Ajax, the popular term for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, is one of the most important combinations of technologies for web developers to know these days. With its rich grouping of technologies, Ajax developers can create interactive web applications with XML-based web services, using JavaScript in the browser to process the web server response.

Taking complete advantage of Ajax, however, requires something more than your typical "how-to" book. What it calls for is Ajax Hacks from O’Reilly. This valuable guide provides direct, hands-on solutions that take the mystery out of Ajax’s many capabilities. Each hack represents a clever way to accomplish a specific task, saving you countless hours of searching for the right answer.

A smart collection of 80 insider tips and tricks, Ajax Hacks covers all of the technology’s finer points. Want to build next-generation web applications today? This book can show you how. Among the multitude of topics addressed, it shows you techniques for:

• Using Ajax with Google Maps and Yahoo Maps
• Displaying Weather.com data
• Scraping stock quotes
• Fetching postal codes
• Building web forms with auto-complete functionality

Ajax Hacks also features a number of advanced hacks for accelerated web developers. Discover how to create huge, maintainable bookmarklets, how to use client-side storage for Ajax applications, and how to call a built-in Java object from JavaScript using Ajax. The book even addresses best practices for testing Ajax applications and improving maintenance, performance, and reliability for JavaScript code.

The latest in O"Reilly’s celebrated Hacks series, Ajax Hacks smartly complements other O’Reilly titles such as Head Rush Ajax and java script: The Definitive Guide.

Ajax, the popular term for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, is one of the most important combinations of technologies for web developers to know these days. With its rich grouping of technologies, Ajax developers can create interactive web applications with XML-based web services, using JavaScript in the browser to process the web server response.

Taking complete advantage of Ajax, however, requires something more than your typical "how-to" book. What it calls for is Ajax Hacks from O’Reilly. This valuable guide provides direct, hands-on solutions that take the mystery out of Ajax’s many capabilities. Each hack represents a clever way to accomplish a specific task, saving you countless hours of searching for the right answer.

A smart collection of 80 insider tips and tricks, Ajax Hacks covers all of the technology’s finer points. Want to build next-generation web applications today? This book can show you how. Among the multitude of topics addressed, it shows you techniques for:

• Using Ajax with Google Maps and Yahoo Maps
• Displaying Weather.com data
• Scraping stock quotes
• Fetching postal codes
• Building web forms with auto-complete functionality

Ajax Hacks also features a number of advanced hacks for accelerated web developers. Discover how to create huge, maintainable bookmarklets, how to use client-side storage for Ajax applications, and how to call a built-in Java object from JavaScript using Ajax. The book even addresses best practices for testing Ajax applications and improving maintenance, performance, and reliability for JavaScript code.

The latest in O"Reilly’s celebrated Hacks series, Ajax Hacks smartly complements other O’Reilly titles such as Head Rush Ajax and java script: The Definitive Guide.

A good supplement to Ajax!
The title of the book implies that it is a supplement by the use of the word "Hacks" and should be rated as such. Perhaps the author could have given this indication more, however, it is clear it is not an exhausting introduction to Ajax. For those of us who have been around in this industry long enough and understand the underlying technologies this is a good book as an extra with many tips for the web developer. Of course most of this can be obtained off the web and through forums, but it is always handy to have a reference like this on the shelf. I weighed this up with Ajax for Dummies and knew I would get more out of this book. Because the basics of Ajax is so simple to learn (suggest looking at the tutorials on the web) this book has more value. I have given it a 5 because I feel that overall it is worth more than just 4. However, note that it was published in 2006 and there are many more books coming out on this subject.

Broad Coverage Of AJAX
I found the spectrum of AJAX coverage very broad. If you are interested in finding out a little about a lot of areas of AJAX this book is alright. I found it’s coverage too broad.

Not impressed
O’Reilly offers some excellent books. This is not one of them.



Every example I looked at seemed ... not a good example of how to use Javascript. Paging through the book, there are many examples of poor practice in the code. I would be tempted use this book as a source text for bad examples. The ideas might be OK, but the code ... oh please, no.

Not impressed
O’Reilly offers some excellent books. This is not one of them.

Every example I looked at seemed ... not a good example of how to use Javascript. Paging through the book, there are many examples of poor practice in the code. I would be tempted use this book as a source text for bad examples. The ideas might be OK, but the code ... oh please, no.

a fair beginner book for AJAX
I just do not understand the downstair comments : "you need to know JavaScript and XML before reading this book". In fact, a large part of the book is teaching you how to validate use input using JavaScript and that I assume people without JavaScript experience (maybe just those from W3C school pages are enough) are ok with this contents. Not recommended for advanced user.

Wonderful AJAX Companion Book
AJAX Hacks by Bruce Perry is a wonderful companion book for any and all AJAX programmers. AJAX has revolutionized the web programming world, enabling developers to write web pages that act more like real applications that we all know and love. AJAX is a simple technology that allows people to do amazing things, and now there is a book that will show you the ins and outs of creating cool code which is fast, efficient, and easy to use!! With over 400 pages and 80 hacks/tips/tricks, this book is perfect for users that are just learning AJAX and quickly want to accomplish a particular goal. Instead of painfully going through a 600 page book, get to the task you want to accomplish quickly with this excellent book!!

