Softcover

ISBN 10: 0131587382 ISBN 13: 9780131587380

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2008

The practicing programmer's DEITEL® guide to AJAX, Rich Internet Applications, and web-application development

This book applies the Deitel signature live-code approach to teaching Web 2.0 application development. The book presents concepts in the context of more than 180 fully tested programs (18,000+ lines of code), complete with syntax shading, detailed descriptions, and sample outputs. It features hundreds of tips that will help you build robust applications.

Start with a concise introduction to XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript before rapidly moving on to more advanced client-side development with DOM, XML, AJAX, JSON, and other RIA technologies. Then proceed to server-side development with web servers, databases, PHP, Ruby on Rails, ASP.NET, JavaServer Faces, and web services. When you're finished, you'll have everything you need to build Web 2.0 applications.

The DEITEL Developer Series is designed for practicing programmers. The series presents focused treatments of emerging technologies, including .NET, JavaTM, web services, Internet and web development, and more.

Practical, example-rich coverage of:

• Web 2.0
• XHTML, CSS, JavaScript
• DOM, XML, RSS
• AJAX-Enabled Rich Internet Applications
• JSON, Dojo, Script.aculo.us
• Adobe® Flash CS3 and Flex
• Web Servers (IIS and Apache)
• Database (SQL, MySQL, ADO.NET and Java DB)
• PHP, Ruby on Rails
• ASP.NET, ASP.NET AJAX
• JavaServer Faces (JSF)
• SOAP-Based Web Services in Java
• REST-Based Web Services in ASP.NET
• Mashups
• And more...

Visit www.deitel.com to:

• Download code examples
• Check out the growing list of programming, Web 2.0, and software-related Resource Centers
• To receive updates on this book, subscribe to the free DEITEL® BUZZ ONLINE e-mail newsletter at www.deitel.com/newsletter/subscribe.html
• Read archived Issues of the DEITEL BUZZ ONLINE
• Contact deitel@deitel.com for information on corporate training courses delivered on-site worldwide

Pre-Publication Reviewer Testimonials

"This book is easily the most comprehensive resource of its kind I've seen yet."
--Jesse James Garrett, Adaptive Path

"A one-stop shop for learning the essentials of web programming."
--Anand Narayanaswamy, ASPAlliance.com

"Excellent for learning to develop standards-compliant web applications...takes you from the browser to the server and the database, covering web development across many programming languages."
--Paul Vencill, MITRE, Inc.

"Cements the browser as a first-class development platform."
--Johnvey Hwang, Splunk, Inc.

"Congratulations on this excellent work. The [Dive Into Web 2.0] chapter is simply astonishing! It's one of the better--if not the best--references on Web 2.0."
--José Antonio González Seco, Parlamento de Andalucia

"The CSS chapter is compact, concise, and full of useful info!"
--Billy B. L. Lim, Illinois State University

"One of the best introductions to JavaScript."
--Raymond Wisman, Indiana University Southeast

"A good introduction to the DOM; doesn't trip over cross-browser incompatibilities."
--Eric Lawrence, Microsoft

"Exceptionally clear Ajax tutorial; best I've reviewed! Great solutions for the very cool type-ahead and edit-in-place AJAX features. 'Libraries to Help Eliminate Cross-Browser Compatibility Issues' is fantastic. This book and your web sites will be often-visited resources (if not best practices in themselves)."
--John Peterson, Insync and V.I.O. Inc.

"Great chapter [on building Flash games]."
--Jennifer Powers, University of Albany

"A solid introduction to Adobe Flex with some very cool applications."
--Matt Chotin, Adobe

"A solid introduction to the capabilities and flexibilities of PHP. Inspired me to tighten up my own code! Easy to follow JSF development with database, Virtual Forms, and Google Maps."
--John Peterson, Insync and V.I.O. Inc.

"Excellent coverage of developing ASP.NET applications, with plenty of sample code."
--Peter Bromberg, VOIP, Inc.

