Ajax breathes new life into web applications by transparently communicating and manipulating data in conjunction with a server-based technology. Of all the server-based technologies capable of working in conjunction with Ajax, perhaps none are more suitable than PHP, the world's most popular scripting language.

Beginning Ajax with PHP: From Novice to Professional is the first book to introduce how these two popular technologies can work together to create next-generation applications. Author Lee Babin covers what you commonly encounter in daily web application development tasks, and shows you how to build PHP/AJAX-enabled solutions for forms validation, file upload monitoring, database-driven information display and manipulation, web services, Google Maps integration, and more. You'll learn how to

• Take advantage of PHP and advanced JavaScript capabilities to create next-generation, highly responsive Web applications.
• Enhance commonplace application tasks such as forms validation and tabular data display.
• Manage cross-browser issues, ensuring your applications run on all major Web browsers.
• Take advantage of the Google Maps API and add spatial mapping features to your website.

You'll also be introduced to other key topics like conquering cross-platform issues, countering potential security holes, and testing and debugging JavaScript with efficiency. All examples are based on real-world scenarios, so you'll be able to apply what you learn to your own development situations.

• Introducing Ajax
• Ajax Basics
• PHP and Ajax
• Database-Driven Ajax
• Forms
• Images
• A Real-World Ajax Application
• Ergonomic Display
• Web Services
• Spatially Enabled Web Applications
• Cross-Browser Issues
• Security
• Testing and Debugging
• The DOM