[FX.php List] Multiple AJAX with 1 JavaScript function?

[Michael Ward]

Hi Joel,
>
> I'm afraid writing a wrapper is beyond me at the moment.  What kind  
> of additional coding of AJAX calls would I need to do if I didn't  
> use a wrapper like LAJAX?  (i.e. what is LAJAX doing?)

You shouldn't need to write the wrapper yourself.. there's enough of  
that around.
>
> I have a new project in which I'll want to be using quite a bit of  
> AJAX.  Any recommendations on where I can get some more not-too- 
> complex (yet!) info?  I've certainly played with Scriptaculous  
> examples, and looked a little at jQuery, but I've never tried to  
> implement either on my own.  Will the issue of how to connect to FX  
> be relatively clear from their respective documentation/tutorials...?

Probably not.

The way I do it is to create my FX.php/API for PHP pages the get  
jQuery to send an ajax call to these.  The way that is handled is in  
the callback of the jQuery function.

the syntax of jQuery handles all the triggering, sending,  
retrieving.  FX handles the calls to the database and CSS handles the  
layout of the returned data.

eg this is an example of a how I post data to a registration page,  
and display the returned result  (this function is called elsewhere  
in my code):

function postable () {
// put the form data in an arrary
	var data = $("form#regForm").formToArray();
//post the data to a page called registration.php	
	$.post("registration.php", data,
			 function(result){
//show the result in the div called theForm
				$("div#theForm").html(result).show();
//do some other stuff that needs to be done
				editables(result);
				initialiseBoxes();
			   } );
}

registration.php contains (heavily abbreviated!):

<?php

$action = $_POST['action'];
require_once ('fileMakerFiles/Filemaker.php');
require_once ('fileMakerFiles/mainData.php');
$createDelegate = new FileMaker($database,$ip,$userName,$password);
//are we editing or adding?
if ( $action =="edit" )
{
$addDelegate = $createDelegate->newEditCommand('delegates',$_POST 
['recID']);
}else
{

//create a new record using the data posted from the form
$addDelegate = $createDelegate->newAddCommand('delegates');
$addDelegate->setField('delegatePassword', $_POST['password']);
}
$addDelegate->setField('delegateFirstName', stripslashes($_POST 
['firstName']));
$addDelegate->setField('delegateLastName', stripslashes($_POST 
['lastName']));
<snip> setFields here</snip>
$theDelegate = $addDelegate->execute();
?>
<snip> error trapping etc</snip>
<div id="formHeading">
	<h4>Please check your details. If you need to update them, change  
the field then click "Edit Registration"<h4>	
	
</div>
<snip> all the rest of your page</snip>

I'm giving a presentation and workshop of this at DevCon, but that's  
probably too late for you.

Regards

Michael Ward
--
Head Honcho
CustoMike Solutions
Member, FileMaker Business Alliance
Member, FileMaker Technical Network
FileMaker 7 Certified Developer
FileMaker 8 Certified Developer
10 Wandoo Crt
Wheelers Hill, 3150
ph 0414 562 501
headhoncho at customikesolutions.com