AJAX and Rails

I posted previously about communicating with Rails using XMLHttpRequest, or AJAX, as it’s starting to be called. Since that post, Rail 0.10 (and 0.10.1!) were released with the new Routes functionality.

Anyway, I’ve created a couple of JavaScript classes to aid in using the XMLHttpRequest stuff. I’ve been using them on a little project I’ve been working on (and will soon announce) and they are working great on Safari, Firefox, and Windows IE 6! I updated them for use with Routing and, being the nice guy that I am, I thought I’d share them with the world.

I call them Connectors. They connect the browser to the (Rails) server via JavaScript and XMLHttp. There are two classes, both in the same .js file: RailsConnector, and JsonConnector. They can be used Synchronously or Asynchronously.

In the aforementioned blog post, I talk a bit about the API — but the source is actually fairly well commented. It even has a couple of usage examples. So what are you waiting for? Download it!

connectors.js(8 KB)

You can use this script however you like. So have a look at it, kick the tires. I only ask that if you find any bugs, make any fixes, let me know!