Building an SMTP Client with Prototype

Introduction

You may have already heard about the neat capabilities that come bundled with the popular Prototype JavaScript library. They're particularly useful in those cases where a specific web application needs to use the functionality provided by AJAX to trigger HTTP requests to the web server without page reloads.

Prototype facilitates working with XML HTTP request objects via its proprietary AJAX.Updater class (among others, by the way). This class can be used in conjunction with a few intuitive parameters for more than just fetching files that are located on the server in the background. It can also be used for receiving the respective response, either as plain text or formatted as XML.

Therefore, over the course of this three-part series, I'm going to show you how to develop a highly expansible SMTP client application for sending email by using the "AJAX.Updater" class that was mentioned above.

Of course, in this situation, one of the strongest benefits offered by this Prototype-based email application rests on its ability to handle easily the SMTP client via a simple, intuitive web-based user interface. This interface can be improved and expanded if you want to add more features to the core program.

Hopefully, by the time you finish reading this series, you should be equipped with a solid background in how to use some of the most robust AJAX classes that come integrated with the Prototype JavaScript library. You will also know hot to implement its popular $ and $F functions, since they will be used intensively during the development of the SMTP client application.

All right, now that you know the objectives of this group of educational tutorials, let's learn together how to create this expandable SMTP client application with Prototype. Let's begin now!