Ajax breathes new life into web applications by transparently communicating and manipulating data in conjunction with a server-based technology. Of all the server-based technologies capable of working in conjunction with Ajax, perhaps none are more suitable than PHP, the world’s most popular scripting language. Beginning Ajax with PHP: From Novice to Professional is the first book to introduce how these two popular technologies can work together to create next-generation applications. Author Lee Babin covers what you commonly encounter in daily web application development tasks, and shows you how to build PHP/AJAX-enabled solutions for forms validation, file upload monitoring, database-driven information display and manipulation, web services, Google Maps integration, and more. You’ll learn how to Take advantage of PHP and advanced JavaScript capabilities to create next-generation, highly responsive Web applications. Enhance commonplace application tasks such as forms validation and tabular data display. Manage cross-browser issues, ensuring your applications run on all major Web browsers. Take advantage of the Google Maps API and add spatial mapping features to your website.You’ll also be introduced to other key topics like conquering cross-platform issues, countering potential security holes, and testing and debugging JavaScript with efficiency.

All examples are based on real-world scenarios, so you’ll be able to apply what you learn to your own development situations.

Lee Babin is a programmer based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada,
where he serves as the Chief Programmer for an innovative development firm
duly named The Code Shoppe. He has been developing complex web driven
applications since his graduation from DeVry University in early 2002 and
has since worked on over 50 custom websites and online applications.

Lee is married to a beautiful woman by the name of Dianne, who supports him
in his rather full yet rewarding work schedule. He enjoys video games,
working out, martial arts, and traveling, and can usually be found working
online on one of his many fun web projects at any given time.

While Lee has experience in a multitude of web programming languages, his
preference has always been PHP. With the release of PHP 5, many of his
wishes have been fulfilled.

Ajax breathes new life into web applications by transparently communicating and manipulating data in conjunction with a server-based technology. Of all the server-based technologies capable of working in conjunction with Ajax, perhaps none are more suitable than PHP, the world’s most popular scripting language.

Beginning Ajax with PHP: From Novice to Professional is the first book to introduce how these two popular technologies can work together to create next-generation applications. Author Lee Babin covers what you commonly encounter in daily web application development tasks, and shows you how to build PHP/AJAX-enabled solutions for forms validation, file upload monitoring, database-driven information display and manipulation, web services, Google Maps integration, and more. You’ll learn how to

    Take advantage of PHP and advanced JavaScript capabilities to create next-generation, highly responsive Web applications.
    Enhance commonplace application tasks such as forms validation and tabular data display.
    Manage cross-browser issues, ensuring your applications run on all major Web browsers.
    Take advantage of the Google Maps API and add spatial mapping features to your website.

You’ll also be introduced to other key topics like conquering cross-platform issues, countering potential security holes, and testing and debugging JavaScript with efficiency. All examples are based on real-world scenarios, so you’ll be able to apply what you learn to your own development situations.

Less a reference than a book of code
I wouldn’t recommend this book. Ajax itself is not a massively complex subject and there are plenty of broader javascript and php references which cover both Ajax and other topics. Therefore the book strays off Ajax and into a whole number of other topics which seem only to be included because of the slight relevance to the example being shown

Also the book comprises large chunks of code which go on for pages and pages. I think this is quite indicative of the lack of instructional quality of the book. In other books such sections would be consigned to an online reference, where, in my opinion, they should be.

Definitely not a "must have".

Horrid coding
The samples you can download from apress are NOTHING like what the writer has written in his book. He mixes his languages in the code in the samples, then when things don’t work, you can’t go back to the code that you dl’ed from him, as it’s nothing like the book. I had more headaches from this book than any other technical book I’ve ever owned.

It’s unfortunate apress didn’t bother to really go over this book with a fine tooth comb, or they would have noticed the simple things like using a "try" in php... then catching it.

Not bad but definately not a reference book
This is a good book or learning Ajax but should definetely not be used as a reference book.

The style basically takes you through leading by example so they have a chapter for a calendar application, a chapter for uploading files etc but the book does not really go into much detail on what the code is doing meaning that unless you’re already savvy with PHP and Javascript, it would be quite difficult to learn from this book.

If you have some knowledge of PHP and Javascript, then this book is not a bad buy and isn’t very expensive and could turn out to be useful and a great learning tool.

If you’re not that familiar with PHP and/or Javascript, I’d suggest something else first and then maybe revisit this book later on.

All in all, not a bad book but I believe the ’example’ approach will only work for half the readers, not all.

Error filled piece of @#$@#
Were the editors asleep when they put this out? A couple other people commented on the errors, but still gave it a 3 star rating. They were being kind. You can’t learn anything when the examples are so completely riddled with errors. Others commented on the use of the deprecated innerHTML. For $35 I expect better from an author and his publisher. This one is being returned.

