'nuther Javascript question

[Steve Workings]

Still plugging away at this:

I have a page that contains 4 grids. When the underlying data of one of the grids changes, I want to have the page automatically refresh. Got all but one piece working correctly.

My strategy includes this:

window.setInterval(submitform, 6000);

This runs the javascript submitform() function that's doing all the work.

The function includes this line:

Cart_LineCt_End = <%A5 ? line_count(table.external_record_content_get("[pathalias.adb_path]\shopcart", "qty", "", "session_id = '" + CartKey + "'")) %> ;

I then use Cart_LineCt_End to compare against another variable Cart_LineCt_Begin to decide whether to refresh the page.

Everything's working just swell: The interval fires, the function runs to completion, and if my two values are different, I get the refresh.

The problem is that the Cart_LineCt_End value from the above expression doesn't change, even when I change the data. I've tried a half dozen ways to retrieve the value, working mostly on the theory that it was just re-using queries, but I don't think that's the problem.

If I refresh the page manually, or use the Submit button on the grid in question, the A5 expression finally returns a different, correct value.

Make sense? What can I do within the javascript to insure the return of the correct value from the table?

[Peter.Wayne]

Re: 'nuther Javascript question

Steve,
You can't use Javascript to call on an A5 Xbasic server-side function. What you're looking to do requires AJAX or "AHAH" -- you want to update a portion of a page, you need to send a query to the server via XMLHTTP.

- Peter

[Howard G. Cornett]

Re: 'nuther Javascript question

You can also use the "iframe" tag to use a component on an a5w page. Then you can link to it or pass searches to the page in the "iframe" tag using javascript.

Here is an example of a javascript function that uses this technique. It is from a .js file for a project I am winding up right now. It references three search fields that I put on the index file (manually coded). Then when you click the search button it fires this javascript function which then shows the results in the "iframe" tag. The result is a sort of AJAX-like experience without the coding nightmare of AJAX. It also allows you to use Alpha components to build pages instead of having to do it by hand (very time consuming).

Anyway, here is the code:

function submitSearch1() {
	var county = document.getElementById("countyid").value;
	var town = document.getElementById("townid").value;
	var category = document.getElementById("catid").value;
	self.frames['content'].location.href = 'EventList.a5w' + '?countyid=' + escape(county) + '&townid=' + escape(town) + '&catid=' + escape(category);
	return false;
}

I hope this is helpful to you.

[Steve Workings]

Re: 'nuther Javascript question

I ran across this while trying to figure out what I need, but don't know much about the iframe tag. Now I know I need to study up. That's what I want: I want to refresh a grid component, and doing this by hand, while doable, is unattractive. Thanks for the guidance.

[Peter.Wayne]

Re: 'nuther Javascript question

That's a great solution, Howard. Thanks for sharing it.
- Peter