In the loadNextPage() function on page 53, the XMLHttp response text goes into the divLoadArea. Following this a new divPageN element is created. Next the divLoadArea is cleared. Is there a line missing to copy the content of the divLoadArea to the new divPageN element?

Also when the divPpageN element is created and appended to the document.body, the divNewPage variable is set to document.getElementById("divPage" + iNextPageToLoad). Since this element does not exist yet, is the variable set to null? Why not directly create a new div element?

Thanks,
Dave

Actually, I am confused about the purpose of the example. The technique I get, the example itself seems more than a little artificial though. Since the divs to be loaded are already part of the code for the page (a fact never mentioned in the printed code or the write up) it would be a whole lot simpler to just use css/js div hiding techniques and ditch the ajax altogether.

I think you are missing the point of the example. Of course, you can output all three pages at once, but the example file doesn't do that. If you look at the code closely, you'll see it only returns one page at a time, depending on the query string parameters. I could have gone through the trouble of creating a database to store this information instead of throwing it into the PHP file, but I felt the example would be more succinct this way.

To answer your earlier question, the new DIV element is created as soon as the responseText is assigned to the loading area DIV using innerHTML. The returned text contains the definition of the DIV, which becomes a DOM object when passed into innerHTML. Then, you need to retrieve a pointer to that new DOM object (which was just created, so is no longer null).

You could just directly create the new DIV element, but this is a more elegant solution to ensure proper formatting.

Nicholas C. Zakas
Author, Professional JavaScript for Web Developers (ISBN 0764579088)
http://www.nczonline.net/

Nicholas,

Aha! Thanks for identifying the missing link - divPage elements within page responses in the php source file. I did download the source but only searched the javaScript source files. Perhaps in a future edition you could list more of the php file in the book.

FYI, "Professional AJAX" is a great resource! Just ordered additional copies for each member of my programming staff.

- Dave