Developing and testing ajax components

Developing and testing Ajax components Ignacio Coloma [email_address] http://extrema-sistemas.com

The goal Develop and test javascript components

Why? We usually get lost in the details integrating Ajax with java

Two types of web applications RIA vs REST (You should choose)

REST misuse This is not an iPhone

RIA misuse This is not a knife

Don't forget the search engine! You may call it SEO , We call it

REST and unobtrusive javascript Old: <input onchange=”something()”> New: <input id=”price”> <script> $('price').observe('change', something); </script>

Progressive enhancement Design for javascript-less Add enhancements if javascript is present.

User-perceived performance CSS at the top downloaded in parallel JS at the bottom downloaded sequentially <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title>Loom Demo - </title> <link href="/loomdemo/css/yaml-3.0.5/core/base.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></link> <link href="/loomdemo/css/yaml-3.0.5/navigation/nav_vlist.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></link> <link href="/loomdemo/css/yaml-3.0.5/navigation/nav_slidingdoor.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></link> <link href="/loomdemo/css/yaml-3.0.5/screen/content_default.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></link> <link href="/loomdemo/css/yaml-3.0.5/core/print_base.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"></link>  </head> <body> <div id="page_margins"> <div id="page"> <div id="header"> <div id="topleft"> <a href="/loomdemo/" title="Demo home">Demo home</a> | <a href="http://loom.extrema-sistemas.org/" title="Loom home">Loom home</a> | <a href="http://loom.extrema-sistemas.org/get-documentation" title="Loom doc">Loom doc</a> </div> <div id="topcenter"> Change language: ( <a href="/loomdemo/support/Locale.action?locale=en" hreflang="en" class="selected">english</a> | <a href="/loomdemo/support/Locale.action?locale=es" hreflang="es" class="">español</a> ) </div> <div id="topnav"> <a href="/loomdemo/other/ViewJspSource.action?jspFilename=/WEB-INF/jsp/ebanking/listAll.jsp&actionName=org.loom.demo.action.ebanking.MortgagesAction" class="strong" title="View source">View source</a> </div> </div> <div id="main"> < <div id="col2"> <div id="col2_content" class="clearfix"> <div id="tips"> <div class="hide-fouc important">Tips are only available with javascript turned on</div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="col3"> <div id="col3_content" class="clearfix"> <form action="/loomdemo/ebanking/Mortgages.action"> <div class="buttonBar"> <input type="submit" value="Delete" class="submit" /> </div> <table id="row"> <thead> <tr> <th class="first"></th> <th class="sortable"> <a href="Mortgages.action?sort=id&event=listAll&dir=asc">ID</a></th> <th class="name sortable"> <a href="Mortgages.action?sort=name&event=listAll&dir=asc">Name</a></th> <th class="sortable"> <a href="Mortgages.action?sort=address&event=listAll&dir=asc">Address</a></th> <th class="date sortable"> <a href="Mortgages.action?sort=principalLoanBalance&event=listAll&dir=asc">Loan</a></th> <th></th> <th class="date sortable"> <a href="Mortgages.action?sort=creationDate&event=listAll&dir=asc">Creation date</a></th></tr></thead> <tbody> <tr class="empty"><td colspan="7">Nothing found to display.</td></tr> </tbody> </table> <input type="hidden" name="__source" value="/WEB-INF/jsp/ebanking/listAll.jsp"/> <input type="hidden" name="event" value="delete"/> </form>  <div id="ie_clearing">   </div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="footer"> <p style="float:right">Layout based on <a href="http://www.yaml.de/en/home.html">YAML</a></p> <p>You are currently one of the 1 users browsing this demo site. - <a href="/loomdemo/about.jsp" title="about this demo site">about this demo site</a></p> <p>© 2007 Extrema Sistemas de Información - <a href="http://extrema-sistemas.com/en/legal" title="Terms of use">Terms of use</a> - <a href="http://extrema-sistemas.com/en/contact" title="Go to the contact form">Contact</a> - <a href="http://extrema-sistemas.com" title="Go to Extrema home">Extrema home</a> </p> </div> </div> </div> <script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/prototype/1.6.0.2/prototype.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="/loomdemo/js/loom-1.0-SNAPSHOT/loom.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/scriptaculous/1.8.1/scriptaculous.js?load=builder,effects" type="text/javascript"> </script> <script src="/loomdemo/js/tips.js" type="text/javascript"></script> </body> </html>

Connect javascript autocompleter <myapp:autocompleter name=”parent” action="Entries" event="getParentCandidates" />

First attempt The server generates HTML + javascript: <input type=”text” name=”parent” id=”parent” /> <script> new Autocompleter($(“parent”), { url: “http://localhost/getCandidates.json” }) </script>

Problems The id attribute is required or must be generated (fluff)

The javascript code is generated by the server (inflexible)

Some libraries must be loaded before the HTML (really bad for performance)

Too many <script> tags (harder to debug and hurts performance)

Better solution Generate just the HTML code : <input type=”text” name=”parent” class=”autocompleter” url=“http://localhost/getCandidates.json” />

Add static javascript code Add javascript code as needed

This is your javascript code , not generated by the server: $$('input.autocompleter').each(function(e) { new Autocompleter(e, { url: e.getAttribute('url'); }); });

Benefits The id attribute is not required

All javascript code is together at the end of the page or inside external javascript files

Maximum javascript flexibility

Cleaner code that is cacheable

Conclusion: HTML as the API HTML is the contract between your java server and your javascript code .

Test your code Javascript code should also be tested

Three ways of testing GWT – java code translated to javascript

Java-driven tests: WebDriver, Selenium

Developing and testing ajax components

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