网页设计外文翻译---使用XMLHttpRequest对象.doc

Using the XMLHttpRequest Object Now that we’ve discussed the history of dynamic Web applications and introduced Ajax, it’s time to cover the heart of the matter: how to use the XMLHttpRequest object. While Ajax is more of a technique than a technology, without widespread support for XMLHttpRequest, Google Suggest and Ta-da List wouldn’t exist as we currently know them. And you wouldn’t be reading this book! XMLHttpRequest was originally implemented in Internet Explorer 5 as an ActiveX component. That it worked only in Internet Explorer kept most developers from using XMLHttpRequest until its recent adoption as a de facto standard in Mozilla 1.0 and Safari 1.2. It’s important to note that XMLHttpRequest is not a W3C standard, though much of the functionality is covered in a new proposal: the DOM Level 3 Load and Save Specification. Because it is not a standard, its behavior may differ slightly from browser to browser, though most methods and properties are widely supported. Currently, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Konqueror, and Internet Explorer all implement the behavior of the XMLHttpRequest object similarly. That said, if a significant number of your users still access your site or application with older browsers, you will need to consider your options. As we discussed in Chapter 1, if you are going to use Ajax techniques, you need to either develop an alternative site or allow your application to degrade gracefully. With most usage statistics indicating that only a small fraction of browsers in use today lack XMLHttpRequest support, the chances of this being a problem are slim. However, you need to check your Web logs and determine what clients your customers are using to access your sites. Overview of the XMLHttpRequest Object You must first create an XMLHttpRequest object using JavaScript before you can use the object to send requests and process responses. Since XMLHttpRequest is not a W3C standard, you can use JavaScript in a couple of ways to create an instan