Ajax constituent technologies
Ajax uses a combination of:
- XHTML (or HTML) and CSS, for marking up and styling information.
- The DOM accessed with a client-side scripting language, especially ECMAScript implementations such as JavaScript and JScript, to dynamically display and interact with the information presented.
- The XMLHttpRequest object is used to exchange data asynchronously with the web server. In some Ajax frameworks and in certain situations, an IFrame object is used instead of the XMLHttpRequest object to exchange data with the web server, and in other implementations, dynamically added
<script>tags may be used. - XML is sometimes used as the format for transferring data between the server and client, although any format will work, including preformatted HTML, plain text and JSON. These files may be created dynamically by some form of server-side scripting.
Like DHTML, LAMP, and SPA, Ajax is not a technology in itself, but a term that refers to the use of a group of technologies.
The “core” and defining element of Ajax is the XMLHttpRequest object, which gives browsers the ability to make dynamic and asynchronous data requests without having to unload and reload a page. Given XMLHttpRequest can eliminate the need for page refreshes, other technologies have become more prominently used and highlighted with this development approach.
Besides XMLHttpRequest, the use of DOM, CSS, and JavaScript provides a more-enhanced “single-page” experience.
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