Too many errors in code
I was excited about this book until I realized how many errors there are in the source code! It makes it very impractical to work with, too bad!!

Stephen Rider’s Review is Dead On...
Wish I’d read the reviews more carefully before buying this book. Stephen Rider’s criticisms are exactly right. I was particularly disappointed with excessive use of the innerHTML object. It’s been deprecated and should not have been included in a book published in 2007. The long code examples are as Stephen says, too. At the very least, some way of highlighting the difference or addition in them to bring it to the reader’s attention would have been better. I read "Head Rush Ajax" before this, and it does a much better job overall of teaching the right way to code Ajax--I was just hoping for a book with more PHP-specific coding in conjunction with Ajax.

Good intro, but many errors and poor explanations
The author gives a good intro to Ajax and PHP combined. Gives you a good understanding of what those two are able to do together.
Sadly this get ruined by a lot of mistakes in the sample code provided, one example being an SQL phrase that actually will make the script not work. Also he dump several pages of code right in your face, but fails at explaining properly what’s going on, leaving you with the feeling he might have "borrowed" the code from somewhere and not really knowing himself what it does.

Decent introduction to Ajax, but flawed execution
This book is pretty polished and gives a lot of information, but I found it flawed in a few rather bothersome ways....

First off, the author glosses over a lot of things that are generally considered "best practices" when it comes to using HTML -- for example, web page examples are often cluttered with "style" attributes applied to multiple tags, when this sort of thing should really be dealt with using a stylesheet (reducing the amount of typing and *greatly* increasing the readability of the examples!) If there is a particular reason why he doesn’t do this, he should tell us, and he doesn’t.

Second is the frequent use of innerHTML, which is nonstandard JavaScript -- I would be far more confident that he’s truly teaching me the best way to use Ajax if he were more clearly demonstrating knowledge of best practices for HTML and CSS.

The other thing that made this book cumbersome in places was that in giving an example script, he’ll dump four or more pages of solid code in your lap, and then say "Okay, here’s what I did...", which leaves you flipping back and forth trying to follow what he’s saying about code that’s several pages back. I’ve had a much easier time with other books that explain as they go: give a chunk of code, and if there’s something that warrants explanation, do it right away and *then* proceed with more code.

It’s a decent book in terms of information, but a harder slog than it could (or should) have been.

Solid Intro to Ajax
This is a solid book for those looking to get their feet wet with Ajax concepts. Beginning Ajax with PHP: From Novice to Professional was penned by Lee Babin of the recently formed Icona.ca. He brings a wealth of PHP knowledge to the table and effectively shows how to use it alongside JavaScript.

He starts out by explaining some of the concepts behind Ajax, and how it differs from web programming in a controlled environment. He gives real-life examples of how to use asynchronous scripting, such as an image uploader / photo gallery. He also gives examples of how to use Ajax for form submission.

He shows how to use the Google Maps API to create a spatially enabled web application - in this case, one that will locate nearby video game outlets. He also explains how to make use of PEAR - PHP Extension and Application Repository, using proven code to speed up Ajax development.

He also covers how to make use of various web services, and touches on potential pitfalls for security when using Ajax. I liked the way he referred to Ajax as an increased surface area of attack. While not necessarily hazardous to your site or data, it does afford would-be malicious hackers more opportunity. Lee shows how to defend against this and secure your code.

Lastly, he finishes up with an overview of DOM Scripting methods. To me, this seems like something that would have been better suited to the beginning of the book, but I suppose he positioned it as such to delve right into the guts of Ajax, and explain the theory behind it later. I did appreciate this tangible approach.

My one qualm with this book is the client-side code in the examples. There is a mix of document types throughout: HTML 4.01 / XHTML 1.0 Transitional / XHTML 1.0 Strict. I would like to have seen more attention placed on best practices for unobtrusive JavaScript and CSS layout, instead of inline event handlers and tables. That being said, it does effectively explain concepts behind Ajax and gives understandable PHP examples. It is well worth the read.

Use Ajax, PHP and MySQL Together For Great Web Applications
Ajax is a JavaScript based language and therefore many web programmers cringe at the thought of using Ajax on their webpages. Lee Babin has written this book to help those of us new to Ajax learn how to use this new language without being intimidated by its JavaScript origins. After a brief history and introduction to Ajax, Babin begins by discussing the purpose of Ajax in web applications and some of the Ajax basics such as sending server requests without causing the webpage to refresh.

