AJAX - Start Here

1 Overview

AJAX, short for Asynchronous JavaScript And XML, is a group of interrelated Web development techniques used on the client-side (in the browser) to create asynchronous Web applications.

With Ajax, Web applications can send data to and retrieve from a server asynchronously (in the background) without interfering with the display and behaviour of the existing page. Data can be retrieved using the XMLHttpRequest object. Despite the name, the use of XML is not required; JSON is often used instead (see AJAJ), and the requests do not need to be asynchronous.

Ajax is not a single technology, but a group of technologies. HTML and CSS can be used in combination to mark up and style information. The DOM is accessed with JavaScript to dynamically display – and allow the user to interact with – the information presented. JavaScript and the XMLHttpRequest object provide a method for exchanging data asynchronously between browser and server to avoid full page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_%28programming%29

Basically AJAX allows a web page to retrieve information that was not supplied when the page was first drawn. There are many uses for this.

• It can help pages remain a lot smaller as not all of the data has to be on the page, when it first loads.
• It can be used to retrieve real time information for various uses
• It can be used to store data without having to leave the current page.

Pure AJAX can be used in bxp software (bxp) however it can be long and complicated to build. To speed things up bxp has a number of pre-built functions already integrated with the security of bxp to allow these functions to work. These functions are only currently available in the bxp forms.

2 Functions Available (Reference Information)

As part of the functionality there are a number of predefined functions. These are set in aryAjax_Settings[16]

As the functions are detailed, please use the links where available for further details.

2.1 Listing (Displays)

Function	Link	Description
Table	AJAX_-_Function_-_Table	Draws a listing of records from another form facilitating passed parameters. e.g. List contacts in a table in company form.
LiveSearch	AJAX_-_Function_-_LiveSearch	The ability to put a single row of data with the ability to put a custom function on the button.
LiveSearchTable	AJAX_-_Function_-_Live_Search_Table	An extension of the LiveSearch function but displays the data in a table format, rather than one string.
LiveSearchKeyStatData	AJAX_-_Function_-_LiveSearchKeyStatData	Return of data in a delimited string suitable for use in the KeyStats module.

2.2 Lookup functions

Function	Link	Description
Append	AJAX_-_Function_-_Append	Lookup data from a form and append it to data in a field in the current form
Insert	AJAX_-_Function_-_Insert	Lookup data from a form and insert it into a field in the current form
InsertCount	AJAX_-_Function_-_InsertCount	Lookup a summative count of records from a form and insert the counted amount into a field in the current form
Populate	AJAX_-_Function_-_Populate	Wipes a drop down list then populates the contents of the drop down list with values from another form. Text and value of the drop down list will be the same.
Populate_AltList	AJAX_-_Function_-_Populate_AltList	Wipes a drop down list then populates the contents of the drop down list with values from another form. Text and value of the drop down list can be populated with different values.
PopulateNoClear	AJAX_-_Function_-_PopulateNoClear	Adds to the contents of a drop down list with values from another form. Text and value of the drop down list will be the same.
PopulateNoClear_AltList	AJAX_-_Function_-_PopulateNoClear_AltList	Adds to the contents of a drop down list with values from another form. Text and value of the drop down list can be populated with different values.

2.3 Record Management

Function	Link	Description
dbDeleteRecord	AJAX_-_Function_-_dbDeleteRecord	To allow the deletion of a CDA record from another form.
dbInsertRecord	AJAX_-_Function_-_dbInsertRecord	To allow the insertion of a CDA record into another form.
dbUpdateRecord	AJAX_-_Function_-_dbUpdateRecord	To allow the update of a CDA record in another form.

3 How it works

1. When you log into bxp and start a form, the page will draw based on the Form (Web Page is built on Form 1).
2. As part of the code of the page you can include AJAX functionality into the form, done through the Advanced Settings > JavaScript onLoad. (AJAX is drawn into the page.)
3. When the page is executed in the clients browser, the AJAX can be activated and it works through the BEAPI to access data in any number of forms.

4 Array of Parameters

A full listing is available here AJAX_-_Full_Array_of_Paramters

4.1 Solutions

It is possible to build entire solutions using AJAX

• JavaScript_Self-Referencing_Campaigns

• JavaScript_-_Interactive_Record_Locking

• Java_Script_Hospital_Red_Green

One useful concept that AJAX can facilitate is Centralised Listing Centralised_Listing

4.2 Security

This is further detailed here AJAX_-_Security_engine

4.3 Error messages and feedback

For a more indepth discussion on this area AJAX_-_Error_messages_and_troubleshooting