Ajax Introduction

The following tutorial will provide a short introduction to Ajax and its uses. Before
understanding these terms see few practical examples to demonstrate the power of Ajax.
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc are considered the situation when check news feed and
if like someone post simply click the like button and the like count is added without
refreshing the page. Now imagine the situation if there would be the case, click the like
button and the complete page would be loaded again which will make such processes.
Now the question whether clicking the button again for such a small task which require
complete loading of a web page. Absolutely not, because no one will do such an absurd
thing (in the latter case). So it means that this feature of like is very helpful as it prevents
the reloading of the complete page. It communicates only necessary information with the
server and shows to the end user(in this case being the increase of like count).
Consider another case when visit google to search for anything. Usually, observe that
when start typing the desired keywords to search, observe that many suggestions are
presented in the search bar. Now, where do they come from? Of course not from the
client side. The results are again the power of communication with the server without
reloading the page again.
Like this, there are dozens of examples which can be considered. The whole power
working behind is nothing but Ajax. Let’s discuss briefly Ajax and its implementation.
What is Ajax?
Ajax is an acronym for Asynchronous Javascript and XML. It is used to communicate
with the server without refreshing the web page and thus increasing the user experience
and better performance.

Prerequisites:
There are no such pre-requisites required to understand the latter portion of the article.
Only the basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and Javascript are good to go.
How does it work?
First, let us understand what does asynchronous actually mean. There are two types of
requests synchronous as well as asynchronous. Synchronous requests are the one which
follows sequentially i.e if one process is going on and in the same time another process
wants to be executed, it will not be allowed that means the only one process at a time will
be executed. This is not good because in this type most of the time CPU remains idle
such as during I/O operation in the process which are the order of magnitude slower than
the CPU processing the instructions. Thus to make the full utilization of the CPU and
other resources use asynchronous calls. For more information visit this link. Why the
word javascript is present here. Actually, the requests are made through the use of
javascript functions. Now the term XML which is used to create XMLHttpRequest
object.
Thus the summary of the above explanation is that Ajax allows web pages to be updated
asynchronously by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes.
Now discuss the important part and its implementation. For implementing Ajax, only be
aware of XMLHttpRequest object. Now, what actually it is. It is an object used to
exchange data with the server behind the scenes. Try to remember the paradigm of OOP
which says that object communicates through calling methods (or in general sense
message passing). The same case applied here as well. Usually, create this object and use
it to call the methods which result in effective communication. All modern browsers
support the XMLHttpRequest object.
Basic Syntax: The syntax of creating the object is given below

req = new XMLHttpRequest();

There are two types of methods open() and send(). Uses of these methods explained
below.

req.open("GET", "abc.php", true);

req.send();

The above two lines described the two methods. req stands for the request, it is basically
a reference variable. The GET parameter is as usual one of two types of methods to send
the request. Use POST as well depending upon whether send the data through POST or
GET method. The second parameter being the name of the file which actually handles the
requests and processes them. The third parameter is true, it tells that whether the requests
are processed asynchronously or synchronously. It is by default true which means that
requests are asynchronous. The open() method prepares the request before sending it to
the server. The send method is used to send the request to the server.
Sending the parameter through getting or POST request. The syntax is given below

req.open("GET", "abc.php?x=25", true);

req.send();

In the above lines of code, the specified query in the form of URL followed by ? which is
further followed by the name of the variable then = and then the corresponding value. If
sending two or more variables use ampersand(&) sign between the two variables. The
above method as shown applies for GET request. Sending the data through the POST,
then send it in the send method as shown below.

req.send("name=johndoe&marks=99");

.
Use of setRequestHeader() method as shown below.

req.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-
urlencoded");

Events and handling mechanism:

Any action performs on the clicking button, hovering over elements, page loading etc all
are termed as events. Also aware of fact that javascript can detect events. So bind the
code of specific event with its action which can be implemented by javascript. These are
basically event handlers.
Implementing event handlers which actually hold the events. Events handlers are
basically functions written in javascript which act on or set into action when an event is
fired by the user. When sending the request through send method usually get the response
from the server later. But getting of response time is not known. So track it.
Therefore to keep a track of the response onreadystatechange event which is binding with
the event handler(function) which will get executed when a response comes.
When a request to the server is sending perform actions based on the response. The
onreadystatechange event is triggered every time the readyState changes. So what
actually a ready state is and when will the onreadystate event actually occur and how
many times it will occur between the request and response?
The XMLHttpRequest object has a property called as readyState whose value changes in
the complete request-response journey i.e when a request is prepared, sent, resolves,
processed and when the response comes. That’s why it is called os onreadystatechange.
The onreadystatechange stores a function (or the name of the function)to be called
automatically each time the readyState property changes.
The readyState holds different values ranging from 0 to 4.
1. request not initialized
2. server connection established
3. request received
4. processing request
5. request finished and response is ready
XMLHttpRequest also has a property named as status. The status has following values
 200: “OK”
 404: “Page not found”
Now remember it always that when readyState is 4 and status is 200, the response is
ready.
The whole thing described above is implemented in coding as given below

