Ajax Through the Looking Glass

Aptana’s release of Jaxer revives a beautiful opportunity to use the same language on the server as in the browser when developing AJAX applications. With Jaxer server-side programming can be conducted in HTML/DOM, CSS and Javascript. This is welcome news for anyone who’s struggled with writing code that writes code that writes content while escaping escaped strings. Working in a single language is appealing as is the prospect of producing a small, complete application in a single file.

Jaxer Architecture Overview | Aptana

Jaxer Architecture Overview | Aptana via kwout

There is still plenty of room for those who like layers in their frameworks. Jaxter files themselves can be dynamic pages generated on the fly by PHP, Ruby, Java etc.

Jaxer Architecture Overview | Aptana

Jaxer Architecture Overview | Aptana via kwout

Aptana’s distribution of the technology was given a kick start through the inclusion of a Jaxer server and development environment in the latest RadRails update. The constant presence of the Jaxer button in my Eclipse IDE is a strong reminder that I have something new to experiment with.

Though I have to admit to a little nostalgia for Netscape’s LiveWire.

Server-side JavaScript - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Server-side JavaScript – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia via kwout

6 thoughts on “Ajax Through the Looking Glass

  1. Hi,
    Do you know or see any example of PHP script generating JAXER content?

    “Jaxter files themselves can be dynamic pages generated on the fly by PHP, Ruby, Java etc.”

    The only reference to PHP I see on the JAXER site is the PHP script returning JSON data to the HTML page.
    I want a PHP page generate JAXER, perhaps by Smarty template.

    Cheers, Phil

  2. Hi,
    Do you know or see any example of PHP script generating JAXER content?

    “Jaxter files themselves can be dynamic pages generated on the fly by PHP, Ruby, Java etc.”

    The only reference to PHP I see on the JAXER site is the PHP script returning JSON data to the HTML page.
    I want a PHP page generate JAXER, perhaps by Smarty template.

    Cheers, Phil

  3. Re: PHP generated Jaxer content.

    I’ve not used it myself yet, but Aptana’s description of the Jaxer page lifecycle (http://aptana.com/node/150) is pretty clear.

    “The HTML document starts life on the server, either as a static HTML file read from disk, or as a dynamic page generated by PHP, Ruby, Java, etc.”

    From what I understand, in this case, Jaxer acts as a filter processing the output of the PHP script before passing it on to the web server which in turn sends it to the client.

    - Phil

  4. Re: PHP generated Jaxer content.

    I’ve not used it myself yet, but Aptana’s description of the Jaxer page lifecycle (http://aptana.com/node/150) is pretty clear.

    “The HTML document starts life on the server, either as a static HTML file read from disk, or as a dynamic page generated by PHP, Ruby, Java, etc.”

    From what I understand, in this case, Jaxer acts as a filter processing the output of the PHP script before passing it on to the web server which in turn sends it to the client.

    - Phil

  5. Note to readers – there are actually two different Phils in this conversation. I’m not talking to myself. (At least … not here.)

  6. Note to readers – there are actually two different Phils in this conversation. I’m not talking to myself. (At least … not here.)

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