"The web services chapter concludes a comprehensive education on Web 2.0. The examples go a long way to support the Web 2.0 mission of this book."
--George Semeczko, Independent Consultant

About the Author:

Paul J. Deitel and Dr. Harvey M. Deitel are the founders of Deitel & Associates, Inc., the internationally recognized programming languages content-creation, corporate-training and Internet business development organization. The Deitels have written many international best-selling programming languages textbooks that millions of people worldwide have used to master C, C++, Java™, C#, XML, Visual Basic®, Perl, Python, and Internet and web programming.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

...the challenges are for the designers of these applications: to forget what we think we know about the limitations of the Web, and begin to imagine a wider, richer range of possibilities. It's going to be fun.
--Jesse James Garrett, Adaptive Path
"Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications"
(adaptivepath.com/ideas/essays/archives/000385.php)

Introduction

Welcome to Internet and web programming andWeb 2.0! And welcome to a walkthrough of the Web 2.0 phenomenon from the technical, business and social perspectives. We've worked hard to create what we hope you'll find to be an informative, entertaining and challenging learning experience. At Deitel & Associates, we write programming language professional books and textbooks for Prentice Hall, deliver corporate training worldwide and developWeb 2.0 Internet businesses. This book reflects today's Web 2.0, Ajax-based, Rich Internet Application-development methodologies.

The technologies you'll learn here are appropriate for experienced professionals who build substantial information systems. You'll find "industrial-strength" code examples. We have attempted to write in a clear and straightforward manner using best practices. Perhaps most important, the book presents hundreds of working code examples and shows the outputs produced when these examples are rendered in browsers or run on computers. We present all concepts in the context of complete working programs.We call this the "live-code approach." All of the source code is available for download from

www.deitel.com/books/ajaxfp/

under the heading "Download Code Examples and Other Premium Content for Registered Users," once you've registered and logged on to our site.

The early chapters present a carefully paced introduction to "client-side" web programming, using the popular JavaScript language and the closely related technologies of XHTML (Extensible HyperText Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and the DOM (Document Object Model). The material in the JavaScript chapters presents a solid foundation for the deeper treatment of scripting in the Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, PHP and Ruby on Rails chapters later in the book. Experienced programmers will read the early chapters quickly and find the treatment of scripting in the later chapters to be rigorous and challenging.

Today's users are accustomed to desktop applications with rich graphical user interfaces (GUIs), such as those used on Apple's Mac OS X systems, Microsoft Windows systems, various Linux systems and more. Users want applications that employ the multimedia capabilities of graphics, images, animation, audio and video. They want applications that can run on the Internet and the web and communicate with other applications.

Users want to apply database technologies for storing and manipulating their business and personal data. They want applications that are not limited to the desktop or even to some local computer network, but that can integrate Internet and web components, and remote databases. Programmers want to use all these capabilities in a truly portable manner so that applications will run without modification on a variety of platforms.

In this book, we present a number of powerful software technologies that will enable you to build these kinds of systems. Early in the book we focus on building the portions of web-based applications that reside on the client side (i.e., the portions of applications that typically run in web browsers such as Mozilla's Firefox or Microsoft's Internet Explorer), using technologies such as the XHTML, JavaScript, CSS, Flash, Flex and Extensible Markup Language (XML). Later in the book we concentrate on using technologies such as web servers, databases, PHP, Ruby on Rails, ASP.NET, ASP.NET Ajax and JavaServer Faces (JSF) to build the server side of web-based applications. These portions of applications typically run on "heavy-duty" computer systems on which organizations' business-critical websites reside. By mastering the technologies in this book, you'll be able to build substantial web-based, client/server, database-intensive, "multitier" applications.

If you have questions as you read this book, send an e-mail to deitel@deitel.com--we'll respond promptly. For updates on the book and the status of all supporting software, and for the latest news on Deitel publications and services, visit www.deitel.com. Sign up at www.deitel.com/newsletter/subscribe.html for the free Deitel® Buzz Online e-mail newsletter and check out www.deitel.com/ResourceCenters.html for our growing list of Internet and web programming, Internet business, Web 2.0 and related Resource Centers. Each week we announce our latest Resource Centers in the newsletter.

