I read some paragraphs in a book saying that it is not possible to do a partial postback for web, even AJAX is employed. Ajax will postback everything and update only ajaxfied controls.
However, on pages I made using ajax, I used Fiddler to monitor the transportation. I found when the page initial load, it loaded everything include pictures .... However, when I click a button and do a ajax postback. I can only see the some data were loaded.... Looks like it doesn't need to reload the whole page again.
I don't know if what I see is correct? Or the book I read is correct?
Thank you guys.
That depends what you put in the term "postback".
The AJAX call will send the complete form data back to the server, just as if the form was posted normally. The server will answer with a partial response that only contains the parts of the page that should be updated.
So, the request is not partial, but the response is.
I am not sure how you are posting back from the client side. I am guessing you are using UpdatePanels. How well you 'AJAX-ify' a web page depends on what method you employ.
UpdatePanels - Read Dave Ward's posting on them - http://encosia.com/2007/07/11/why-aspnet-ajax-updatepanels-are-dangerous/
PageMethods to post back to a web service, get the data and update the DOM to display the result
JQuery and other such AJAX frameworks to post back to a web service
I am sure the link above should clear things up a bit
I'm having a hard time understanding your terminology. I'm not really sure what a "postback" is, much less a "partial" one. I do know that one of the basic ways to transmit information to an HTTP server is via a POST request, which is usually used when submitting forms. If you mean to say that the entire form is transmitted when you click a submit button, I believe you'd be right.
You also seem to be doing something with AJAX, but it's difficult to tell. The whole point of AJAX is to have dynamic data displayed on a page without resorting to reloading it. Defining what to send and what to do with the results is entirely up to your own JavaScript. So unless you're using a framework, which you don't specify, there is no such thing as "ajaxified controls."
In any case, "AJAX" usually means using the XMLHttpRequest() method of modern browsers to send data to servers without refreshing the page. When you call this function, you specify exactly what data to send. This has nothing to do with HTML forms. One caveat: if you are indeed using a library for AJAX, it might impose additional limits on how you structure information to send.
Related
In Laravel when we using forms to store or delete a resource, the page is refreshed. What is the best technology to avoid refreshing the page while the request is being processed? AJAX, Vue.js, etc?
There are two main ways to handle http requests: synchronously and asynchronously.
Laravel is a PHP framework and therefore uses... PHP, which is a synchronous language. This implies a page refresh for every requests you make. The point is, every PHP framework have this behavior, this is the way PHP works.
So let's answer your question: indeed, you need an asynchronous technology to make a request to the server and get the response without refreshing the page. The technolodgy of choice in this case is Javascript, which will be able to make AJAX calls.
An AJAX (asynchronous JavaScript and XML) will, as stated in its name, make an asynchronous request. But an AJAX request is just the way of doing it, it's not really a technology. Yes, javascript frameworks like Vue.js are using AJAX, but that is overkill to just make some AJAX requests.
Using Axios or even jQuery is much easier and will allow you to make a request, grab the answer and modify your page without refresh very quickly :)
[EDIT]
The process to achieve what you are looking for is pretty simple:
Use Axios or jQuery to make an AJAX call (an asynchronous request)
Handle this request with Laravel, as you do for every other request
Returns something (or not, it depends of you) to alert your user that something happened
This response will be handled by Javascript
Vue is suitable for small projects where you just want to add a little bit of reactivity, submit a form with AJAX, show the user a modal, display the value of an input as the user is typing, or many other similarly straightforward things. It's scalable and also fantastic for huge project.
I inherited a site that's completely built using Ajax so I'm using this code to detect pageloads:
(the standard GA code)
var _gaq=[["_setAccount","UA-#######-#"],["_trackPageview"]];
(function(d,t){var g=d.createElement(t),s=d.getElementsByTagName(t)[0];g.async=1;
g.src=("https:"==location.protocol?"//ssl":"//www")+".google-analytics.com/ga.js";
s.parentNode.insertBefore(g,s)}(document,"script"));
and the gaq.push:
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/#pagename']);
except this is a big site with over 30 pages and I dont want to have to write in every one. is there a script that can find the paths/pagenames and put it in there for me?
I don't know Ajax OR Javascript, so apologies if this is not worded correctly.
You can use the _push function however because an AJAX request can mean so many things (sometimes a page load, sometimes a postback of data, and sometimes just a ping to make sure the user is still alive) you wouldn't want to track every XMLHttp request.
