Building an AJAX-Based Chat: The Barebones Structure - Defining the application’s core logic: working with requester objects
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Before I start defining the core functions that work with requester objects, let’s pause for a moment and have a look at the basic appearance of the chat application, depicted in the following screenshot:
In the simplest terms, the chat application that I plan to develop is based on common sense rather than on complicated programming logic. Due to the limitations imposed by XMLHtttpRequest objects (or an ActiveX control for Internet Explorer), which can handle only one request at a time, I’ll use two independent requester objects, in order to get the application to work. According to this, the first object will be responsible for pushing user messages into a message stack, stored in a simple MySQL database table, while the second object will be tasked with pulling a given number of messages from the database table, to be displayed on a message containing section.
What comes next, though? Since I’ll need to handle two separate objects for handling http requests across the application, the first step in building the chat will be defining an object factory function, which will allow the instantiation of as many requester objects as required. The pertinent function, not surprisingly called “getXMLHttpRequestObject()”, looks like this:
function getXMLHttpRequestObject(){
var xmlobj;
// check for existing requests
if(xmlobj!=null&&xmlobj.readyState!=0&&xmlobj.readyState!=4){
xmlobj.abort();
}
try{
// instantiate object for Mozilla, Nestcape, etc.
xmlobj=new XMLHttpRequest();
}
catch(e){
try{
// instantiate object for Internet Explorer
xmlobj=new ActiveXObject('Microsoft.XMLHTTP');
}
catch(e){
// Ajax is not supported by the browser
xmlobj=null;
return false;
}
}
return xmlobj;
}
As shown in the function above, different requester objects will be instantiated and returned to calling code each time the function is invoked. Aside from coding the lines where actual object instantiation takes place, I’ve included some “try-catch” blocks for solving browser incompatibilities, particularly due to the absence of native support for XMLHttpRequest objects in Internet Explorer (hopefully this issue will be fixed in IE 7).
Now, I’ve defined a function which allows you to create the two requester objects required for sending out and getting chat messages. Since the chat application can be divided into two different programming modules –- sender and receiver -- where the first one will insert new user messages into a MySQL database table, and the second one will fetch messages for being displayed on the browser, let’s focus our attention on developing the functions that comprise the first module, for sending and stacking messages within the database table. Just click below and keep on reading.
Next: Sending chat messages: defining the “sendMessage()” function >>
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