(1) Simply use iFrames. The downside is that browser compatibility still leaves a little to be desired, but I *pretty* sure all the modern browsers support them. Also, depending on the way your security works you may find problems arise.
(2) Use something of an AJAX approach. This is the one I usually go with. Google would seem to agree its a good idea since some of their coolest products are based on the concept (If only I had thought to file a patent five years ago when I first did it I'd be rich now! I didn't frankly think I had come up with anything unusual, now the world would seem to be indicating otherwise! But I digress...)
The basic idea is that you have a hidden frame (set the size to 0 when defining the frameset). From this frame you do all your form submissions (or other form of messaging), and you use scripting based on what is returned to alter the "main" frame. The typical approach is to send and receive XML messages, but there is nothing to say you have to do this.
Here is the usually given link to explain the AJAX concept:
http://www.adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000385.php
A slightly simpler way is to just have a form in the hidden frame that has all the possible fields you might need across your entire application. Then you submit the form and the response you get back has three things: first: the new content you will need to do something with in the visible frame, second: the form again of course and third: some scripting that knows what to do with the content and is executing onLoad.
But remember, although the link provided lays out a relatively specific approach, the bottom line is the concept of a hidden frame to which messages sent and received and scripting to update the visible portion of the application. Beyond that (i.e., XML, XMLHttpRequest usage, etc.) is up to you. I think they actually say as much there.
Here is one other link:
http://www.fiftyfoureleven.com/resources/programming/xmlhttprequest/examples
Although I haven't looked through all the references there, it seems to provide some working examples.
Stéphane Zuckerman wrote:
Hello,
I am to write JSP pages with a form that has some items (lists, or checkboxes) that depend on previous choices from the same form.
So here I have two choices basically :
1°) Load all the information that is possibly needed for a given page, hide it, and only show what is relevant with some javascript. For instance, If I select some "foo" option in a list, then below in the form, a second list is loaded with "bar1", "bar2", "bar3é ... options, which are related to the "foo" option.
Drawback : if there are lots of possible options, lots of texts, and lots of users, this might be too heavy a solution.
2°) When I select "foo", then some javascript reloads the page (it does a post) with the "foo" argument, and the rest of the JSP is loaded. This is the way I'd like to take, since some informations mustn't be in the clear uselessly.
My problem is that I don't really know where to start and how to do such a thing (do I use the same action through different stages ? Or do I put a lot of little actions that lead to a single big one ?)
I hope I've been clear enough (I have difficulties finding the right phrases to express my problem), and that someone will be able to help me.
Stéphane
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