Using the first real AJAX server: Aptana Jaxer building AJAX Applications

Traditionally, to provide richer client capabilities for web-based clients, you must create a web-based application that consists of a homogeneous system from a variety of technologies, which may include:

Server-side WEB or application servers, such as Apache HTTP Server, microsoft®internet information Services (IIS), Sun java™web server, ibm®websphere® or BEA WebLogic

Server-side scripting or processing languages, such as Java, PHP, JavaServer pages™ (JSP), or Active server Pages (ASP)

Client-side scripting and formatting, such as HTML, cascading Style Sheets (CSS), JavaScript, or DOM

HTTP communication protocol or Application programming interface (API), such as XMLHttpRequests or JavaScript serialized Object notation (JSON)

But now, you can use Jaxer, a new Ajax server that integrates all of these technologies into one deployable server and provides server-side scripting and processing with some of the same client-based technologies (such as JavaScript code, DOM, and so on). Jaxer is a free open source code that you can use as it is, or expand it further with its JavaScript framework.

Imagine being able to use JavaScript code directly in an HTML page and simply indicate that the code should be executed on the server before the client returns HTML. This allows the client to communicate further with the server side directly, without refreshing the page. In addition, the resulting HTML can be based on JavaScript code that executes on the server side. This will reduce the type of technology you need to use and the amount of code you have to write to provide a better overall experience for developers and users.

For users, you can now provide Ajax-based functionality closer to the rich-native application. Jaxer makes it possible because it's actually the first real Ajax server. You do not need to determine which browser your Ajax code is running in. You also do not have to write protocol code to perform server communication. By invoking the simple Jaxer API, you provide a robust WEB application with minimal defects. Even more importantly, you no longer have to use embedded Javascrip to expose all of your code. You can actually use Jaxer Consolidated client code and server code to safely hide the policy code behind the firewall and allow it to still be accessible from the client.

Installation

Before you use Jaxer to develop any web-based application, you must first install it in your machine or development environment. There are three options. Jaxer can be used for Microsoft Windows®, Mac OS X, or linux®. The Jaxer installation is a self-contained, stand-alone Apache/jaxer server. However, you can also install it as a module in an existing Apache or Jetty environment. The Aptana report plans to support IIS in the near future.

For the purposes of this article, because most developers encode on windows and then deploy to a Windows or *nix environment (such as UNIX® or Linux), I choose to install a standalone version of Windows. It is easy to install on Windows. You simply go to the Aptana Jaxer download page (see Resources for a link to this page) and download the compressed file (. zip) of the Windows standalone version. At the time of this writing, the latest version is 0.9.7.2472.

After you download and open the compressed file, copy the Aptana Jaxer folder to your hard drive. I copied it directly to my C: drive. Therefore, I can access Jaxer by going to C:\Aptana Jaxer to access my root folder.

There are many files and folders in the Aptana Jaxer folder. The root folder contains the following files:

ConfigureFirewall.exe

LICENSE. Txt

Readme. Txt

Startservers.bat

It also contains the following folders:

Apache22

Data

Jaxer

Local_jaxer

Logs

Public

Tmp