Desktop AJAX Chris Jolley, Robert Bergman 1122007

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Desktop AJAXChris Jolley, Robert
Bergman1/12/2007
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Ajax

• Asynchronous Javascript And XML
• Acronym coined by Jesse James Garret, Adaptive
  Path
• Widespread use triggered by Googles online
  applications gmail, maps..
• Widespread use also triggered by more powerful
  browsers and client computers
• Zero-footprint rich user interface, still a web
  page

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New Weblogic Portal Feature

• In 9.2 we added the ability to Ajaxify a Portlet.
• asyncContentajaxiframe
• In 10.0 we give you the ability to Ajaxify the
  entire desktop
• asyncModeenableddisabledcompat_9_2
• These technologies are mutually exclusive
• enabled turns on for desktop off for portlets
• disabled turns off for desktops and portlets
• compat_9_2 off desktop on for portlets

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Enabling These Features

• AsyncContent on portlet
• Attribute on ltnetuixportlet asyncContentajax/
  gt
• Crack open the .portlet file or IDE
• AsyncMode on the Desktop
• Attribute on the ltnetuixdesktop
  asyncModeenabbled/gt
• Crack open .portal file of IDE
• Enable via the admin tools

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Enable from the Admin tools
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What are the benefits

• The idea is to only send back the content that
  has changed.
• Reduce/eliminate page reloads
• Increase speed/responsiveness
• Enhance usability
• Make applications more interactive
• No modifications to existing applications
• Working with standards

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Desktop asyncModeenabled
subsequent
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Portlet asyncContentajaxiframe
http
Portal Servlet
html
N 1
XHR/iframe
async.js
Portal Servlet
html
XHR/iframe
async.js
Portal Servlet
html
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When to use which

• Both give quicker response times
• Portlet AsyncConent
• Enable for just that portlet (maybe portal does
  not work with entire desktop enabled)
• Long Running Portlets dont want to hold up
  entire page
• N 1 requests
• Desktop AsyncMode
• Inter portlet communication
• Need context information (eg. PageBackingContext)
• Newer Web sites
• 1 request

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Http Request
text/html
First request, links wrapped in tag, Browser
Refresh, Redirects, Page change links
XHR Request
application/json
ajax.js
Subsequent requests
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What works/doesnt

• While the goal is to just enable this feature and
  have everything work as before, only quicker.
  Reality
• Do Work

• WSRP
• Threading
• Cache
• IPC
• All Portlet Types
• Nested Books

• Redirects
• Look and Feel Changes
• Tree Optimization
• Customizations
• Themes
• Portlet States/Modes
• XHTML

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Limitations and

• May never Work
• Portlets that expect to be refreshed without any
  interaction
• Developer can call new method PortletBackingContex
  t.setRenderOnAjaxRequest(boolean)
• Some javascript page events onload(),
  onunload(), onbeforeunload()
• Next release mimic these events
• Delete button with old style look and feels
• Disable
• ltrendercontext asyncContentDisabled"true"gt
• Adds request param _portlet.asyncfalse
• DesktopBackingContext.setAsyncMode(String mode)

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Working With Other AJAX frameworks

• Challenges
• Some frameworks tend to want to own the entire
  page does not work well with portals or
  mashups.
• Multiple instances of a portlet on the same page
• Namespacing issue
• Javascript versioning issues
• Synchronization of client and server.
• Working through standards
• JSR286, JSR301, WSRP, and the OpenAjax Alliance
  -- to resolve these specific issues and to enable
  integrating other AJAX frameworks with WebLogic
  Portal.
• Recommendation
• near-term, we suggest using a framework like
  Dojo, as this has been used by many developers to
  create portlet content using AJAX.
• Use WLPs additional AJAX features like drag and
  drop tags

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Demo