Depending on what language your site is written in, I would strongly suggest making use of some form of partial page component (php include, ASP.NET MVC Partial, ServerSide Include) etc which would stop you re-writing the code a million times if you change it.
However you will still need to edit your 30'odd pages if they are hard-coded. Or one master page if its a sensible design.
Check out this link for a sample on how to track ajax requests using the push method.
So a user fills out a form then decides to click on a unrelated link that happens to be on the page say to a disclaimer page. Then using internal site navigation (not the browser back button) comes back to the form he was on. The link back is an ActionLink.
What is the best way to keep his data on the form. I figure I'll have to serialize the data and save it. I can do a ajax call before going to the other page. I'm looking for the sexy solution. Something that will handle it on a global scale.
Is this even a standard practice?
HTTP is Stateless. You are trying to bring some Stateful nature it !
If you really want to keep the data, You can keep in the Session variable and access it there. You need to override the click event and (in javascript) send the form data to an action via jQuery ajax post where you store it into Session. You can access it later when you come back to this page.
Do you really want to do that ? I think 80 % people knows that once they click on another link, the data will go away. You could probably show some alert message to ask "Are you sure to leave this page" like stackoverflow does.
1) I saw an interview question on this, and I'm assuming it's something to do with form submission and avoiding double submissions. Can someone confirm this?
2) Assuming this assumption is correct, can this be done with Ajax? If so is there a link someone can point me to?
(I'm assuming you'd generate some sort of random number and include it in the form as a hidden field, then ensure that number hadn't been submitted before for the session).
Redirect-after-post is a technique to avoid problems with the user refreshing or using the back button to get back to a posted form. In short, instead of providing a response page to an HTTP post, which will trigger another post if its reloaded, you issue a 303 redirect (or a 302, to support ancient browsers by taking advantage of a bug that is as old as the web). This causes the browser to issue a second HTTP request - a get this time - and if the response page to that is reloaded there shouldn't be any problems. Just make sure that all the changes are made by the post handler and the page you redirect to has no side effects.
If you post using XMLHttpRequest then the redirect will be followed; unless you specifically support it using the hash part of the location or the new HTML5 history methods then the back button and reload aren't going to trigger an AJAX post again.
I am a beginner using ajax and I always thought that it is completely asynchronous. But I discovered that a call can be interrupted by a page reload or a page change (like clicking on a hyperlink). I was under the impression that when an ajax call is started, it is carried out no matter what the browser does afterwards. Is that wrong?
Now to the specific problem I am having: think of an online test where users answer questions (by typing into textboxes). When a textbox loses focus, an ajax call is triggered which persists the value of the textbox to a DB. That works well when changing between textboxes. However, I also have a submit button which triggeres a post action to another page (it is the submit button). When I enter something into a textbox and click on the button afterwards, the call is not carried out. Moreover, when I type into a textbox, click somewhere else (also triggering the call) and swiftly click on the submit button, the call is also not made. Is that expected behaviour?
The reason I am using ajax in the first place is to persist the values so when something unforseeable happens, like a browser crash, the already typed in text is already saved.
Is my way of thinking wrong? How would you go about solving this problem?
Thank you for your time!
AJAX is asynchronous.
When you send an AJAX request the javascript engine sends it off and sets up a handler for the response.
However, if you send an AJAX request to the server and then navigate away from the page before it is received, nothing will happen. Why? Because with each page load the entire Javascript environment is tore down and reinitialized, it has no idea what happened on the last page.
For your problem I would intercept the form submit action and do whatever you need to do with the data, and then submit the form.
Edit: In response to your comment. You are correct. If the ajax request is sent, and you're not depending on it's return value, then it should not matter.
I'd suggest debugging your problem with Firebug to see if the AJAX call is really being sent properly, and to confirm your server is properly processing it.
Unless you do something special with persistent local storage, all javascript and ajax calls are blown away when a new page is loaded over the current page. Also when a submit is done on a form.
To save things intra-page, save the data asap. Eg, perhaps save on key-up, perhaps periodically with a timer, not just on lose-focus.
Re submitting the page: change the on-click behavior to first store, then to go to a new page.
All of the effects that you are seeing are normal.
Also, be sure to test on both slow (ie 6 or 7) and fast browsers (chrome)