Key Features

Here's some of the key features of Ajax, Rich Internet Applications and Web Development for Programmers:

• Reflects today's Web 2.0, Ajax-based, Rich Internet Application-development methodologies.
• Coverage of the two leading web browsers--Internet Explorer and Firefox. All client-side applications in the book run correctly on both browsers.
• Focus on Web 2.0 technologies and concepts.
• Chapter on Web 2.0 and Internet Business (reviewed by leaders in the Web 2.0 community).
• Focus on building Rich Internet Applications with the interactivity of desktop applications.
• Chapter on building Ajax-enabled web applications with "raw" Ajax and with the Dojo JavaScript libraries. Applications in this chapter demonstrate partial-page updates and type-ahead capabilities.
• Chapter on Adobe Flex--a Rich Internet Application framework for creating scalable, cross-platform, multimedia-rich applications for delivery within the enterprise or across the Internet.
• Chapter on rapid applications development of database-driven web applications with Ruby on Rails; also discusses developing Ajax applications with the Prototype and Script.aculo.us libraries.
• Two chapters on Adobe Flash CS3, including building a computer game.
• Significant treatment of client-side scripting with JavaScript.
• Significant treatments of XHTML DOM manipulation and JavaScript events.
• Significant treatment of XML DOM manipulation with JavaScript.
• Chapter on building SOAP-based web services with Java and REST-based web services with ASP.NET (using Visual Basic).
• Chapter on PHP 5.
• Coverage of ASP.NET, featuring ASP.NET Ajax.
• JavaServer Faces (JSF) coverage emphasizing building Ajax-enabled JSF applications.
• Client-side case studies that enable you to interact with preimplemented serverside applications and web services that we host at test.deitel.com.
• Case studies including Deitel Cover Viewer (JavaScript/DOM), Address Book
• (Ajax), Cannon Game (Flash), Weather/Yahoo! Maps Mashup (Flex), Mailing List (PHP/MySQL), Message Forum and Flickr Photo Viewer (Ruby on Rails), Guest Book and Secure Books Database (ASP.NET), Address Book with Google Maps (JavaServer Faces) and Blackjack (JAX-WS web services).

All of this has been carefully reviewed by a team of 38 distinguished industry developers and academics.

AJAX, Rich Internet Applications and Web Development for Programmers Architecture

This book focuses on Web 2.0 and Rich Internet Application (RIA) development. Our goal is to develop webtop applications that have the responsiveness, look and feel of traditional desktop applications. Deitel & Associates, Inc. has evolved into a development organization, while continuing its focus on programming languages textbook and professional book authoring, and corporate training. We're building the infrastructure for the Internet businesses we're designing and developing as part of our Web 2.0 Internet Business Initiative. This book includes discussions of many practical issues we've encountered in developing that infrastructure.

The book is divided into several parts. Chapter 1 introduces Web 2.0 from the technical, business and social perspectives, and provides a foundation for understanding Rich Internet Application development. If you are a serious web developer, you'll want to test your web applications across many browsers and platforms. The examples for the book execute correctly on both Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) and Mozilla's Firefox 2 (FF2) browsers. Most of the examples will also work in other browsers such as Opera and Safari, but may not work on earlier browsers. Microsoft Windows users should upgrade to IE7 and install Firefox; readers with other operating systems should install Firefox.

The second part of the book, Chapters 2–13, presents a detailed treatment of Ajax component technologies, including a comprehensive treatment of JavaScript that spans nine chapters and concludes with Chapter 13's treatment of Ajax development. Ajax is not a new technology--we've been writing about all but one of its component technologies since 1999, and many of the technologies existed before that. However, Ajax is one of the key technologies of Web 2.0 and RIAs. Chapters 2–13 cover "raw" Ajax programming, where you'll handle the details yourself--several later chapters in the book demonstrate technologies that encapsulate Ajax functionality to help you easily build Ajax-based applications that operate across a wide variety of browsers and browser versions without your having to be concerned with the low-level details.

