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XML AJAX

AJAX Introduction AJAX XMLHttp AJAX Request AJAX Response AJAX XML File AJAX PHP AJAX ASP AJAX Database AJAX Applications AJAX Examples

XML DOM

DOM Introduction DOM Nodes DOM Accessing DOM Node Info DOM Node List DOM Traversing DOM Navigating DOM Get Values DOM Change Nodes DOM Remove Nodes DOM Replace Nodes DOM Create Nodes DOM Add Nodes DOM Clone Nodes DOM Examples

XPath Tutorial

XPath Introduction XPath Nodes XPath Syntax XPath Axes XPath Operators XPath Examples

XSLT Tutorial

XSLT Introduction XSL Languages XSLT Transform XSLT <template> XSLT <value-of> XSLT <for-each> XSLT <sort> XSLT <if> XSLT <choose> XSLT Apply XSLT on the Client XSLT on the Server XSLT Edit XML XSLT Examples

XQuery Tutorial

XQuery Introduction XQuery Example XQuery FLWOR XQuery HTML XQuery Terms XQuery Syntax XQuery Add XQuery Select XQuery Functions

XML DTD

DTD Introduction DTD Building Blocks DTD Elements DTD Attributes DTD Elements vs Attr DTD Entities DTD Examples

XSD Schema

XSD Introduction XSD How To XSD <schema> XSD Elements XSD Attributes XSD Restrictions

XSD Complex

XSD Elements XSD Empty XSD Elements Only XSD Text Only XSD Mixed XSD Indicators XSD <any> XSD <anyAttribute> XSD Substitution XSD Example

XSD Data

XSD String XSD Date XSD Numeric XSD Misc XSD Reference

Web Services

XML Services XML WSDL XML SOAP XML RDF XML RSS

References

DOM Node Types DOM Node DOM NodeList DOM NamedNodeMap DOM Document DOM Element DOM Attribute DOM Text DOM CDATA DOM Comment DOM XMLHttpRequest DOM Parser XSLT Elements XSLT/XPath Functions

AJAX - The XMLHttpRequest Object


The keystone of AJAX is the XMLHttpRequest object.


The XMLHttpRequest Object

All modern browsers support the XMLHttpRequest object.

The XMLHttpRequest object can be used to exchange data with a server behind the scenes. This means that it is possible to update parts of a web page, without reloading the whole page.


Create an XMLHttpRequest Object

All modern browsers (Chrome, Firefox, IE7+, Edge, Safari Opera) have a built-in XMLHttpRequest object.

Syntax for creating an XMLHttpRequest object:

variable = new XMLHttpRequest();

Example

var xhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
Try it Yourself »

Access Across Domains

For security reasons, modern browsers do not allow access across domains.

This means that both the web page and the XML file it tries to load, must be located on the same server.

The examples on W3Schools all open XML files located on the W3Schools domain.

If you want to use the example above on one of your own web pages, the XML files you load must be located on your own server.


Old Versions of Internet Explorer (IE5 and IE6)

Old versions of Internet Explorer (IE5 and IE6) use an ActiveX object instead of the XMLHttpRequest object:

variable = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");

To handle IE5 and IE6, check if the browser supports the XMLHttpRequest object, or else create an ActiveX object:

Example

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
    // code for modern browsers
    xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
 } else {
    // code for old IE browsers
    xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
Try it Yourself »


XMLHttpRequest Object Methods

Method Description
new XMLHttpRequest() Creates a new XMLHttpRequest object
abort() Cancels the current request
getAllResponseHeaders() Returns header information
getResponseHeader() Returns specific header information
open(method,url,async,user,psw) Specifies the request

method: the request type GET or POST
url: the file location
async: true (asynchronous) or false (synchronous)
user: optional user name
psw: optional password
send() Sends the request to the server
Used for GET requests
send(string) Sends the request to the server.
Used for POST requests
setRequestHeader() Adds a label/value pair to the header to be sent

XMLHttpRequest Object Properties

Property Description
onreadystatechange Defines a function to be called when the readyState property changes
readyState Holds the status of the XMLHttpRequest.
0: request not initialized
1: server connection established
2: request received
3: processing request
4: request finished and response is ready
responseText Returns the response data as a string
responseXML Returns the response data as XML data
status Returns the status-number of a request
200: "OK"
403: "Forbidden"
404: "Not Found"
For a complete list go to the Http Messages Reference
statusText Returns the status-text (e.g. "OK" or "Not Found")