[AccessD] Ajax and Atlas with XML

Jim Lawrence accessd at shaw.ca
Tue Aug 16 17:39:15 CDT 2005


Hi Marty:

Just a note the Server page update sample. 

It initially shows the following line: This is some sample data. It is the
default data for this web page. View XML data.

.. and when clicking on the link: View XML data

.. the line then displays: This is some sample data. It is stored in an XML
file and retrieved by JavaScript.

.. and that is all. Is there supposed to be more displayed?

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of MartyConnelly
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 12:50 PM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: [AccessD] Ajax and Atlas with XML

If looking for xml info starter sites.

http://www.xml.org
http://www.xml.com
A vb oriented site was once vbxml.com
http://www.topxml.com

Try to buy XML books published in last 3 years otherwise
you wont get latest in XSLT and  XQuery. Old books maybe based on old 
XSL patterns
which might prove confusing.


Now here is the latest buzz in XML development with AJAX.

In computer programming, AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is a 
method of building interactive applications for the Web that process 
user requests immediately.Ajax allows content on Web pages to update 
immediately when a user performs an action, unlike an HTTP request, 
during which users must wait for a whole new page to load. For example, 
a weather forecasting site could display local conditions on one side of 
the page without delay after a user types in a zip code.
Google Map works this way. ATLAS is a downloadable javascript engine 
Microsoft  is supposed to bring out in September at some convention.

How difficult is this stuff well it is not rocket science. But an 
amalgam of 4 or 5 techniques. Ajax combines several programming tools 
including JavaScript, dynamic HTML (DHTML), Extensible Markup Language 
(XML), cascading style sheets (CSS), the Document Object Model (DOM), 
and the Microsoft object, XMLHttpRequest. After that you can use Web 
Services to grab the xml data. You could modify javascript to VBA too 
for use in Access.

Some sites where you can grab javascript source and  examples of Ajax or 
download them

http://www.clearnova.com/ajax/index.html
http://developer.apple.com/internet/webcontent/XMLHttpRequestExample/example
.html

Articles
Dynamic HTML and xmlhttpRequest object
http://developer.apple.com/internet/webcontent/xmlhttpreq.html

Jesse Garrett  What is Ajax?  (The guy that gave it the name)
http://www.adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000385.php


Here is a elementary ajax sample just place the two files on your web 
server and run with java script enabled
through your favourite browser.

You can also run from hard disk directly in Netscape 7.0 but IE locally 
has security stops and uses file: protocol and not http: protocol so 
wont run correctly
without a lot of  fiddling with settings. Rather than use a object; 
might use document.innerhtml to get around for local use.

On my server these two files  
http://www5.brinkster.com/mconnelly/ajax/ajax.html

Save this file as UTF-8 not ANSI   ajax.html

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
  "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html lang="en" dir="ltr">
  <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
    <title>Developing Web Applications with Ajax - Example</title>
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
function ajaxRead(file){
  var xmlObj = null;
  if(window.XMLHttpRequest){
      xmlObj = new XMLHttpRequest();
  } else if(window.ActiveXObject){
      xmlObj = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
  } else {
      return;
  }
  xmlObj.onreadystatechange = function(){
    if(xmlObj.readyState == 4){
       updateObj('xmlObj', 
xmlObj.responseXML.getElementsByTagName('data')[0].firstChild.data);
     }
    }
    xmlObj.open ('GET', file, true);
    xmlObj.send ('');
  }
  function updateObj(obj, data){
   document.getElementById(obj).firstChild.data = data;
  }
  //--></script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Developing Web Applications with Ajax</h1>
    <p>This page demonstrates the use of Asynchronous Javascript and XML 
(Ajax) technology to
    update a web page's content by reading from a remote file 
dynamically -- no page reloading
    is required. Note that this operation does not work for users 
without JavaScript enabled.</p>
    <p id="xmlObj">
    This is some sample data. It is the default data for this web page. 
<a href="data.xml"
    title="View the XML data." onclick="ajaxRead('data.xml'); 
this.style.display='none'; return false">View XML     data.</a>
    </p>
  </body>
</html>


 Save this file below as UTF-8 data.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<root>
  <data>
    This is some sample data. It is stored in an XML file and retrieved 
by JavaScript.
  </data>
</root>




Gustav Brock wrote:

>Hi Bryan
>
>So no job? Or wife?? Is that what you are trying to tell?
>On the other hand (for the job option, cannot tell for the wife
>option), with your knowledge I would expect it to be easy for you to
>find some "new challenges" except, of course, if things are a little
>more complicated than they may appear to be ...
>
>Currently I'm facing some XML work. Haven't done anything with this and
>Access and hardly know where to look except browsing this list ...
>So an XML cookbook or guide is a suggestion.
>
>/gustav
>
>  
>
>>>>carbonnb at sympatico.ca 08/16 3:45 am >>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>I have found myself in a situation that gives me an inordinate amount 
>of free time and I'm looking for some ideas to fill my time.
>
>I am thinking of something that would make development easier or a 
>specifc app that would greatly help developers. I need something to 
>keep my mind active and fingers busy :)
>
>It can be anything from Access to Word to Excel (Office 2K), even VB 
>6.
>
>I'm open to any and all suggestion. And If I can learn something new, 
>that would be even better.
>
>Let the flood gates open :-)
>
>  
>

-- 
Marty Connelly
Victoria, B.C.
Canada



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