Andy,
That's exactly what I've done in the past, and in fact was how my first
Ajax enabled programs functioned. Recently though, I've come to realize
that if all I need to do is update some value on a particular area of
the screen, I'll have CF return just the value (presumably calculated or
perhaps from a query), and then I'll use jQuery to update just the
portion of the screen that needs to be updated.
For instance I've got a screen that has three calendars on it. The
calendars are entirely blank (the shells were created with CF, and are
just part of the screen). I have a JS function that accepts the starting
month and year and then makes an ajax call to the server to determine
which calendar cells get which date associated with them. This same
function can also accept a number representing the number of months to
move forward or backward (start in January move forward three months and
now you're in April... that sort of thing). When the data is returned, I
have jQuery update just the information in the cells (which is just
text) and it doesn't have to redraw any of the tables that comprise the
calendars.
Hmm... don't know if I explained that too well, but maybe you get the point.
I've actually been meaning to start a discussion on this list about
different practices in updating the screen. Specifically, when I've got
(for instance) an area of the screen which I'll refer to as the main
container and then an area to the side of that (left or right, doesn't
matter) that contains options. Imagine BlogCFC how the blog entries are
in the main area and there is a side area that contains options or extra
information.
The old way of doing something like this would be to have frames. A
frame on the side for the options and a frame on the right to hold the
main content. Let's say then that the options on the right represent
different functions of the program and thus are really different
"screens" or at least different pages, but you want the content to load
in that main container area -- without a page refresh.
I'm currently doing this for one of my clients, and I've taken the
approach that the main page gets called with a specific mode or flag and
it builds the screen accordingly using jQuery. But this seems unruly at
times. Especially if I'm building a table, I've got JavaScript building
a string of HTML (after the ajax call has returned with the necessary
data) that I'll then send to the content div via jQuery. Is this the
right approach, or is it better to build any HTML like that on the
server side and send it over to be dumped to the screen.
I'm curious how other folks do this sort of thing... Did I just hijack
this thread? :o)
Chris
Andy Matthews wrote:
Most of the time, I'm using the CFC to do all of the formatting, then
I return a simple string containing all of the HTML that needs to be
applied to the page. For example. take a look at www.co-opcookbook.com
<http://www.co-opcookbook.com>. That's where I pulled that sample code
from.
When you perform a search, it runs the CFC using the provided keyword.
The CFC queries the database, loops over the results, adding in the
appropriate HTML, then returns that long string of text to the
calling JS function.
That might not be the most efficient way of doing things (if it's not
PLEASE someone speak up, I want to get better), but it's the way that
makes sense to me.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
*On Behalf Of *Paul
*Sent:* Tuesday, February 06, 2007 4:05 PM
*To:* 'jQuery Discussion.'
*Subject:* Re: [jQuery] AjaxCFC (paging Rey Bango...)
Andy, this is also good to know. I guess I'll figure this out
eventually, but what doesn't yet make sense is how to handle complex
objects (queries, structs) being returned from the CFC. Do you just
handle the formatting in your CFC so you can pass back (or simply
output, I guess) a string and use $("#element").html() to replace the
content, or do you handle formatting on the client side? (By "you" I
mean Andy specifically but the rest of you generally as well...)
I'm learning a lot...
Paul
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
*On Behalf Of *Andy Matthews
*Sent:* Tuesday, February 06, 2007 2:07 PM
*To:* 'jQuery Discussion.'
*Subject:* Re: [jQuery] AjaxCFC (paging Rey Bango...)
Just so you know, you CAN use jQuery to hit the CFC directly. Here's a
sample of code I'm using:
js code:
function addRecipe(id) {
$.get("includes/q.cfc?method=addRecipe&id=" + id,function(result){
eval( 'var ' + result );
$('#shoppingList').html(r.content);
});
};
CFC:
<cffunction name="addRecipe" access="remote" returntype="void"
hint="Adds a recipe to your shopping list">
<!--- set parameters for arguments --->
<cfargument name="id" required="Yes" type="numeric">
<cfset myStruct = structNew()>
<cfif NOT ListFind(SESSION.grocerylist,id)>
<cfset SESSION.grocerylist = ListAppend(SESSION.grocerylist,id)>
</cfif>
<cfset myStruct["content"] =
Replace(getShoppingList(),"#chr(13)#","","ALL")>
<cfwddx action="CFML2JS" input="#myStruct#" toplevelvariable="r">
</cffunction>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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