The third part of the book, Chapters 13–24, focuses on both the client and server sides of the GUI and the graphical part of RIA development. Here we cover client-side technologies such as Adobe Flash and Adobe Flex that use, or can be combined with, Ajax or Ajax-like capabilities to develop RIAs. Each of these technologies also can consume web services. Next, we present the server side of web application development with discussions of web servers (IIS and Apache), databases, server-side scripting languages such as PHP and Ruby on Rails, and several server-side frameworks such as ASP.NET 2.0 and Java-Server Faces. We complete our server-side discussion with a chapter on building both SOAP-based and REST-based web services.

You may have noticed that Chapter 13, Ajax-Enabled Rich Internet Applications, overlaps the second and third parts of the book. Chapter 13 serves as a bridge from "raw" Ajax development to "encapsulated" Ajax development with the Dojo libraries.

Teaching Approach

AJAX, Rich Internet Applications and Web Development for Programmers contains a rich collection of examples. The book concentrates on the principles of good software engineering and stresses program clarity. We are educators who teach leading-edge topics in industry classrooms worldwide. Dr. Harvey M. Deitel has 20 years of college teaching experience and 18 years of industry teaching experience. Paul Deitel has 16 years of industry teaching experience. The Deitels have taught courses at all levels to government, industry, military and academic clients of Deitel & Associates.

Live-Code Approach. AJAX, Rich Internet Applications and Web Development for Programmers is loaded with "live-code" examples--each new concept is presented in the context of a complete working web application that is immediately followed by one or more screen captures showing the application's functionality. This style exemplifies the way we teach and write about programming; we call this the "live-code approach."

Syntax Shading. We syntax shade all the code, similar to the way most integrated-development environments and code editors syntax color code. This improves code readability--an important goal, given that this book contains about 18,000 lines of code in complete, working programs. Our syntax-shading conventions are as follows:

comments appear in italic
keywords appear in bold italic
PHP, Ruby, ASP.NET, JSP delimiters and errors appear in bold black
constants and literal values appear in bold gray
all other code appears in black

Code Highlighting. We place white rectangles around each program's key code segments.

Using Fonts for Emphasis. We place the key terms and the index's page reference for each defining occurrence in bold italic text for easier reference. We emphasize on-screen components in the bold Helvetica font (e.g., the File menu) and emphasize program text in the Lucida font (e.g., int x = 5).

Web Access. All of the source-code examples for AJAX, Rich Internet Applications and Web Development for Programmers are available for download from:

www.deitel.com/books/ajaxfp/

Site registration is quick, easy and free. Download all the examples, then run each program as you read the corresponding text discussions. Making changes to the examples and seeing the effects of those changes is a great way to enhance your Internet and web programming learning experience.

Objectives. Each chapter begins with a statement of objectives. This lets you know what to expect and gives you an opportunity to determine if you have met the objectives after reading the chapter.

Quotations. The learning objectives are followed by quotations. Some are humorous; some are philosophical; others offer interesting insights. We hope that you enjoy relating the quotations to the chapter material.

Outline. The chapter outline helps you approach the material in a top-down fashion, so you can anticipate what is to come and set a comfortable learning pace.

Illustrations/Figures. Abundant charts, tables, line drawings, programs and program output are included.

Programming Tips. We include programming tips to help you focus on important aspects of program development. These tips and practices represent the best we have gleaned from a combined six decades of programming and teaching experience. One of our readers told us that she feels this approach is like the highlighting of axioms, theorems and corollaries in mathematics books--it provides a basis on which to build good software.

Good Programming Practices. Good Programming Practices call attention to techniques that will help you produce programs that are clearer, more understandable and more maintainable. 3.0

Common Programming Errors. Programmers tend to make certain kinds of errors frequently. Pointing out these Common Programming Errors reduces the likelihood that you'll make the same mistakes. 3.0

Error-Prevention Tip. These tips contain suggestions for exposing bugs and removing them from your programs; many describe aspects of programming that prevent bugs from getting into programs in the first place. 3.0

Performance Tip. These tips highlight opportunities for making your programs run faster or minimizing the amount of memory that they occupy. 3.0

Portability Tip. We include Portability Tips to help you write code that will run on a variety of platforms and to explain how to achieve a high degree of portability. 3.0

Software Engineering Observation. The Software Engineering Observations highlight architectural and design issues that affect the construction of software systems, especially large-scale systems.

Thousands of Index Entries....