Course Length:

3 Days

Course Description:

This course introduces Ajax and its underlying technologies. XML is introduced as the foundation for XHTML documents. The differences between an HTML and XHTML document are discussed as well as formatting XHTML documents using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). JavaScript is covered in detail along with its interaction with the W3C DOM for XML and XHTML. Students will learn how all of these technologies come together to form the basis of an Ajax application. The XMLHttpRequestObject will then be studied as a means of communicating with server-side components.

Who Should Attend:

This course is intended for developers interested in building a dynamic and interactive web based application.

Benefits of Attendance:

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Understand the purpose of Ajax and its underlying application model
• Create and manipulate well-formed XML documents
• Understand the differences between an HTML and XHTML document
• Use Cascading Style Sheets to format an XHTML document
• Use JavaScript to develop dynamic web pages
• Understand the W3C DOM and interface with it through the use of JavaScript
• Understand the DOM event model and use it to allow JavaScript to interact with user input
• Use the XMLHttpRequestObject to asynchronously communicate with server-side components
• Handle the response from the XMLHttpRequestObject to dynamically update web pages without the need to refresh the entire document

Prerequisites:

Basic knowledge of HTML is required for this course. Prior experience with any programming language is suggested.

Course Outline:

• Chapter 1: Introduction
  1. Introduction to Ajax
  2. Typical Web Application Model
  3. Ajax Application Model
  4. Coding Ajax Applications
• Chapter 2: Getting Started with XML
  1. Parsing XML
  2. XML Syntax
  3. Elements
  4. Attributes
  5. Comments
  6. Unicode and Character Sets
  7. Character References
  8. Entity References
  9. CDATA Sections
  10. Processing Instructions
• Chapter 3: HTML/XHTML
  1. Introduction
  2. HTML/XHTML Differences
• Chapter 4: Cascading Style Sheets
  1. Introduction
  2. CSS Syntax
  3. CSS Property Names and Values
  4. Creating CSS Style Sheets
  5. Grouping Selectors
  6. Pattern Matching Rules
  7. Inheritance
• Chapter 5: The Core JavaScript Language
  1. Introduction
  2. A Simple XHTML and JavaScript Example
  3. Language Structure
  4. Variables
  5. Numbers
  6. Strings
  7. Booleans
  8. Expressions and Operators
  9. Arithmetic Operators
  10. Comparison and Logical Operators
  11. Operator Precedence
  12. The if Statement
  13. The switch Statement
  14. The while Statement
  15. The for Statement
  16. Nested Loops
  17. The break Statement
  18. The continue Statement
  19. Functions
  20. Local vs. Global Variables
• Chapter 6: JavaScript Arrays
  1. Introduction
  2. Creating Arrays
  3. Processing Arrays
  4. Array Methods
  5. Associative Arrays
• Chapter 7: Functions
  1. Introduction
  2. User Defined Functions
  3. Arguments and Parameters
  4. The arguments Array
  5. Core JavaScript Functions
  6. Numerical Functions
  7. URI Encoding and Decoding Functions
• Chapter 8: Core JavaScript Objects
  1. Objects
  2. The Math Object
  3. The Date Object
• Chapter 9: The Document Object Model (DOM)
  1. Web Browsers and Parsers
  2. Introduction
  3. The W3C DOM
  4. Trees and Nodes
  5. The Node Interface
  6. The NodeList and NamedNodeMap Interfaces
  7. Node Traversal Example
  8. Node Traversal Display
  9. Node Traversal Details
  10. The Element Interface
  11. The Text and Attr Interfaces
  12. DOM Compatibility
  13. The Document Interface
• Chapter 10: The DOM Event Model
  1. Introduction
  2. JavaScript Events
  3. Event Handlers as XHTML Attributes
  4. Event Handlers as Properties
  5. Event Propagation
  6. The Event Object
  7. Event Properties and Methods
  8. Cross-Browser Event Handling
  9. Handling Mouse Events
• Chapter 11: The XMLHttpRequest Object
  1. Introduction
  2. Cross-Browser XMLHttpRequest Object
  3. XMLHttpRequest Properties
  4. XMLHttpRequest Methods
  5. Communicating with the Server
  6. Processing Text Responses
  7. Processing XML Responses
  8. Attributes Named id and of Type ID
  9. Defining a Callback Handler Function
  10. Handling Multiple XMLHttpRequest Objects
• Chapter 12: A More Complex Ajax Example
  1. Introduction
  2. The XHTML Component
  3. The CSS Component
  4. The Server-Side XML Components
  5. The Utility Components
  6. Building the Application - Stage 1
  7. Building the Application - Stage 2
  8. Building the Application - Stage 3
  9. Building the Application - Stage 4
  10. Building the Application - Stage 5
  11. Building the Application - The Final Stage