HTML_AJAX

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Release 0.3.1

HTML_AJAX Release 0.3.1 Release Notes

HTML_AJAX 0.3.1, in the tradition of most applications on those odd minor version numbers, is mainly a bugfix release. There have been no API alterations and the only significant new feature is the experimental iframe xmlhttprequest fallback.

There were quite a few bugs with the new features from the 0.3.0 release including hanging sync requests on IE 6, multiple javascript errors in IE 5, and some errors releated to the opera workaround introduced in 0.3.0. All these problems have been addressed in 0.3.1. This means that a portion of our roadmap - improving cross-browser support - has been addressed.

The only major compatibility issues still on the table are support in Konqueror (it's unclear how close Safari and Konqueror are in code) and the problem with IE memory leaks - which probably won't be addressed unless it becomes a serious problem, or someone gets really bored. In the meantime, be aware that memory leaks on IE are common and not currently addressed. Also IE 5.0 has a severely broken javascript implementation. A series of compatibility functions has been introduced to allow IE 5 to function properly, but there still may be bugs or functions which will need to be added.

The new iframe fallback is still EXPERIMENTAL. It is known to have several issues that relate to security and browser limitations with generated iframes. The targeted use for the feature is older versions of opera and safari which lack xmlhttprequest, IE with activex disabled (increasingly common with the security problems of activex), and browsers which completely lack xmlhttprequest functionality but can still use iframes. Bug reports with iframe use are helpful - but please read the list of current iframe caveats and known issues below before reporting.

If you run a more esoteric browser or work on a mac, we'd really appreciate your help with testing and debugging. Even if you know little about javascript, just realizing there is a problem can be helpful. Remember, through testing makes a huge quality difference.

Change Log

• Rearranged the examples dir, moving support files and tests into there own directory
• Updated examples index.php page so that it makes sense when shown from the HTML_AJAX website
• Fix some various IE bugs, grabbing non-existant headers was throwing errors
• Fixed problem with async requests timing out in IE
• Added IFrame fallback, targeted at versions of Opera before XMLHttpRequest and IE with ActiveX turned off
• Fix js file detection when not installed through PEAR
• Fix numerous IE 5 javascript bugs and added js compat functions
• haSerializer and HTML_AJAX_Action bugs fixed

Testing Results

Positive xmlhttprequest Testing Results

• Firefox 1.5
• Opera 8.2.1
• IE 6.0sp2
• IE 5.5
• IE 5.01 Windows
• Safari 2.0.2

Firefox 1.5 and strict Javascript

Firefox 1.5 has a new mode in which "strict" errors can be checked. But the implementation makes cross browser javascripts impossible, so if you're running with strict javascript checking on and receiving warnings - ignore them or turn it off, they will NOT be fixed.

Here's a brief discussion on the subject and why it will break things - especially in IE 5.0.

Iframe Implementation Test Results

• windows
  • Opera 8.5.1 - grab not implemented, proxyless_inline_javascript fails, both form and shoutbox fail(urlserializer not compatible with iframes), speed and priority tests fail, login examples fails, the rest work
  • Opera 7.5.2 - same results as later opera
  • IE 6 - sync not implemented, same errors as on opera, guestbook doesn't work
  • IE 5.5 - same as 6 and priority test will crash the browser if attempted :)

Iframe Implementation Known Issues

• iframe fallback DOES NOT WORK ON GECKO - although this shouldn't be a problem since it always has xmlhttprequest
• sync DOES NOT WORK ON IE - Internet Explorer doesn't allow the onload in the frame to be called because it locks all other javascript calls (including loading the iframe) during a while loop, so the while loop lock trick doesn't work and there's no other way to forcibly lock the brower until the onload is called
• HTML_AJAX.grab DOES NOT WORK - the iframe requires the data to be formatted into a special html page on return so grab will completely fail

Iframe Implementation Feedback Requests

• Is there a way to fix the iframe in mozilla? do we care?
• Is there a way to fake a sync request in IE? do we care?
• If someone is really spiffy, a way to retrieve the information without it having to be wrapped in html when coming back from the server would be really neat - right now iframe security on opera makes it next to impossible.
• Some say you can use layer (instead of iframe which it doesn't have) for netscape 4? is this even feasible or worth it?

Other Notes

If you have multiple internet explorer versions on one machine you'll find that cookies don't work properly and there isn't support for automatic get/post session ids yet

If you append the sid to the server url when setting things up sessions should work.

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