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Hexacta uses the latest's in Web UI interaction with AJAX - 02/10/2006 - 02/2006

The latest craze on the internet seems to be AJAX enabled web applications. It's the driving force behind the exciting new web pages from Google to Yahoo!, allowing a richer user experience and fluid interaction.

AJAX isn't actually a single technology but more of a mix of several previously available technologies: JavaScript, CSS, DOM and XMLHTTPRequest (the X in AJAX ) among others. Together these technologies are used to change the way a normal web page interacts with the user. Before the use of AJAX , the normal interaction lifecycle was that a user executed an action on the browser that triggered a message to the server. After the server processed the message and the response was sent back to the user usually in the form of a new web page that prompted the browser to refresh the entire screen, creating a small visible latency. With AJAX instead of the usual start-stop-start-stop interaction the request is processed by an intermediary JavaScript code that is responsible of forwarding the request to the server, wait for a response and triggering a change in the web page when the processing is done. All of this occurs in an asynchronous fashion without stalling the user's interaction with the application.

Hexacta has been pushing the envelope and has developed AJAX enabled applications from the beginning of 2005, (and before that remote scripting) being one of the first companies to use AJAX in production-ready solutions. In a government project the client requested a fluent interaction while updating information on the server. While simple validation is possible on the client, most data required complex rules hosted on the server. "For the user to be unaware if the validation took place on the server or the client we had to find a solution that could render a warning message without refreshing the entire page. The solution was to use AJAX to do asynchronous processing" - explains Iaron Roni Burd, a software architect in charge of the project.

Another big project at Hexacta for Sodexo was using remote scripting long before the term AJAX was coined to enclose this "new approach" to web interaction. For the system, Hexacta developed its own in-house engine for the project in order to create a system that resembles windows rich clients. Paired with a fast intranet connection, the users of the system are almost unaware that they are using a web application since the navigation is super responsive.

By committing to use the latest technology Hexacta helps maximize its client's ROI on any project. Together with its CMM® proven methodology and its assurance to deliver the best quality software, Hexacta can bring your project to life.