Next, he introduces PHP into the mix and gives several examples of how Ajax can facilitate the communication between client and server in web applications. He uses several everyday examples such as auto-complete and form validation. The next step in learning how to write good web applications is to introduce a database. Babin uses the MySQL database in his working example which is a web based calendar application. I really liked the continuity the author achieved by using this same example throughout the rest of the book. For example in the next chapter, he covers form validation in more detail and then shows how to add this feature to the calendar application.

One advantage of using Ajax and PHP together is how well they handle tasks such as manipulating and displaying images on webpages. Babin first discusses how to generate thumbnail images on the fly and then applies this to a photo gallery. A photo gallery application is often used when teaching a new programming language because it can be used in many situations. However, Babin especially points out how Ajax can be used to improve on the common web based photo gallery.

One of the things programmers love to do when they learn a new programming language is to use it everywhere. Babin discusses why you should avoid this common mistake and explains when it is most useful to use Ajax to enhance your website. For example, he discusses the popularity of web services such as the Google search engine and PayPal payment processing and how to use Ajax to incorporate these services into your site.

As we all know, cross-browser coding is an issue that never seems to be resolved completely. Babin discusses this and other problems encountered when using Ajax. For example, what do you do when the user has turned off JavaScript in his web browser or when the Back and Forward buttons stop working. Finally, he covers how to handle security issues specific to using Ajax.

Lee Babin has been programming for many years and owns his own development company. He has worked on 100+ projects.

Don’t fear the script tags!
The book itself is pretty short and I can’t really blame them. AJAX is simple and once you have a good javascript function for calling your server side code there isn’t really much else left to talk about. The book tends to veer away from the AJAX and into other areas like web services. However I still recommend this book because the code is well explained and some of the functions are amazingly useful even if you don’t use them with AJAX.
The file uploading section alone makes it worth buying!
I know the book is suppose to be just the beginning but even a bit more depth into the code that goes along side ajax (multi file uploading for instance) would have made this book a five star.
It makes a good start for javascript beginners and AJAX is a perfect example of why we shouldn’t fear those script tags.

A Good Introduction to AJAX for the PHP Programmer
PHP is a very popular web scripting language. AJAX is the hottest new interactive web technology. It only makes sense to write a book to combine the two.

This book does a great job of combining clear explanation of the concepts with real working code that you can reuse in your own applications. Giving me a head start with reusable code is something I always look for in a book, and this book provides a wide range of PHP and Javascript code that you can reuse.

Chapter 1 begins with a very good description of what exactly AJAX is, and how it differs from traditional web programming. Chapter 2 builds on Chapter 1 by explaining the basic components of AJAX. The XMLHttpRequest object is covered in great detail. Each property and method is explained. The book only explains how to use XMLHttpRequest to communicate to the server and does not cover hidden iframe’s. However, that may be for the best, since I believe hidden iframes are mostly a legacy way to implement AJAX communication.

Chapter 3 gets right into it with connecting PHP with AJAX. Chapter 4 follows up with using the database. If you are not familiar with PHP or Javascript you may find some of the examples a little difficult to follow. Though if you’ve worked with C/C++/C# or actual Java, the syntax is close enough you should be able to follow what is going on. Though a good PHP and Javascript book will come in handy!

Chapters 5 and 6 cover forms and images, which are important parts of any AJAX web site. The author presents a calendar application that pops up forms to allow you to enter data. The book does a good job of explaining the difference between how traditional POSTed forms work compared to AJAX.

Chapter 7 shows how to create a real-world AJAX application. You are taken step by step through the creation of an AJAX photo album application. Chapter 8 discusses look and feel. It makes the very important point of when to use AJAX. Its a pain to program many of the AJAX "effects" by your self, so the author introduces you to the PEAR (PHP Extension and Application Repository) package. This can speed PHP and AJAX development quite a bit.

Chapter 9 discusses web services. Chapter 10 is very interesting as it discussed "spatially enabled web applications". This is the type of application that Google Maps is! Chapter 11 is important as it discusses cross-browser issues, and how to avoid them. Chapter 12 covers some of the unique security issues that AJAX presents. Chapter 13 explains how to test and debug AJAX applications.

The book ends with Chapter 14, which is an overview of the DOM. The DOM, or Document Object Model, allows you to easily parse and generate XML. This is very important for the XML messages that you will be exchanging with the server. If you are getting confused by some of the DOM usage earlier in the book, I would suggest reading this chapter after about Chapter 3 or 4.

This is a very good introduction to PHP and AJAX. The book is only 252 pages so it does not waste much time with introductory information. You really should be at least basically familiar with the following technologies before starting this book:

Basic HTML/XHTML layout
Java Script
PHP
SQL
Cascading Style Sheets (not critical, but still useful)

The book does not attempt to teach these technologies, but rather builds upon them.