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Wiki source code of ERPrototaculous

Version 278.1 by Ravi Mendis on 2009/07/17 01:35
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Ravi Mendis 100.1 1 == Introduction ==
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Ravi Mendis 209.1 3 ERPrototaculous was developed to provide the ajax functionality in ERDivaLook.
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5 === What is ERPrototaculous? ===
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Ravi Mendis 233.1 7 Features include:
Ravi Mendis 209.1 8
Ravi Mendis 233.1 9 * 'Organic' support for Prototype and Scriptaculous in WebObjects.
Ravi Mendis 275.1 10 ** Light-weight dynamic elements to support Prototype
Ravi Mendis 265.1 11 ** No custom patches to Prototype
Ravi Mendis 273.1 12 ** Sans the need to extend Prototype
Ravi Mendis 261.1 13 * Use of [[Unobtrusive Javascript>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unobtrusive_JavaScript]].
14 * Pseudo-stateless ajax responses
Ravi Mendis 245.1 15 * A set of widgets in the Prototype + Scriptaculous family.
Ravi Mendis 233.1 16
17 ==== Unobtrusive Javascript in ERPrototaculous ====
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19 Unobtrusive javascript is used in contrast to on-demand style of ajax programming.
Ravi Mendis 267.1 20 By including Javascript as well as CSS globally in the page wrapper, CSS and Javascript don't have to load inside each and every ajax requests.
Ravi Mendis 269.1 21 This keeps the ajax responses compact and granular.
Ravi Mendis 233.1 22
Ravi Mendis 269.1 23 The result is **faster** and more **reliable** ajax in WebObjects.
Ravi Mendis 233.1 24
Ravi Mendis 259.1 25 ==== Prototype WebObjects Elements ====
Ravi Mendis 253.1 26
Ravi Mendis 259.1 27 ##Ajax.Updater## and ##Ajax.Request## have been implemented as WebObjects dynamic elements.
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Ravi Mendis 253.1 29 ===== Ajax.Updater =====
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31 Support for Prototype's [[Ajax.Updater>>http://www.prototypejs.org/api/ajax/updater]] is in the form of three components:
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Ravi Mendis 261.1 33 * AjaxUpdaterLink
34 * AjaxUpdaterButton
35 * AjaxUpdaterForm (with ##onsubmit## for ajax form submission)
Ravi Mendis 253.1 36
Ravi Mendis 261.1 37 These components will update a **container** on the page.
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39 ===== Ajax.Request =====
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41 Prototype's [[Ajax.Request>>http://www.prototypejs.org/api/ajax/request]] is in the form of:
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43 * AjaxRequestLink
44 * AjaxRequestButton
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46 These are used for strictly **background** ajax communication.
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Ravi Mendis 229.1 48 ==== Prototype + Scriptaculous Widgets ====
Ravi Mendis 211.1 49
Ravi Mendis 209.1 50 * Accordion
51 * LightWindow
52 * ModalBox
53 * CalendarDateSelect
54 * FileUpload
Ravi Mendis 233.1 55
56 == Forms in ERPrototaculous ==
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58 Differences from using forms in WebObjects. i.e ##WOForm##:
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Ravi Mendis 261.1 60 1. All form controls must be named. This includes text fields, selects and buttons.
Ravi Mendis 233.1 61 (WebObjects dynamically assigned names are not compatible with ERPrototaculous).
Ravi Mendis 261.1 62 1. All forms in an ERPrototaculous app are instances of ##AjaxUpdaterForm##.
63 1. Form submits can be the form of a:
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65 *
Ravi Mendis 263.1 66 ** Static ##<button>##.
67 ** WOSubmitButton (if the result is to update whole page/app).
Ravi Mendis 233.1 68 ** AjaxUpdaterButton (to update a **container**). Or
Ravi Mendis 263.1 69 ** AjaxRequestButton (for a **background** ajax request).
Ravi Mendis 261.1 70
71 == Ajax Page Caching in ERPrototaculous ==
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73 One notable difference in the ERPrototaculous and Ajax.framework is in the ajax responses.
74 ERPrototaculous updates and actions break with "The WebObjects Way" by being pseudo-stateless.
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Ravi Mendis 263.1 76 Instead of returning a fresh response, an ajax update or action is in fact the same instance.
Ravi Mendis 261.1 77
Ravi Mendis 263.1 78 The reason returning a fresh response is not necessary is because a client never travels back or forwards through an ajax application unlike in a typical WebObjects app.
79 Here the current state of the update or action is all that is necessary.
Ravi Mendis 277.1 80
81 == Actions in ERPrototaculous ==
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83 Typically, in a WebObjects application, an action would return the contents of the entire page.
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85 Ajax responses are typically page fragments or part of a page.
86 So you should make sure the actions in ERPrototaculous (or AjaxUpdaterButton and AjaxRequestButton) return the proper page fragment as opposed to the entire page. This breaks with WO-tradition, so this is where you need to turn your attention to.