Ajax, future WebServices?

One of the most important new Web-based technologies has been quite popular for many years. This is mainly because of some applications built on Google and other websites. This is Ajax. This programming technology is used to create a wide range of Web-based applications similar to desktop software, but they are browser-based and use a small amount of resources.

Analysts said this technology will eventually make the front-end of Web services and SOA powerful, and is actually starting to move in this direction. Some people believe that Ajax will eventually become the main user interface of SOA and human-computer interaction Web services. It is only in the near future.

This week, there are two columns to introduce the implementation of Ajax in Web services and SOA. In the first part, let's take a look at what Ajax is, how it works, and some benefits it provides to Web services and SOA. In the next section, we will talk about the possibility of its widespread adoption and the problems it will encounter during its adoption.

How Ajax works

To understand Ajax, you must first understand that it is not a simple technology, and its use will not be controlled by standards or standard systems, and will never. Although it is a hot topic, it is not a particularly new technology.

Ajax means asynchronous JavaScript and XML (asynchronous JavaScript and XML ). It uses a number of technologies to build a wide range of Web-based applications, so that they have the same view as desktop programs, this includes CSS, JavaScript, XHTML, XML, XMLHttpRequest, Document Object Model, and XSLT. These applications have the same interoperability and fast response time as desktop applications, and are not as responsive and dynamic as many typical Web applications.

How does Ajax work? In a typical non-Ajax Web application, an action in the browser needs to trigger an Http request to reach the Web server. The server processes requests, such as retrieving data or doing other things, and then returns the HTML page and result together to the client (browser ). When both requests are sent or the server is processing data, the user must wait.

However, for Ajax, everything is different. When a user opens a Web page, the Ajax engine written in JavaScript is loaded. From now on, the user interacts with the engine, which plays an intermediate layer between the user and the Web server. The Ajax engine works asynchronously and communicates independently from any server. Therefore, even if the request and response are sent back and forth between the engine and the server, the user can still interact with the application.

It is equally important that the engine itself can immediately process actions that do not require a server request, such as editing data in the memory and verifying data. These can be performed immediately because server communication is not called-just like a desktop application.

As a result, a rich application similar to a desktop application appears, but it runs in a browser.

There are already many Ajax Web applications. Google is very active in building applications using Ajax, such as Gmail and Google Local (officially named Google Maps ). The A9 search engine also uses it. You will see more and more such applications.

What does it mean for SOA and Web Serivices?

So what does this mean for SOA and Web services? Considering that Ajax is mainly used for customer-level services, will it find a destination in the Enterprise?

Analysts believe that the answer is yes, although it will come later. ZapThink senior analyst Ron Schmelzer said that the final Ajax application will replace the enterprise portal that now associates Web services with SOA.

He said: "People will use rich clients built by Ajax to replace Web-based portals. Because it provides a wide range of functions, you can use it when interacting with customers between enterprises ."

He pointed out that banking websites have begun to use Ajax applications to make it easier for their customers to operate financial services. "They want users to have the same experience as desktop programs," he said ."

Schmelzer also found that Ajax is being adopted due to the trends he found. He said that in SOA, he is discovering a type of hybrid application, which is neither a browser nor a desktop application. They combine the two and have the advantages of Distributed Application User interaction, but it is easy to deploy because it is distributed on the Web.

He believes that such applications will be built using Ajax.

Kevin Hakman has been in the Ajax field for a long time. He is a founder of General Interface. General Interface is a rich Internet application development tool provider that was acquired by Tibco Software a year ago. Hakman is now the head of Tibco's product market. He believes that the future of Web services and SOA will be closely related to Ajax.

"Ajax is important because it enables people to use browsers to interact directly with Web services in SOA. This is the best way to get Web services and SOA ." He said. Currently, Web services and SOA work well at the machine-to-machine level, but the user interfaces built for people to interact with services have problems. He believes that Ajax is the answer to the question.

Of course, today's Ajax has not been widely used in Web services and SOA.

Schmelzer said: "Ajax is still a developer's business to a large extent and needs to be upgraded to the business level ."