AJAX - Spry Framework - Revision history

PeterHarding at 11:01, 25 February 2008

2008-02-25T11:01:28Z

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	the Web development community.		the Web development community.

	[[Category:Articles]][[Category:Development]][[Category:~~Internet~~]]		[[Category:Articles]][[Category:Development]][[Category:Technet]]

PeterHarding at 01:34, 25 January 2008

2008-01-25T01:34:12Z

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	following directory:		following directory:

			</pre>
	c:\\inetpubwwwroot\spry_p1_5_051707		c:\\inetpubwwwroot\spry_p1_5_051707
			</pre>

	Using this directory, the samples included with the download are easily		Using this directory, the samples included with the download are easily
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	the Web development community.		the Web development community.

	[[Category:~~Internet~~]][[Category:Development]]		[[Category:Articles]][[Category:Development]][[Category:Internet]]

PeterHarding at 01:29, 25 January 2008

2008-01-25T01:29:08Z

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	available JavaScript libraries? Share your experience and preferences with		available JavaScript libraries? Share your experience and preferences with
	the Web development community.		the Web development community.

			[[Category:Internet]][[Category:Development]]

PeterHarding at 02:45, 12 December 2007

2007-12-12T02:45:12Z

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	Widgets, and Effects.		Widgets, and Effects.

	* Data: The Data API includes various functions for working with		* Data: The Data API includes various functions for working with XML-based data. Spry creates datasets by making calls to the XML data
	XML-based data. Spry creates datasets by making calls to the XML data		sources URLs. Datasets can be tied together in a master/detail relationship, as well as easily displayed by tying them to regions of a
	sources URLs. Datasets can be tied together in a master/detail
	relationship, as well as easily displayed by tying them to regions of a
	page.		page.
	* Widgets: The Widget API allows you to tie together HTML, CSS, and		* Widgets: The Widget API allows you to tie together HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code for user interaction. The HTML defines its structure, CSS defines its presentation, and JavaScript defines its behavior, such as responding to user actions.
	JavaScript code for user interaction. The HTML defines its structure, CSS		* Effects: The Effects API provides the ability to easily apply visual enhancements to almost any element on an HTML page. The current iteration of the framework includes the following effects: fade, highlight, blind up/down, slide up/down, grow, shake, and squish. Spry uses the script.aculo.us library for some effects.
	defines its presentation, and JavaScript defines its behavior, such as
	responding to user actions.
	* Effects: The Effects API provides the ability to easily apply visual
	enhancements to almost any element on an HTML page. The current iteration
	of the framework includes the following effects: fade, highlight, blind
	up/down, slide up/down, grow, shake, and squish. Spry uses the
	script.aculo.us library for some effects.


	The APIs are available in the JavaScript library files installed with the		The APIs are available in the JavaScript library files installed with the

PeterHarding: New page: = Free framework looks to simplify Ajax development = === Tony Patton, TechRepublic === Adobe is focusing on less-technical persons, while many libraries like jQuery focus on Web develope...

2007-12-12T02:44:11Z

New page: = Free framework looks to simplify Ajax development = === Tony Patton, TechRepublic === Adobe is focusing on less-technical persons, while many libraries like jQuery focus on Web develope...

New page

= Free framework looks to simplify Ajax development =
=== Tony Patton, TechRepublic ===

Adobe is focusing on less-technical persons, while many libraries like
jQuery focus on Web developers to utilise and extend their library code.
Adobe states that the Spry framework for Ajax is meant primarily for users
who are Web design professionals or advanced nonprofessional Web designers.
It is not intended as a full Web application framework for enterprise-level
Web development. With that said, here's a look at getting and using it.

== It is free ==

The Spry framework is currently at a prerelease version of 1.5. It is
freely available from the Adobe Labs site; it does require registration
with a valid e-mail address to complete the download. You download it in a
single, compressed file. And, you can extract and install it to a directory
on a Web server to be up and running in minutes.

As an example, I downloaded and installed it on a local development
machine running Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) in the
following directory:

c:\\inetpubwwwroot\spry_p1_5_051707

Using this directory, the samples included with the download are easily
accessed via the following local URL on the machine:

http://localhost/samples/index.html

== Three easy pieces ==

Spry is made available for use in your applications via the BSD License.
The framework includes three main sections of functionality: Data,
Widgets, and Effects.

* Data: The Data API includes various functions for working with
XML-based data. Spry creates datasets by making calls to the XML data
sources URLs. Datasets can be tied together in a master/detail
relationship, as well as easily displayed by tying them to regions of a
page.
* Widgets: The Widget API allows you to tie together HTML, CSS, and
JavaScript code for user interaction. The HTML defines its structure, CSS
defines its presentation, and JavaScript defines its behavior, such as
responding to user actions.
* Effects: The Effects API provides the ability to easily apply visual
enhancements to almost any element on an HTML page. The current iteration
of the framework includes the following effects: fade, highlight, blind
up/down, slide up/down, grow, shake, and squish. Spry uses the
script.aculo.us library for some effects.

The APIs are available in the JavaScript library files installed with the
framework. They are located in the includes subdirectory of the Spry
installation.

== Drawbacks ==

One of the most frustrating aspects of Web development is ensuring an
application works in various browsers. This involves ensuring the
application degrades gracefully to work in browsers with minimal
capabilities, including a lack of JavaScript support. With JavaScript
being a central player in the AJAX acronym, a lack of it means it just
won't work.

This is where the application should be designed to work without Ajax, and
the Spry framework has not been designed to gracefully degrade. In fact, it
does not work if JavaScript is disabled in the browser; you must keep this
in mind if you use Spry. The onus of graceful degradation rests with the
developer.

Another concern with the Spry framework is the use of nonstandard
attributes for HTML elements like the DIV tag. This type of design can
cause pages using such code to not function in certain browsers. Adobe
says the current version of Spry has been tested with Firefox 1.5,
Internet Explorer 6, Safari 2.0.3, and Netscape 7.2. You can find more
details on this point and other issues in the Spry framework FAQ.

== My impressions ==

I find the Spry library a bit more complex than expected given its target
audience of the less-than-JavaScript-savvy Web designer community. While
it is easy to create data sources based upon XML, using these data sources
relied upon my JavaScript knowledge. I did like the various features of the
toolkit, but it makes me wonder how much a person with limited JavaScript
knowledge will able to accomplish with Spry.

== Spry gives you another option ==

Once upon a time it was hard to locate JavaScript libraries that
simplified incorporating Ajax functionality in a Web application, but now
the number of freely available libraries is a bit overwhelming. The niche
aspect of the Spry framework for Ajax is that Adobe is targeting Web
designers who are less technical. The framework does provide cool and
usable features via its data support, as well as widgets and effects.

Have you worked with the Adobe Spry framework or any other freely
available JavaScript libraries? Share your experience and preferences with
the Web development community.