I've used JQuery with WebObjects and it works. It's advantage is its
lighter than prototype/scriptaculous at only 19k for the core
library, it's fast and it's got a very nice syntax and it's non
intrusive on your code. It's what I started out using before
Prototype so I prefer it probably only for that reason. I've used it
in a couple of ways mostly to do nice client side javascript for
animations, tabs, modal dialogs, lightboxes etc but also some server
side interaction aswell.
At the simplest it lets you get things on the page and do stuff to it
very easily. For example I've used it to dynamically add a css class
to every submit button and checkbox in any form so that I don't have
to remember to do it myself. This lets me style those elements
differently from normal input types. To do this only takes $("input
[EMAIL PROTECTED]").addClass("checkbox"); notice you can mix and match
CSS and XPath selectors which is cool.
In terms of Ajax it also does everything, but be warned you'll end up
reinventing much of the WOnder Ajax framework so check there first to
see if that does what you need, it probably does. As example though
of how it can be easy with JQuery is how I've used it make any form
into an Ajax submitting form just by adding a CSS class. There are
many plugins around JQuery and this ajax form is one of them. To
implement it is again as simple as including a .js with a one liner $
(".aFormToSubmitWIthAjax").ajaxForm(someOptionsArray). I modify my
form action in WebObjects to return just a response of validation
messages in a <ul> (so really it's AJAH) and the message gets pushed
into a div of your choice automatically by the plugin. You're done an
Ajax submitting form in WebObjects with very little work.
One thing which really drew me to it in terms of WebObjects
development was that everything by design is encouraged to go in a
seperate .js which initialises your page when the document loads
binding all the behaviours to the different elements. This is nothing
new here but it does encourage working in a way that makes it
possible to have absolutely no javascript inline with your HTML or
Java which I prefer because I despised writing javascript in my Java
and .wod files. I keep thinking the holy grail here as a developer
wanting to use javascript extensively with WebObjects is to extend
the .wo to include a .js and have WebObjects dynamically include this
script in the page when it processes the component. At the moment you
have to hardcode it in or borrow from Ajax.framework and
addScriptResourceInHead();
The big downside with JQuery is that because of the use of the dollar
syntax it's incompatible with Prototype (therefore the Ajax
Framework) although I believe there is some kind of compatibility
mode you can put jquery into. Running two javascript frameworks
though seems a little indulgent. Therefore if what you need to do is
in the Ajax.framework and your doing lots of server side interaction
with WebObjects then use that otherwise you're reinventing the wheel.
That framework keeps getting better and better and all the hard work
has been done for you. On the other hand if you want to experiment
with JQuery go for it, as a relative newcomer to javascripting my
experience with it has been a good one and I've been able to get some
really nice results in a very short amount of time.
Good places to start with JQuery
http://jquery.com/
http://docs.jquery.com/Plugins
http://interface.eyecon.ro/demos
Paul
On Jun 20, 2007, at 4:14 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
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