heavy use
of third-party code for this - the situation doesn’t quite provide for
the development team to learn to hand-code AJAX patterns in the time
given.

David V.

6

James B. wrote:

AJAX tends to be fairly simple; the hard part is tasteful application.

The Pragmatic Programmers have a decent book on AJAX.

–Steve

7

James B. wrote:

AJAX tends to be fairly simple; the hard part is tasteful application.

James

I expect most of the application to be relatively simple callbacks to
pan webcams, or push announcements from the server side. Why I’m aiming
for a heavier AJAX setup is that besides a web client, the project also
includes one or several rich clients, and I’m hoping to at least share
basic design between those two instead of modelling the same interface
twice for two UI paradigms, and in the ideal case using some declarative
UI specifications and generating the interface from those.

David V.

8

On Tuesday 10 January 2006 11:15 pm, David V. wrote:

proven to be helpful. I did toy with the AJAX support in Rails, and I
you know what I find out.
the development team to learn to hand-code AJAX patterns in the time given.

David V.

Hi David,

I’m not sure what you’re saying above. Do you consider Rails
production-quality backing? Tonight I did the Agile Rails Ajax that
replaces
a

with a different view. Then I used that same technique to
implement
two Fibbonacci Number Generators – one that increments when you refresh
the
page, and the other that increments on the Ajax call. That proved
conclusively that Ajax was not refreshing the whole web page. The
process of
making that app was almost trivial, partially because I started it by
generating the controller and both views, and then just modified what
had
already been made.

In the next few days I want to try to make a form with field level
validation
instead of form level validation.

There are lots of other Ajax techniques I’ll be looking at this week.

Thanks

SteveT

Steve L.

[email protected]

9

Stephen W. wrote:

James B. wrote:

AJAX tends to be fairly simple; the hard part is tasteful application.

The Pragmatic Programmers have a decent book on AJAX.

–Steve

I’ve already assigned the sample chapters available online as obligatory
reading - pretty much the only comprehensive reading on the topic that
goes beyond the level of simple introductions or code snippets. I’m
hoping into manipulating the Powers that Be into funding a copy or two
from the project budget.

10

On Tuesday 10 January 2006 11:25 pm, David V. wrote:

David V.

Hi David,

If you haven’t already, you should sign up for the Rails list. Rails is
a very
broad subject, and a few days on that list gives you a broad overview.
The
Rails list is very enthusiastic and helpful.

Here’s the signup details:

http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails

I like being on the Ruby-Talk list for the Ruby language, and the Rails
list
for Rails.

HTH

SteveT

Steve L.

[email protected]

11

Thank you very much, but I don’t need a Rails or AJAX sales pitch, I
need relevant advice on how I could make a J2EE server setup. We’ve
Got Managers sigh, and I don’t really see my persuasive abilities
good enough to push Rails as the server-side environment, however I’d
-personally- prefer that. (Mind you, not as a team member, becase none
of the other team members have ANY Ruby skills, as opposed to heavy
Java schooling the company provides).

Ok, you’re asking for AJAX for Java/J2EE?

Have you looked at DWR? It’s a servlet (standard Java) that manages a
lot of the AJAX complexity for you. It’s nicely integrated with Spring
and I’ve used it to do the standard AJAX things (list boxes fills based
on check boxes or other selections etc).

I’d recommend looking at it at the very least, and I’m surprised that
you posted here when the top result on Google for Java AJAX is DWR -
(although I guess you wanted personal opinions)

Kev

12

Kev J. wrote:

Ok, you’re asking for AJAX for Java/J2EE?
Kev

Quite so, I need some other assurance than a version number that the
tool is indeed production quality, rock-stable, and all the other things
project leaders will want to hear from me when it comes to pushing it
into the project. Thanks

David V.

13

Steve L. wrote:

wondered if by any weird twist of chance anyone can recommend from
you know what I find out.
of third-party code for this - the situation doesn’t quite provide for
a

with a different view. Then I used that same technique to implement
There are lots of other Ajax techniques I’ll be looking at this week.

Thank you very much, but I don’t need a Rails or AJAX sales pitch, I
need relevant advice on how I could make a J2EE server setup. We’ve Got
Managers sigh, and I don’t really see my persuasive abilities good
enough to push Rails as the server-side environment, however I’d
-personally- prefer that. (Mind you, not as a team member, becase none
of the other team members have ANY Ruby skills, as opposed to heavy Java
schooling the company provides).

David V.