<p id = "dis">< /p>

req.onreadystatechange = function(){

  if(req.readyState == 4 && req.status == 200){

      document.getElementById("dis").innerHTML = req.responseText;

  }

(Note: This is only a section of code and moreover describing the communication
between client and server so the code described above will not show any effect if run on
IDE)
In the above code if the condition is true (i.e the response is ready) then the result is
displayed.
Advantages:
1. Speed is enhanced as there is no need to reload the page again.
2. AJAX make asynchronous calls to a web server, this means client browsers avoid
waiting for all the data to arrive before starting of rendering.
3. Form validation can be done successfully through it.
4. Bandwidth utilization – It saves memory when the data is fetched from the same page.
5. More interactive.
Disadvantages:
1. Ajax is dependent on Javascript. If there is some Javascript problem with the browser
or in the OS, Ajax will not support.
2. Ajax can be problematic in Search engines as it uses Javascript for most of its parts.
3. Source code written in AJAX is easily human readable. There will be some security
issues in Ajax.
4. Debugging is difficult.
5. Problem with browser back button when using AJAX enabled pages.
JQuery | ajax() Method
The ajax() method in jQuery is used to perform an AJAX request or asynchronous
HTTP request.
Syntax:

$.ajax({name:value, name:value, ... })

Parameters: The list of possible values are given below:
 type: It is used to specify the type of request.
 url: It is used to specify the URL to send the request to.
 username: It is used to specify a username to be used in an HTTP access
authentication request.
 xhr: It is used for creating the XMLHttpRequest object.
 async: It’s default value is true. It indicates whether the request should be handled
asynchronous or not.
 beforeSend(xhr): It is a function which is to be run before the request is being sent.
 dataType: The data type expected of the server response.
 error(xhr, status, error): It is used to run if the request fails.
 global: It’s default value is true. It is used to specify whether or not to trigger global
AJAX event handles for the request.
 ifModified: It’s default value is false. It is used to specify whether a request is only
successful if the response has changed since the last request.
 jsonp: A string overriding the callback function in a jsonp request.
 jsonpCallback: It is used to specify a name for the callback function in a jsonp
request.
 cache: It’s default value is true. It indicates whether the browser should cache the
requested pages.
 complete(xhr, status): It is a function which is to be run when the request is being
finished.
 contentType: It’s default value is: “application/x-www-form-urlencoded” and it is
used when data send to the server.
 context: It is used to specify the “this” value for all AJAX related callback functions.
 data: It is used to specify data to be sent to the server.
 dataFilter(data, type): It is used to handle the raw response data of the
XMLHttpRequest.
 password: It is used to specify a password to be used in an HTTP access
authentication request.
 processData: It’s default value is true. It is used to specify whether or not data sent
with the request should be transformed into a query string.
 scriptCharset: It is used to specify the charset for the request.
 success(result, status, xhr): It is to be run when the request succeeds.
 timeout: It is the local timeout for the request. It measured in terms of milliseconds.
 traditional: It is used to specify whether or not to use the traditional style of param
serialization.

jQuery | ajaxComplete() Method

The ajaxComplete() method is used to specify function to be run when an AJAX
request completes.
Syntax:

$(document).ajaxComplete(function(event, xhr, options))

Parameter:
 event: It contains the event object.
 xhr: It contains the XMLHttpRequest object.
 options: It contains the used options in AJAX request.

jQuery | ajaxError() Method

The ajaxError() method in jQuery is used to specify function to be run when an AJAX
request fails.
Syntax:

$(document).ajaxError( function(event, xhr, options, exc) )

Parameter:: This method accepts single parameter function which is mandatory. This
function accepts four parameters which are listed below:
 event: This parameter holds the event object.
 xhr: It holds the XMLHttpRequest object.
 options: It contains the used options in AJAX request.
 exc: It holds the JavaScript exception.

jQuery | ajaxSend() Method

The ajaxSend() method in jQuery is used to specify the function to be run when
an AJAX request is about to send.
Syntax:

$(document).ajaxSend( function(event, xhr, options) )

