What is the OpenThought AJAX Library

Description

The OpenThought AJAX Library is a library which implements an API for AJAX/Remote Scripting, which means you can send data to and from the browser without needing to reload the page. OpenThought strives to provide a simple yet powerful and flexible means for creating such applications. Further, it's compatible with a wide range of browsers, from Internet Explorer 4+, Netscape 4+, Mozilla/Firefox, Safari, Opera, Konqeueror, and others.

OpenThought provides a means for data sent to the browser to be be displayed automatically on the existing page as HTML or in form input fields, it can dynamically change images or image attributes, access JavaScript functions and variables, and load new pages.

The interface is simple -- you just build a hash. Hash keys are mapped to fields in the HTML. The value your hash keys contain is dynamically inserted into the corresponding field (without reloading the page).

These features give the look and feel of a full-blown application instead of just an ordinary Web page.

Details

OpenThought allows you to build web applications which act like "real" applications. When an application is required, some people would decide to build it in Tk, Visual Basic, Gtk, or any number of other systems which offer a visual interface. But then, your application is either not available on the web, or you have to create a seperate web interface to interact with the backend.

Have you ever tried to create a web interface which mimics the interface of a non-web based application? The web based application no longer looks or acts like your other interface, it acts like an ordinary webpage. It probably uses several screens to get the same amount of content that your application offered in one.

By never needing to reload the page, OpenThought offers this application look and feel that's been missing from the web. This allows you to create just one interface, for both LAN and web use.

How it Works

OpenThought works by communicating with the server using a protocol called either Remote Scripting or AJAX, depending on when you got into it :-) Newer browsers provide a native means for doing this; Firefox, Safari, Opera, and others offer XMLHttpRequest. Internet Explorer offers XMLHTTP through ActiveX. If those functions are unavailable (you have an older browser, or ActiveX is disabled), OpenThought falls back to dynamically creating invisible iframes whenever a request to the server is desired.

Try it!

Has this captured your interest? Go download the code, install it, and try it out. If you have any input whatsoever, please feel free to let me know! I look forward to hearing from you.