The Book of JavaScript, 2nd Edition: A Practical Guide to Interactive Web Pages

by Thau

Overview

JavaScript makes it easy to add interactivity, animation, and other tricks to your web pages. But this isn't just a book of JavaScripts for you to cut and paste into your HTML, only to find out that nothing works as you'd expected. Using real-world examples as the starting point, author thau! walks you step-by-step through various scripts and explains how they produce the effects you want.

Because no discussion of JavaScript today is complete without coverage of Ajax Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), this thoroughly updated second edition includes new chapters on Ajax to get you up to speed with this valuable method for creating truly dynamic web pages.

You'll also find revised appendices and new examples that reflect today's web environment. Learn to:
– Work with frames, forms, cookies, and alarms
– Use events to react to a user's actions
– Perform image swaps and rollovers
– Program your own functions to produce customized solutions
– Store user preferences and build a shopping cart
– Use Ajax to turn web pages into applications

If you need to spruce up tired-looking pages, The Book of JavaScript, 2nd Edition will help take your site from bland to brilliant.

BONUS: Includes a complete reference to all JavaScript objects and functions, including examples, properties, methods, handlers, and browser compatibility!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781593271305
Publisher:	No Starch Press
Publication date:	12/06/2006
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	528
File size:	10 MB

About the Author

thau! has been creating Internet applications since 1993, starting with bianca.com, the first web-based community on the Internet. He was Director of Software Engineering and Senior Scientist at Wired Digital, and he has taught programming languages to hundreds of artists, engineers, and children. He is currently creating data-sharing platforms for people studying biodiversity while he works toward a Ph.D. in computer science at the University of California, Davis.

