Rails spinoffs - Apr 2007 - Looking for guidance re: updating several varying items at once

Hey gang -

Yay, second day with Prototype. :D

I finished up some other functions that I had initially built using
mxAjax (ColdFusion-oriented bit) this morning, and started tackling
the most involved mxAjax bit I''d done in this pile.

I have a page that, upon load, lists out a row of info for each group
of DB records it finds. One part of this info is a block of status
info. I had coded up an mxAjax solution that would, on a set interval,
pass in a list of IDs (one for each group of DB info) and the function
would generate varying data and return it, and update the status info
area for each item.

The function would return new HTML for the status area (updating the
wrapping div); a hex b/g color for that status info''s div (color
indicating varying status types); and another status variable (just a
simple 0 or 1).

I''m trying to puzzle out how to deal with this with Prototype. With
mxAjax, I was able to return a simple CF structure with all the data,
and then pull the data out (using some built-in mxAjax JSON
functionality) and toss it in the appropriate areas.

I figure I can''t quite go the CF struct route, as Prototype is more
generic (mxAjax actually uses Prototype for part of its functionality,
heh). I''m guessing I''ll need to pass all this stuff in via
XML.

So - any pointers in the right direction on this would be excellent.
Again, keep in mind this is day 2 of Prototype development for me.
Still getting my feet wet.

Thanks!
--Scott


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If you want to you can always prepare and return a json object as a part 
of the X-JSON header of your server-side script.  Then, your onSuccess 
(or whatever) handler will get two parameters:  the XHR object and a 
JSON object which is the one that''s created on the server.  That way,
on
the client side, you''ll still just be working with a JSON object which 
you can use to fill the different portions of your page as necessary.

I''m not sure how you can set a page header in ColdFusion, so if that 
isn''t something that you know how to do or if ColdFusion
doesn''t really
do it, you can always just return the JSON object as a string and then 
eval() it on the client-side taking appropriate precautions when using 
the eval() function.

 -- Dash --

ScottW wrote:
> Hey gang -
>
> Yay, second day with Prototype. :D
>
> I finished up some other functions that I had initially built using
> mxAjax (ColdFusion-oriented bit) this morning, and started tackling
> the most involved mxAjax bit I''d done in this pile.
>
> I have a page that, upon load, lists out a row of info for each group
> of DB records it finds. One part of this info is a block of status
> info. I had coded up an mxAjax solution that would, on a set interval,
> pass in a list of IDs (one for each group of DB info) and the function
> would generate varying data and return it, and update the status info
> area for each item.
>
> The function would return new HTML for the status area (updating the
> wrapping div); a hex b/g color for that status info''s div (color
> indicating varying status types); and another status variable (just a
> simple 0 or 1).
>
> I''m trying to puzzle out how to deal with this with Prototype.
With
> mxAjax, I was able to return a simple CF structure with all the data,
> and then pull the data out (using some built-in mxAjax JSON
> functionality) and toss it in the appropriate areas.
>
> I figure I can''t quite go the CF struct route, as Prototype is
more
> generic (mxAjax actually uses Prototype for part of its functionality,
> heh). I''m guessing I''ll need to pass all this stuff in
via XML.
>
> So - any pointers in the right direction on this would be excellent.
> Again, keep in mind this is day 2 of Prototype development for me.
> Still getting my feet wet.
>
> Thanks!
> --Scott
>
>
> >
>
>   
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Ok, some progress here.

First thing, I found that all the JSON stuff was in 1.5.1, and I had
the 1.5.0 script. *bonk*

Just doing some testing, I found I was able to parse out the example
JSON structure data from the page:
http://www.prototypejs.org/learn/json

and see the values via alerts.

Next, I created my own simple JSON structure, did the same thing,
all''s fine.

Now, when trying to pass that exact same JSON structure in from the
page called via the ''url'' param, nada.

I hit the page called via the ''url'' param, and the results are
what
I''m expecting - the JSON structure I''m creating - but
it''s in plain
text.

Here''s the JSON structure my script is currently passing back (with
test data);

{"queueData": [ {"BLID": "3540",
"BGColor": "fffff2"} ]};

My functions are currently as follows:
*********************

function updateQueue() {
	var url = (valid url string);
	var ajax = new Ajax.Request(
	url,
	{
		method: ''get'',
		onComplete: updateQueueDivs,
		onFailure: reportError
	});
	}

	updateQueueDivs = function(retValue) {
		alert(''start '' + retValue.responseText.length);
		var testdata = retValue.responseText.evalJSON();
		alert(''hmm'');
		alert(testdata.queueData[0].BLID);
}

updateQueue();

**********************
This is all at the bottom of the script, so the last thing that gets
hit is that ''updateQueue()'' call. It calls the first function,
which
then calls the ''updateQueueDivs'' function. I get a value in
that first
alert - but it''s 298, much larger than the length of the JSON
structure string - and then, I don''t get the ''hmm''
alert - it''s
choking on the evalJSON() bit.



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Something to add to the above post - I was able to successfully parse
and spit out values from that JSON structure above, when just setting
it in a local variable and going at it that way. The issue here is
getting that same data out of the ajax function in a form I can parse.


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I found that it was my JSON structure that was slightly invalid.
Stupid trailing semi-colon. Got rid of that and I''m able to parse my
JSON structure fine now.

*bonk!*




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