Major topics covered:

01. Ajax Basics
02. Web Forms
03. Validation
04. Power Hacks for Web Developers
05. Directing Web Remoting
06. Prototype and Rico Libraries
07. Ajax with Ruby
08. script.aculo.us
09. Options & Efficiencies

Great book, great writing, great deal!!!

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

CLEANING UP WITH AJAX!!
Do you want to add extra interactivity to your web site? If you do, then this book is for you! Author Bruce Perry, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that collects not only dozens of easy-to-grasp, cutting-edge explorations of Ajax technology, such as Google/Yahoo! mapping mash-ups, drag-and-drop bookstores, and single-page web services apps, but a large number of hacks that represent practical advice for Ajax developers.

Perry, begins with a synopsis of the group of well-known technologies that make up Ajax. Then, the author shows how typical it is now to submit form data and to build form widgets such as select lists and checkbox groups using server data fetched in the background with XMLHttpRequest. Next, the author discusses how Ajax applications can cut down on server hits by validating the format of e-mail addresses, credit card numbers, zip codes, and other types of data that users enter into web forms before sending the data. The author then covers a mash-up of Google Maps, Yahoo! Maps, and Yahoo! driving directions, as well as a software interaction involving Yahoo! Maps and a location-to-URL service called GeoURL. The author continues by discussing Ajax as it relates to developers who are immersed in both Java and JavaScript. He also discusses how to use Prototype, a cool open source JavaScript library that includes its own Ajax tools. Next, the author shows you how to get up and running with RoR; and then, moves on to several hacks that illustrate RoR’s Ajax tools. Then, he covers script.aculo.us, which is another opensource JavaScript library built on Prototype. Finally, the author provides several tips for real-world Ajax developers.

This most excellent book introduces JavaScript newbies and aficionados alike to useful code libraries, including Prototype, Rico, and script.aculo.us. More importantly, web developers can adapt a number of this book’s hacks, some of which are distributed as open source libraries, for their own applications.

Once you have the basics down...
Once you have the basics of Ajax down, you might be looking for some ideas of how to apply it to your own applications. Ajax Hacks by Bruce W. Perry fills that particular niche pretty well.

Contents: Ajax Basics; Web Forms; Validation; Power Hacks for Web Developers; Direct Web Remoting (DWR) for Java Jocks; Hack Ajax with the Prototype and Rico Libraries; Work with Ajax and Ruby on Rails; Savor the script.aculo.us JavaScript Library; Options and Efficiencies; Index

Perry collects 80 "hacks" in this volume, which is focused on different techniques for applying Ajax in various ways. The Basics section contains things that you probably will pick up in most Ajax books and tutorials, such as how to check for errors and how to detect which browser is being used. But the dynamic CSS generation ideas were pretty cool. From then on, you get a variety of hacks and code that show you how to do a number of things, such as populating dropdown lists, building mash-ups, and even how to do a drag-and-drop interface without round-tripping to the server with each action. This is one of those books that you probably won’t buy with a particular need in mind, but after reading through the material you’ll have some ideas that you want to explore further.

Similar to most Hacks titles, it’s also not a book you’d buy to learn Ajax. But given the assumption that you know the basics, this book makes a nice addition to your bookshelf for practicality and application purposes...

excellent ajax book
This is an excellent ajax book. Be sure you know javascript, xml, and css before you start reading the book. It’s not for the beginner. The examples, especially the idea in the book are so good that you can use them in your real work everyday. It’s the 3rd book i went through and I think it deserves the 5 stars.

The Last Book I’d Recommend on AJAX
A lot of O’Reilly books of late seem rushed, intended to fill a sudden small vacancy in the marketplace. This is one such book. It seems not well proofed, the code samples are often big blobs of text with no indentation or concern for formatting, and the content seems rushed and poorly considered.

For example, the Ruby on Rails coverage is really slim, and the code looks like it was written a year ago. There’s not a single example using RJS templates, the current standard way of writing AJAX in Rails. The Scriptaculous examples are already out of date (for example, the chapter on in-place editing is totally irrelevant - Rails has a means to do this in a single line of code by now) and the content is quite spare.

If you need a book on Ajax, look for the Manning or Pragmatic Programmer books. All the other ones are quite poor, especially this one. I usually really like O’Reilly’s work, but lately it’s gotten watered-down. Skip this book and save your money for something better.

Lots of great tips and techniques...
If you’re already pretty comfortable with JavaScript and had possibly even done some "Ajax" development before it was coined "Ajax", this book would be a great addition to your library. It covers quite a number of various Ajax techniques and libraries that have been around for a while as well as the increasing number that have cropped up over the last year or so.

If you are new to Ajax (or JavaScript) development, you might want to check Head Rush Ajax or another Ajax/JavaScript starter book, as this book assumes you aren’t new to JavaScript development. If you’re looking for a variety of interesting ways to do asynchronous javascript calls, this book fits the bill quite nicely.

Good, usefull
Hello,

I have this Ajax book and other one too. This book is fine, and the examples mainly worked in my system (with Firefox browser, but I have not checked all examples). Examples are easy to understand.

If I have to recommend some Ajax book, then I recommend this one.

To basic-understand Ajax is enough with something like 20 or 30 pages, and this book writes only what is needed. Rest of thing in the book are examples, case of usage, etc.

Carles.