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AJAX Database Example


AJAX can be used for interactive communication with a database.


AJAX Database Example

The following example will demonstrate how a web page can fetch information from a database with AJAX:

Example


Customer info will be listed here...

Try it yourself »


Example Explained - The HTML Page

When a user selects a customer in the dropdown list above, a function called "showCustomer()" is executed. The function is triggered by the "onchange" event:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script>
function showCustomer(str)
{
if (str=="")
  {
  document.getElementById("txtHint").innerHTML="";
  return;
  }
if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
  {// code for IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari
  xmlhttp=new XMLHttpRequest();
  }
else
  {// code for IE6, IE5
  xmlhttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
  }
xmlhttp.onreadystatechange=function()
  {
  if (xmlhttp.readyState==4 && xmlhttp.status==200)
    {
    document.getElementById("txtHint").innerHTML=xmlhttp.responseText;
    }
  }
xmlhttp.open("GET","getcustomer.asp?q="+str,true);
xmlhttp.send();
}
</script>
</head
<body>

<form>
<select name="customers" onchange="showCustomer(this.value)">
<option value="">Select a customer:</option>
<option value="ALFKI">Alfreds Futterkiste</option>
<option value="NORTS ">North/South</option>
<option value="WOLZA">Wolski Zajazd</option>
</select>
</form>
<br>
<div id="txtHint">Customer info will be listed here...</div>

</body>
</html>

Source code explanation:

If no customer is selected (str.length==0), the function clears the content of the txtHint placeholder and exits the function.

If a customer is selected, the showCustomer() function executes the following:

  • Create an XMLHttpRequest object
  • Create the function to be executed when the server response is ready
  • Send the request off to a file on the server
  • Notice that a parameter (q) is added to the URL (with the content of the dropdown list)

The ASP File

The page on the server called by the JavaScript above is an ASP file called "getcustomer.asp".

The source code in "getcustomer.asp" runs a query against a database, and returns the result in an HTML table:

<%
response.expires=-1
sql="SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS WHERE CUSTOMERID="
sql=sql & "'" & request.querystring("q") & "'"

set conn=Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
conn.Provider="Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0"
conn.Open(Server.Mappath("/datafolder/northwind.mdb"))
set rs=Server.CreateObject("ADODB.recordset")
rs.Open sql,conn

response.write("<table>")
do until rs.EOF
  for each x in rs.Fields
    response.write("<tr><td><b>" & x.name & "</b></td>")
    response.write("<td>" & x.value & "</td></tr>")
  next
  rs.MoveNext
loop
response.write("</table>")
%>