AJAX. Javascript Function, XML Service

If you have found a pretty good javascript control that requires data to be loaded from server asynchronously – XsltDb is something you’d appreciate. It provides a very simple way to load data asynchronously by javascript function or by providing a URL.

Here I provide an example of loading list of Modules currently installed in DotNetNuke.

1. Creating javascript function

The first method covers full cycle of AJAX. XsltDb helps creating javascript function that goes to the server (using XmlHttpRequest) queries database, returns data to client and call a user-defined callback. This is an XsltDb configuration that creates such a function:

<mdo:callable js="getModules(filter)">
   <xsl:copy-of select="mdo:sql('
       select * from {databaseOwner}[{objectQualifier}desktopModules]
       where FriendlyName like @filter
   ', 'module', '@filter', concat('%', mdo:request(filter), '%'))" />
</mdo:callable>

The code is pretty short, isn’t it?

Attention! As we use free sql statement we must check the Super Module option above XSLT Editor.

Resulting output on HTML page is a javascript function getModules that returns a list of modules as XML string. You can use XSL to create any type of output: string, JSON, etc. Usage of the getModules is simple:

Asynchronous

getModules("x", function(result){
   alert(result);
});

Or synchronous (not recommended)

alert(getModules("x"));

2. Creating a URL handler

Controls often capable of querying a URL that return XML data. This is also easy to implement with XsltDb. Create a new module, click Edit XSLT and fill “Alias” field above the control with “modules” alias name. You also must check Super Module option tobe able to execute SQL.

<xsl:if test=" mdo:request('service')='modules' ">
   <xsl:copy-of select="mdo:sql('
       select * from {databaseOwner}[{objectQualifier}desktopModules]
       where FriendlyName like @filter
  ', 'module', '@filter', concat('%', mdo:request(filter), '%'))" />
</xsl:if>

xsl:if is not nesessary and used to prevent output generation when we open a page where the module sits.

The URL that returns data provided by the module is:

/DesktopModules/XsltDb/ws.aspx?service=alias-name[&additional-parameters]

In our case we must use

/DesktopModules/XsltDb/ws.aspx?service=modules&filter=x

Example would be:

$.ajax({
      url: '/DesktopModules/XsltDb/ws.aspx?service=modules&filter=x',
      success: function(data, status, http) {
      alert(http.responseText);
   }
});

Note that you can put all your services on a separate page and reuse it from any page of your site or from other sites.

More about AJAX in XsltDb:

• Reloading whole module using AJAX
• Module as a dedicated AJAX function
• Create HTML markup and AJAX functions inside a single configuration