CodingForums.com - View Single Post - Multi-step AJAX process?

Daniel Evans · 10-02-2012, 07:47 AM

Hi,

the general concept and basic use of AJAX is something which I understand just fine, but now I have come upon an issue that's proving to be troublesome. Here's what is needed:

The first call to a .php-file returns a variable number of tasks which need to be worked through.
Each task may or may not have a variable number of sub-tasks which I can only know after its xml-data has been received.
This must all be done in the proper order, like: task 1, task 2, task 2 sub 1, task 2 sub 2, task 2 sub 3, task 3, task 4, task 4 sub 1, etc.
It needs only be compatible to Webkit/Chrome/Chromium, jQuery is available.

Now, here is my main problem: I have no idea how to best implement something like this.

My first thought was to create two loops, one for the main list and a second which will be fired every time there's a list of sub-tasks in the result. For all of that to work properly, I'd need to use synchronous calls. The end-users will access this via the Internet and the .php-files may take a second or two since there is a lot of work done server-side. Will a longer execution time be an issue?

Is that a workable concept or are there better ways? I don't need or expect a finished product, but I would appreciate some general help or, if possible, a link to some code with a similar concept, so I can learn it on the way.

10-02-2012, 07:47 AM	PM User \| #1
Daniel Evans New to the CF scene Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 6 Thanks: 1 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Multi-step AJAX process? Hi, the general concept and basic use of AJAX is something which I understand just fine, but now I have come upon an issue that's proving to be troublesome. Here's what is needed: The first call to a .php-file returns a variable number of tasks which need to be worked through. Each task may or may not have a variable number of sub-tasks which I can only know after its xml-data has been received. This must all be done in the proper order, like: task 1, task 2, task 2 sub 1, task 2 sub 2, task 2 sub 3, task 3, task 4, task 4 sub 1, etc. It needs only be compatible to Webkit/Chrome/Chromium, jQuery is available. Now, here is my main problem: I have no idea how to best implement something like this. My first thought was to create two loops, one for the main list and a second which will be fired every time there's a list of sub-tasks in the result. For all of that to work properly, I'd need to use synchronous calls. The end-users will access this via the Internet and the .php-files may take a second or two since there is a lot of work done server-side. Will a longer execution time be an issue? Is that a workable concept or are there better ways? I don't need or expect a finished product, but I would appreciate some general help or, if possible, a link to some code with a similar concept, so I can learn it on the way.