What do we need extra tags for? We already have hooks to call javascript functions, whether those functions run 100% client-side or interact through an xmlhttp object or even through a 1x1 pixel iframe should be totally unknown to the individual input elements.
Frank W. Zammetti wrote:
You are correct Joe, I made no attempt whatsoever to solve that situation.
In short (relatively!), for anyone trying to get a grasp on it, my proposal boils down to this:
We have these Struts tags that everyone (except ironically me, most of the
time!) uses. These tags have various event handlers attached to them. These event handlers are client-side Javascript functions that do whatever
it is they do. We also have this AJAX thingamajig, whereby a client calls
on a server, gets a response, and, usually, updates just a part of a web
page. Rather than develop a whole new taglib with AJAX at its center
(which isn't a bad idea as an aside), why not just modify the existing
Struts tags to have some at least minimal AJAX functionality? But what
does that really mean? Simply put, instead of calling some Javascript
function on the client in response to, say, the onClick event of a button,
we instead call a server-side process, get a response back and update some
part of the page. The point here is that you continue to use the existing
tags that you know and, presumably!, love... your existing pages don't get
broken, you don't have to rewrite anything, but you can now introduce this
AJAX stuff as needed without having to write all the details yourself. Further, what if what was provided included a number of "standard"
functions that would cover maybe 90% of the situations you might want to
use AJAX, like updating the innerHTML of a span? What if you could send
and received XML, or not, at your discretion? What if the extra cost of
all this was an updated JAR, a Struts plug-in, a single new XML
configuration file, and an ID added to any form tag you wanted to have
this AJAX capability? That, in a nutshell, is my proposal.
I was not seeking to recreate the world in an AJAX image, and I was not trying to cover every possible scenario that could arise. My goal was to expand what exists and what people use, giving them some extra functionality they didn't have before. Those that needed more flexibility and power would likely know to look elsewhere, those that had minimal requirements or otherwise didn't have the requisite expertise just yet could stay play with AJAX.
I wasn't trying to create a Lexus, just a Yugo :)
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