Hack Job

Discover Jaxer, the first true Asynchronous JavaScript + XML server. Jaxer makes it possible to execute JavaScript code, Document Object Model, and HTML on the server side as well as giving you the ability to access server-side functions asynchronously from the client side. This article describes the features of Jaxer and shows the great potential that Jaxer has to offer.

The BlackBerry is not just for business e-mail; there is untapped potential in that addictive device. Despite being a popular platform, third-party applications are still needed for the BlackBerry platform. Follow along as this tutorial lays the groundwork for an open source data-collection application, upon which an easy-to-use data-collection service is built.

If you are doing Ajax development, there is one library you need to know: Direct Web Remoting (DWR). This library leverages the Java language and Java Web technologies to simplify Ajax development. It has set the standard for how to integrate Ajax seamlessly into a Java web application. In this article, see just how easy Ajax can be using DWR.

Filed under: cellphones hacks[Dominiek ter Heid] wanted to prototype an application for the iPhone that incorporated GPS. He experimented, and came up with a step-by-step tutorial on how to create a web application that would push GPS information to his iPhone through the use of JavaScript and AJAX. This tutorial will save web hackers who want to play with the iPhone 3G a lot of grief. Using Cocoa Touch, and a CSS/JavaScript pack called IUI, he successfully created a web application that looks native to the iPhone and is able to grab GPS information. The application integrates the GoogleMaps API with the GeoNames database. We look forward to seeing the types of creative applications that this prototype will inspire. What sort of web application would you want to create for the iPhone?

Filed under: misc hacksMaybe you've tinkered a bit with the Google Maps API. Most of the software produced with it is not all that useful or entertaining, but a few gem have shone through. Still, wouldn't it be better if applications produced with it could be easily ported to other online mapping services like Mapquest or Yahoo! Maps?

Filed under: misc hacksFew would dispute that Vi was a great text editor in its day, but no one has done anything to bring it back until now. A company called Internet Connection has developed JSVI, a clone of Vi that was written in javascript and runs inside editable text areas on virtually any browser with javascript support. It functions identically to Vi, offering ed/ex command support, vi-keys, unicode awareness, and a number of other features available on Vi. You can see a demo of JSVI here. If you prefer to run vi on your own page, download this javascript document. JSVI is open source, and we certainly agree with [Jason Striegel] that this would make a fitting addition to any Unix blog or forum.

Discover Database Connectivity, a JavaScript API and implementation that enables Web clients to use an Ajax style of programming to directly access server-side relational data without compromising enterprise security. Also, learn how Web 2.0 applications can use this middleware to access relational data as a first-class construct instead of through ad hoc protocols.

Enhancing applications with Ajax used to be complex. Fortunately, several open source JavaScript libraries are available now to make things easier. In this article, you will create an Ajax application for managing songs using the Prototype JavaScript library and script.aculo.us.

In this article, learn to use Firebug, a free, open source extension for the Firefox browser that provides many useful developer features and tools. Using Firebug, you can monitor, edit, and debug live pages, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript code, and network traffic.

Create a Web-based instant messaging client using the Prototype Javascript library and a Jabber server. When it's complete, you will be able to choose among users who are on your buddy list and send and receive messages through the Web page to users on traditional IM clients.

Analyzing and improving the performance of Ajax applications requires a different toolset than traditional Web applications. Examine tools that find and correct performance problems within your Ajax-enriched applications.

Cross-site scripting (XSS) is one of the most common application-level attacks that hackers use to sneak into Web applications. Learn how hackers launch an attack, what damage it does, how to detect them, and how to prevent your Web site and your visitors from these invasions of privacy.

A simple function to ease your floating point comparison headaches. Implemented in PHP and Javascript. Compare floating point numbers safely like this: moneycomp($income,’>',$debt) return ‘Happy’; Escape the plague of the .000000001!

The second in a four part series on cross-domain scripting, this article addresses the use of Flash as an intermediary for third-party cross-domain requests. I'll review Flash's cross-domain security policy (crossdomain.xml), examine a few existing solutions, and finally present my own.

As I continue to work with the new MVC bits with respect to SubSonic, I keep smacking my forehead (and there’s a lot to smack) at how much simpler things can be if I stop overthinking them. Getting to know toolsets like jQuery and SubSonic can offer many of these moments. Bundle that with the new MVC stuff and your forehead will be burning…

The iPhone Dev Center is your single source of information for designing, coding, and optimizing web applications for iPhone and iPod touch.

A method to add search engine friendliness to AJAX.

How object oriented features in JavaScript can be used to create cool widgets.

Recently I have undertaken upgrading Radiant CMS JavaScripts to Prototype 1.6.0. Radiant depends on a fair amount of scripting in its administrative interface which was previously done with Prototype 1.5.0 (now almost a year old). Simply replacing the old prototype.js with the new one doesn’t immediately work – some APIs changed (most notably Hash) and I also wanted to slim down old code using some fresh features. I will now show you some examples of what I’ve done, how I did it and why; you might find this writeup useful when doing the same in your application.

What do you see when you visit a page that uses a version of Silverlight you don’t have installed? By default you see a link with an image that suggests you download Silverlight - something like this one:

That works great when the user must have Silverlight installed, but what if you want to discretely show some other content without showing the download Silverlight image?

What you need to do is add a DIV tag containing your content and some JavaScript that will display that content when the version of Silverlight you need isn’t installed.