So, marginally off topic

What's the generic term for using javascript to connect to the server and refresh parts of the pages? Say you're backend returns a plain text file or HTML. You can't really say it's AJAX because it's not XML. So what would you call it?

I am putting a lot of AJAXy type scripts in a project I'm working on, but none of it is true AJAX since I'm not using XML to return the data. Of course I'm using "AJAX" in future marketing materials because it's such a buzzword right now.

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- Ryan

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DHTML

AJAX is the communication between client-side and server-side

DHTML is the act of using Javascript to communicate and manipulate html elements. you would be doing a document.getElementById("DivElementsID").innerHTML = "New HTML Source Code" or whatever...

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The "X" is for the XMLHTTP object NOT for the format of the returned data

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Chris
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But it's still XML whether it's the format of the returned data or XMLhttp. Everywhere I've seen AJAX spelled out it's been XML though. But that's not really the point either way.

What happens if you make a synchronous call? SJAX?

I guess I'm just looking for the generic term, or has AJAX become the generic term whether it's truly an asynchronous call retrieving XML data or a synchronous call returning binary data?

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- Ryan

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You can't make synchronous calls with HTTP. It is a disconnected protocol and communication is always asychronous.

Client makes a request, server sends a response, the connection is dropped. end of communication.

Jesse James Garrett from AdaptivePath claims to have coined the name Ajax when it was originally being used for XML data retrieval.
It's is NOT a technology in it's own right, it's the joining of several technologies. And it is a very powerful tool to have in a developers range of skills.
The techniques have become more popular because it eases the bandwidth usage for some applications.

Take this forum for instance;
The "Quick Reply" box uses AJAX techniques to post the data to the server and to retrieve the returned data. The newly inserted post is then displayed on the page via javascript DOM scripting.
Only the latest data is returned from the server, whereas with a submit operation post data would be sent (no saving there) but the whole page including images, external files for scripts and styles where needed, would be returned to the client browser and have to be rendered again.
This post may need 5 or 600 bytes to be sent back, the entire page could be 150 - 200 kilobytes.

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Chris
Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
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The third option in the XMLHttpRequest object is true for asynchronous and false for synchronous. xhobj.open('GET', 'url', false) will make a call to url and wait for the response.

Either way, we're talking in circles and I'm done. I was just looking for the generic term.

__________________
- Ryan

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Not quite, the object will be either asynchronous or NOT it will never be synchronous. Being NOT asynchronous does not mean synchronous.

synchronous means "at the same time", so for communication protocols it refers to communication happening simultaneously.

To draw an analogy;
Telephones & Mobile (Cell) Phones are Synchronous, you can talk and listen at the same time.
Mobile Radio, CB Radio and others are Asynchronous, where you have to transmit a request then wait for a response.

HTTP falls into the asynch bracket, client sends a request and will wait for a response.
It is the waiting that the third parameter actually refers to, "true" means that the script will continue to run without waiting for a response, "false" means the script will pause until a response is received.

I don't really get why you keep asking about the generic term for AJAX as the generic term for AJAX is AJAX

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Chris
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