Fred So wrote:
> There are many AJax libraries available at the moment. Which one do you
> think works best/most natually with Struts?
Hi Fred,
I think to answer that you have to determine what your needs are. Your
right, there are a lot of choices, but each has a fairly different
focus, even though they obviously have a lot in common. Off the top of
my head, the ones I'd consider:
* AjaxTags in Java Web Parts (http://javawebparts.sourceforge.net) - Of
course I'd list my own first :) Seriously though, if what your looking
for is an easy to integrate solution that deals with the client-side but
leaves the server-side to you, AjaxTags may be of interest. It's a
completely declarative approach to Ajax (i.e., all driven by XML config
file) that comes in the form of a taglib (with a grand total of four
tags, two of which you may not use much). AjaxTags won't give you
canned solutions, i.e., it isn't about UI widgets or pre-made dropdown
suggestion boxes, but it will facilitate you building those with a
minimum of fuss, plus a lot more.
* Dojo (http://dojotoolkit.org/) - This one is growing in popularity,
and for good reason. It offers more than just the mechanisms for making
Ajax calls. Widgets are a big part of it, as is animations, as well as
"extensions" to Javascript to make your life easier. It has a much
wider focus, but what is coming out of the project has looked very good
so far.
* DWR (http://getahead.ltd.uk/dwr/) - This one actually has some
information specifically about integrating with Struts on the site. DWR
in interesting in that it is literally a remote procedural call
mechanism whereby you can call Java code from Javascript. DWR even
handles marshalling and unmarshalling of data types between Java and
Javascript.
There are plenty of others of course, but those are the three I would
personally look at first. As you can see, they all have a different
focus, some offering a wider range of things than others. They can all
be used with Struts apps, with varying degrees of complexity.
So, it depends on what you are trying to do. If your goal is to be able
to fire some Ajax requests at your server based on various events with a
minimum of fuss, AjaxTags might be the ticket. If you are looking for
some fantastic Ajax-based UI widgets (this one tends to impress people
the most, although there was a better one a while back:
http://archive.dojotoolkit.org/nightly/tests/widget/test_FisheyeList.html),
check out Dojo. If you need a more "full-stack" solution for calling
remote code, DWR might be perfect.
Hope that helps!
--
Frank W. Zammetti
Founder and Chief Software Architect
Omnytex Technologies
http://www.omnytex.com
AIM: fzammetti
Yahoo: fzammetti
MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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