Table of Contents

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THE BOOK OF JAVASCRIPT, 2ND EDITION; PRAISE FOR THE BOOK OF JAVASCRIPT, 1ST EDITION; Dedication; FOREWORD; FOREWORD TO THE FIRST EDITION; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS; INTRODUCTION; How This Book Is Organized; Companion Website; Chapter 1: WELCOME TO JAVASCRIPT!; 1.1 Is JavaScript for You?; 1.2 Is This Book for You?; 1.3 The Goals of This Book; 1.4 What Can JavaScript Do?; 1.5 What Are the Alternatives to JavaScript?; 1.6 JavaScript's Limitations; 1.7 Getting Started; 1.8 Where JavaScript Goes on Your Web Pages; 1.9 Dealing with Older Browsers; 1.10 Your First JavaScript; 1.11 Summary; 1.12 Assignment; Chapter 2: USING VARIABLES AND BUILT-IN FUNCTIONS TO UPDATE YOUR WEB PAGES AUTOMATICALLY; 2.1 Variables Store Information; 2.2 Write Here Right Now: Displaying Results; 2.3 Strings; 2.4 More About Functions; 2.5 Parameters; 2.6 Writing the Date to Your Web Page; 2.7 How the European Space Agency Writes the Date to Its Page; 2.8 Summary; 2.9 Assignment; Chapter 3: GIVING THE BROWSERS WHAT THEY WANT; 3.1 A Real-World Example of Browser Detection; 3.2 Browser Detection Methods; 3.3 Redirecting Visitors to Other Pages; 3.4 if-then Statements; 3.5 OR and AND; 3.6 Putting It All Together; 3.7 A Few More Details About Boolean Expressions; 3.8 How Netscape Provides Browser-Specific Content; 3.9 Summary; 3.10 Assignment; Chapter 4: WORKING WITH ROLLOVERS; 4.1 A Real-World Example of Rollovers; 4.2 Triggering Events; 4.3 Swapping Images; 4.4 Working with Multiple Images; 4.5 What's with All the Dots?; 4.6 How the Tin House Rollovers Work; 4.7 Summary; 4.8 Assignment; Chapter 5: OPENING AND MANIPULATING WINDOWS; 5.1 Real-World Examples of Opening Windows to Further Information; 5.2 Working with Windows as Objects; 5.3 Opening Windows; 5.4 Closing Windows; 5.5 Using the Right Name: How Windows See Themselves and Each Other; 5.6 Moving Windows to the Front or Back of the Screen; 5.7 Window Properties; 5.8 More Window Methods; 5.9 Summary; 5.10 Assignment; Chapter 6: WRITING YOUR OWN JAVASCRIPT FUNCTIONS; 6.1 Functions as Shortcuts; 6.2 Writing Flexible Functions; 6.3 Getting Information from Functions; 6.4 Dealing with Y2K; 6.5 Defining Variables Properly; 6.6 Summary; 6.7 Assignment; Chapter 7: PROVIDING AND RECEIVING INFORMATION WITH FORMS; 7.1 Real-World Examples of Forms; 7.2 Form Basics; 7.3 Forms and JavaScript; 7.4 Reading and Setting Form Elements; 7.5 Handling Events Using Form Elements; 7.6 Make this a Shortcut; 7.7 Using Pull-Down Menus as Navigational Tools; 7.8 One Last Forms Shortcut; 7.9 How the Doctors Without Borders Pull-Down Navigation Tool Works; 7.10 Summary; 7.11 Assignment; Chapter 8: KEEPING TRACK OF INFORMATION WITH ARRAYS AND LOOPS; 8.1 Real-World Examples of Arrays; 8.2 JavaScript's Built-In Arrays; 8.3 Figuring Out How Many Items an Array Contains; 8.4 Going Through Arrays; 8.5 while Loops; 8.6 for Loops; 8.7 How AntWeb Checks Off All the Checkboxes; 8.8 Creating Your Own Arrays; 8.9 How the Book of JavaScript Tip Box Works; 8.10 Loops Can Nest; 8.11 Creating Arrays As You Go Along; 8.12 Associative Arrays; 8.13 Summary; 8.14 Assignment; Chapter 9: TIMING EVENTS; 9.1 Real-World Examples of Timing Events; 9.2 Setting an Alarm with setTimeout(); 9.3 Canceling an Alarm with clearTimeout(); 9.4 Repeating Timed Actions; 9.5 Building a Clock with Timing Loops; 9.6 How the Book of JavaScript Website's Timer Works; 9.7 How Space.com's Countdown Script Works; 9.8 A Timed Slide Show; 9.9 A Safer Version of rotateImage(); 9.10 Summary; 9.11 Assignment; Chapter 10: USING FRAMES AND IMAGE MAPS; 10.1 A Real-World Example of Frames and Image Maps; 10.2 Frames; 10.3 Image Maps; 10.4 How Salon's Bug-Eating Script Works; 10.5 Summary; 10.6 Assignment; Chapter 11: VALIDATING FORMS, MASSAGING STRINGS, AND WORKING WITH SERVER-SIDE PROGRAMS; 11.1 A Real-World Example of Form Validation; 11.2 Making Sure a Visitor Has Filled Out a Form Element; 11.3 String Handling; 11.4 How Dictionary.com's Form Validators Work; 11.5 Summary; 11.6 Assignment; Chapter 12: SAVING VISITOR INFORMATION WITH COOKIES; 12.1 A Real-World Example of Cookies; 12.2 What Are Cookies?; 12.3 What Cookies Can and Can't Do; 12.4 Working with Cookies; 12.5 Cookie Libraries; 12.6 A Cookie-Based Shopping Cart; 12.7 Summary; 12.8 Assignment; Chapter 13: DYNAMIC HTML; 13.1 Real-World Examples of DHTML; 13.2 CSS Basics; 13.3 JavaScript and DHTML; 13.4 Making divs Move; 13.5 Using setTimeout() and clearTimeout() to Animate a Page; 13.6 Changing the Contents of a div; 13.7 spans and getElementsByTagName(); 13.8 Advanced DOM Techniques; 13.9 Fancy Event Handling; 13.10 Drop-Down Menus; 13.11 Summary; 13.12 Assignment; Chapter 14: AJAX BASICS; 14.1 A Real-World Example of Ajax; 14.2 Introduction to Ajaaaaaax; 14.3 Creating and Sending Requests; 14.4 Demonstrating Asynchronicity; 14.5 Ajax and Usability; 14.6 To Ajax, or Not to Ajax; 14.7 Summary; 14.8 Assignment; Chapter 15: XML IN JAVASCRIPT AND AJAX; 15.1 A Real-World Example of Ajax and XML; 15.2 Google Suggest; 15.3 XML—the Extensible Markup Language; 15.4 The Rules of XML; 15.5 Processing XML; 15.6 Creating a Suggest Application for Translation; 15.7 Summary; 15.8 Assignment; Chapter 16: SERVER-SIDE AJAX; 16.1 Real-World Examples of Server-Side Ajax; 16.2 The Power of Webservers; 16.3 A Server-Side Programming Language; 16.4 PHP Basics; 16.5 Sending Simple Input to PHP with a GET Request; 16.6 Creating a Google Suggest Application with an Ajax GET Request; 16.7 Ajax and the POST Method; 16.8 HEAD Requests: Getting Information About a Server-Side File; 16.9 The Caching Problem; 16.10 File Handling in PHP; 16.11 When Communication Breaks Down; 16.12 Automatically Updating a Web Page When a Server-Side File Changes; 16.13 Summary; 16.14 Assignment; Chapter 17: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER IN A SHARED TO DO LIST; 17.1 Features of the To Do List Application; 17.2 To Do List Data Files; 17.3 To Do List Server Side; 17.4 The To Do List Client Side, Part 1: The HTML; 17.5 The To Do List Client Side, Part 2: The JavaScript; 17.6 A Few Closing Notes; 17.7 Summary; 17.8 Assignment; Chapter 18: DEBUGGING JAVASCRIPT AND AJAX; 18.1 Good Coding Practices; 18.2 Avoiding Common Mistakes; 18.3 Finding Bugs; 18.4 Fixing Bugs; 18.5 Summary; ANSWERS TO ASSIGNMENTS; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; RESOURCES; Tutorials; Example JavaScript and Ajax Code; Good Ajax Websites; Ajax Frameworks; REFERENCE TO JAVASCRIPT OBJECTS AND FUNCTIONS; alert() [FF, IE 3]; Anchor; Applet; Area [FF, IE 3]; Array [FF, IE 3]; Button (Including Submit and Reset Buttons); Checkbox; clearInterval() [FF, IE 4]; clearTimeout() [FF, IE 3]; confirm() [FF, IE 3]; Date; Document; elements[] [FF, IE 3]; escape() [FF, IE 3]; eval() [FF, IE 3]; Event; FileUpload; Form; Hidden; History; HTMLElement [FF, IE 4]; Image; isNaN() [FF, IE 4]; Link; Location; Math [FF, IE 3]; Navigator; Number; Option; parseInt() [FF, IE 3]; parseFloat() [FF, IE 3]; Password; prompt(); Radio; Reset; Screen; Select; setInterval() [FF, IE 4]; setTimeout() [FF, IE 3]; String; Style [FF, IE 4]; Submit; Text; Textarea; this [FF, IE 3]; unescape() [FF, IE 3]; var [FF, IE 3]; window; XMLHttpRequest [FF] and ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP") [IE 5.5]; CHAPTER 15'S ITALIAN TRANSLATOR AND CHAPTER 17'S TO DO LIST APPLICATION; Chapter 15's Italian Translator; Chapter 17's To Do List Application; COLOPHON;