Parameters: This method accepts single parameter function which is mandatory. The
function accepts three parameters as mentioned above and described below:
 event: It holds the event object.
 xhr: It holds the XMLHttpRequest object.
 options: It holds the used options in AJAX request.

jQuery | ajaxSend() Method

The ajaxSend() method in jQuery is used to specify the function to be run when
an AJAX request is about to send.
Syntax:

$(document).ajaxSend( function(event, xhr, options) )

Parameters: This method accepts single parameter function which is mandatory. The
function accepts three parameters as mentioned above and described below:
 event: It holds the event object.
 xhr: It holds the XMLHttpRequest object.
 options: It holds the used options in AJAX request.

jQuery | ajaxSend() Method

The ajaxSend() method in jQuery is used to specify the function to be run when
an AJAX request is about to send.
Syntax:

$(document).ajaxSend( function(event, xhr, options) )

Parameters: This method accepts single parameter function which is mandatory. The
function accepts three parameters as mentioned above and described below:
 event: It holds the event object.
 xhr: It holds the XMLHttpRequest object.
 options: It holds the used options in AJAX request.

jQuery | ajaxSend() Method

The ajaxSend() method in jQuery is used to specify the function to be run when
an AJAX request is about to send.
Syntax:

$(document).ajaxSend( function(event, xhr, options) )

 Parameters: This method accepts single parameter function which is mandatory. The
function accepts three parameters as mentioned above and described below:
 event: It holds the event object.
 xhr: It holds the XMLHttpRequest object.
 options: It holds the used options in AJAX request.

jQuery | ajaxSend() Method

 Last Updated : 01 Mar, 2019
The ajaxSend() method in jQuery is used to specify the function to be run when
an AJAX request is about to send.
Syntax:

$(document).ajaxSend( function(event, xhr, options) )

Parameters: This method accepts single parameter function which is mandatory. The
function accepts three parameters as mentioned above and described below:
 event: It holds the event object.
 xhr: It holds the XMLHttpRequest object.
 options: It holds the used options in AJAX request.

jQuery | ajaxSend() Method


The ajaxSend() method in jQuery is used to specify the function to be run when
an AJAX request is about to send.
Syntax:

$(document).ajaxSend( function(event, xhr, options) )

Parameters: This method accepts single parameter function which is mandatory. The
function accepts three parameters as mentioned above and described below:
 event: It holds the event object.
 xhr: It holds the XMLHttpRequest object.
 options: It holds the used options in AJAX request.

jQuery | ajaxSend() Method


The ajaxSend() method in jQuery is used to specify the function to be run when
an AJAX request is about to send.
Syntax:

$(document).ajaxSend( function(event, xhr, options) )

 Parameters: This method accepts single parameter function which is mandatory. The
function accepts three parameters as mentioned above and described below:
 event: It holds the event object.
 xhr: It holds the XMLHttpRequest object.
 options: It holds the used options in AJAX request.

Query | ajaxSend() Method

The ajaxSend() method in jQuery is used to specify the function to be run when
an AJAX request is about to send.
Syntax:

$(document).ajaxSend( function(event, xhr, options) )

Parameters: This method accepts single parameter function which is mandatory. The
function accepts three parameters as mentioned above and described below:
 event: It holds the event object.
 xhr: It holds the XMLHttpRequest object.
 options: It holds the used options in AJAX request.

jQuery | ajaxSend() Method

The ajaxSend() method in jQuery is used to specify the function to be run when
an AJAX request is about to send.
Syntax:

$(document).ajaxSend( function(event, xhr, options) )

Parameters: This method accepts single parameter function which is mandatory. The
function accepts three parameters as mentioned above and described below:
 event: It holds the event object.
 xhr: It holds the XMLHttpRequest object.
 options: It holds the used options in AJAX request.

jQuery | ajaxSend() Method


The ajaxSend() method in jQuery is used to specify the function to be run when
an AJAX request is about to send.
Syntax:

$(document).ajaxSend( function(event, xhr, options) )

Parameters: This method accepts single parameter function which is mandatory. The
function accepts three parameters as mentioned above and described below:
 event: It holds the event object.
 xhr: It holds the XMLHttpRequest object.
 options: It holds the used options in AJAX request.

jQuery | ajaxSend() Method

The ajaxSend() method in jQuery is used to specify the function to be run when
an AJAX request is about to send.
Syntax:

$(document).ajaxSend( function(event, xhr, options) )

Parameters: This method accepts single parameter function which is mandatory. The
function accepts three parameters as mentioned above and described below:
 event: It holds the event object.
 xhr: It holds the XMLHttpRequest object.
 options: It holds the used options in AJAX request.