Django JavaScript Integration: AJAX and jQuery

Table of Contents

Preface 1
Chapter 1: jQuery and Ajax Integration in Django 7
Ajax and the XMLHttpRequest object 8
Human speech: An overlaid function 8
Ajax: Another overlaid function 8
The technologies Ajax is overlaid on 9
JavaScript 9
XMLHttpRequest 14
Methods 14
Properties 15
HTML/XHTML 17
XML 18
JSON 18
CSS 19
The DOM 19
iframes and other Ajax variations 20
JavaScript/Ajax Libraries 21
Server-side technologies 21
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Chapter More:

A look at Django 21
Django templating kickstart 22
A more complete glimpse at Django templating 23
Setting JavaScript and other static content in place 32
Summary 33
Chapter 2: jQuery—the Most Common JavaScript Framework 35
jQuery and basic Ajax 36
jQuery Ajax facilities 39
$.ajax() 39
context 40
data 42
dataFilter 43
dataType 43
error(XMLHttpRequest, textStatus, errorThrown) 44
success(data, textStatus, XMLHttpRequest) 44
type 44
url 44
$.aj0axSetup() 45
Sample invocation 45
$.get() and $.post() 45
.load() 46
jQuery as a virtual higher-level language 48
The selectors 48
A closure-based example to measure clock skew 52
Case study: A more in-depth application 56
Chapter 3: Validating Form Input on the Server Side 56
Chapter 4: Server-side Database Search with Ajax 56
Chapter 5: Signing Up and Logging into a Website Using Ajax 57
Chapter 6: jQuery In-place Editing Using Ajax 57
Chapter 7: Using jQuery UI Autocomplete in Django Templates 57
Chapter 8: Django ModelForm: a CSS Makeover 57
Chapter 9: Database and Search Handling 57
Chapter 10: Tinkering Around: Bugfixes, Friendlier Password Input, and a Directory That Tells Local Time 58
Chapter 11: Usability for Hackers 58
Appendix: Debugging Hard JavaScript Bugs 58
Summary 58
Chapter 3: Validating Form Input on the Server Side 61
The standard lecture: low-level validation 62
Matching regular expressions 62
You cannot guarantee absolutely valid data 63
Validating can detect (some) malicious input 63
The Django way of validation 64
Django gives you some things for free 64
The steps in Django's validation 65
A more sensible and cruelty-free approach to validation 66
Things get murkier 67
The zero-one-infinity rule: a cardinal rule of thumb in usability 68
An improvement on Django's advertised approach 68
A validation example: GPS coordinates 70
Avoiding error messages that point fingers and say, "You're wrong!" 71
Validation as demanding that assumptions be met 72
Old-school: conform to our U.S.-based assumptions! 72
Adding the wrong kind of band-aid 74
Making assumptions and demanding that users conform 76
At least names are simple, right? 76
Even in ASCII, things keep getting murkier 77
Better validation may be less validation 78
Caveat: English is something of a lingua franca 79
We don't have to negotiate with pistols 80
Doing our best to solve the wrong problem: a story 81
It really does apply to validation 82
Facebook and LinkedIn know something better 83
Summary 83
Chapter 4: Server-side Database Search with Ajax 85
Searching on the client side and server side 86
Handling databases through Django models 86
Models for an intranet employee photo directory 87
Searching our database 95
A tour of Django persistence facilities 100
Summary 103
Chapter 5: Signing Up and Logging into a Website Using Ajax 105
admin.py: administrative functions called once 107
functions.py: project-specific functions, including our @ajax_login_required decorator 107
views.py: functions that render web pages 108
style.css: basic styling for usability 113
search.html: a template for client-side Ajax 114
The Django admin interface 122
Summary 124
Chapter 6: jQuery In-place Editing Using Ajax 125
Including a plugin 127
How to make pages more responsive 127
A template handling the client-side requirements 128
The bulk of the profile 132
Whitespace and delivery 133
Page-specific JavaScript 136
Support on the server side 137
Summary 139
Chapter 7: Using jQuery UI Autocomplete in Django Templates 141
Adding autocomplete: first attempt 142
Progressive enhancement, a best practice 142
A real-world workaround 146
"Interest-based negotiation": a power tool for problem solving when plan A doesn't work 146
A first workaround 148
Boilerplate code from jQuery UI documentation 154
Turning on Ajax behavior (or trying to) 156
Code on the server side 156
Refining our solution further 159
Summary 163
Chapter 8: Django ModelForm: a CSS Makeover 165
"Hello, world!" in ModelForm 165
Expanding and customizing the example 168
Customizing ModelForm pages' appearance 170
Going under ModelForm's hood 182
An excellent "stupid" question: where's the e-mail slot? 184
Summary 187
Chapter 9: Database and Search Handling 189
Moving forward to an AHAH solution 189
Django templates for simple AHAH 192
Templating for a list of search results 192
Template for an individual profile 195
Views on the server side 202
Telling if the user is logged in 202
A view to support deletion 202
The AHAH view to load profiles 203
Helper functions for the AHAH view for searching 204
An updated model 206
An AHAH server-side search function 207
Handling the client-side: A template for the main page 209
CSS for styling the directory 232
Our updated urlpatterns 241
Summary 241
Chapter 10: Tinkering Around: Bugfixes, Friendlier Password Input, and a Directory That Tells Local Time 243
Minor tweaks and bugfixes 243
Setting a default name of "(Insert name here)" 244
Eliminating Borg behavior 244
Confusing jQuery's load() with html() 245
Preventing display of deleted instances 246
Adding a favicon.ico 249
Handling password input in a slightly different way 250
A directory that includes local timekeeping 252
Summary 260
Chapter 11: Usability for Hackers 261
Usability begins with anthropology… and Django hackers have a good start on anthropology 262
Anthropological usability techniques 263
An introductory example: card sorting 263
Focus groups: cargo cult research for usability 265
Anthropological observation: the bedrock of usability 265
More than one way to see the same situation 266
Applying this foundation to usability 268
It's just like (hard) debugging 271
Lessons from other areas 272
Live cross-cultural encounters 272
History 273
Old books and literature 274
The last other area: whatever you have 277
Understanding the user 278
A lesson from optimization 278
What's wrong with scratching an itch, or you are not your user 279
Worst practices from the jargon file 279
Python and usability 280
It's not all about the computer! 280
What to do in the concrete 282
Further reading 283
Summary 284
Appendix: Debugging Hard JavaScript Bugs 285
"Just fiddling with Firebug" is considered harmful 285
Cargo cult debugging at your fingertips 285
The scientific method of debugging 286
Exhausting yourself by barking up the wrong tree 287
The humble debugger 289
The value of taking a break 289
Two major benefits to asking for help 290
Firebug and Chrome developer tools 290
The basics across browsers 290
Zeroing in on Chrome 293
Summary 298
Index 299

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