Which AJAX library?

[Fred So <fr...@gmail.com>]

Hi All

There are many AJax libraries available at the moment. Which one do you
think works best/most natually with Struts?

Thanks
F

Re: Which AJAX library?

["Frank W. Zammetti" <fz...@omnytex.com>]

Fred So wrote:
 > There are many AJax libraries available at the moment. Which one do you
 > think works best/most natually with Struts?

Hi Fred,

I think to answer that you have to determine what your needs are.  Your 
right, there are a lot of choices, but each has a fairly different 
focus, even though they obviously have a lot in common.  Off the top of 
my head, the ones I'd consider:

* AjaxTags in Java Web Parts (http://javawebparts.sourceforge.net) - Of 
course I'd list my own first :)  Seriously though, if what your looking 
for is an easy to integrate solution that deals with the client-side but 
leaves the server-side to you, AjaxTags may be of interest.  It's a 
completely declarative approach to Ajax (i.e., all driven by XML config 
file) that comes in the form of a taglib (with a grand total of four 
tags, two of which you may not use much).  AjaxTags won't give you 
canned solutions, i.e., it isn't about UI widgets or pre-made dropdown 
suggestion boxes, but it will facilitate you building those with a 
minimum of fuss, plus a lot more.

* Dojo (http://dojotoolkit.org/) - This one is growing in popularity, 
and for good reason.  It offers more than just the mechanisms for making 
Ajax calls.  Widgets are a big part of it, as is animations, as well as 
"extensions" to Javascript to make your life easier.  It has a much 
wider focus, but what is coming out of the project has looked very good 
so far.

* DWR (http://getahead.ltd.uk/dwr/) - This one actually has some 
information specifically about integrating with Struts on the site.  DWR 
in interesting in that it is literally a remote procedural call 
mechanism whereby you can call Java code from Javascript.  DWR even 
handles marshalling and unmarshalling of data types between Java and 
Javascript.

There are plenty of others of course, but those are the three I would 
personally look at first.  As you can see, they all have a different 
focus, some offering a wider range of things than others.  They can all 
be used with Struts apps, with varying degrees of complexity.

So, it depends on what you are trying to do.  If your goal is to be able 
to fire some Ajax requests at your server based on various events with a 
minimum of fuss, AjaxTags might be the ticket.  If you are looking for 
some fantastic Ajax-based UI widgets (this one tends to impress people 
the most, although there was a better one a while back: 
http://archive.dojotoolkit.org/nightly/tests/widget/test_FisheyeList.html), 
check out Dojo.  If you need a more "full-stack" solution for calling 
remote code, DWR might be perfect.

Hope that helps!

-- 
Frank W. Zammetti
Founder and Chief Software Architect
Omnytex Technologies
http://www.omnytex.com
AIM: fzammetti
Yahoo: fzammetti
MSN: fzammetti@hotmail.com

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