如何在网页的一部分中创建可搜索的数据库？

Question

I'm trying to create a catalogue that site users can search to find products and stores. However I want the catalogue to be browsable via a portion of a web page without reloading or changing the page every time, because there are nav bars and other contents which i want to remain on the page and because reload is way too slow and unseemly.

The necessary components: 1. I want the catalogue to be browsable either by a search bar, or by clicking on predefined categories displayed within the "frame" of the catalogue. 2. I want to be able to apply filters to results via a pane external to the catalogue but on the same page.

So let's say i have categories:

Health Home Finance etc.

Displayed in the "frame."

How could i make it so a user could click on one of those categories and the database search results of that category would populate in that space, which would be filtered into further sub categories which could also be clicked?

So basically i want database navigation within a portion of a web page.

How can i do this without using iframe? Ajax or something?

I feel like there's a really easy way but I'm not familiar enough with web development yet to know...

Thanks for all the help!

Answer 1

What you described is one of the classic problems that made ajax as popular as it is today. One of the ways you could handle this is to make a php script that upon call would generate a portion of the website and you would just place it wherever you want. Another approach is to give back data (JSON is de facto standard for this) and render it with javascript in the browser. If you want anything more concrete you will need to give us code samples of what's happening.

Read on: W3 , tutsplus - ajax

You might want to poke around in DataTables source as this script incorporates everything you mentioned before: php, js, ajax, db

On a side note: ajax handles content changes in a much more beautiful manner then (i)frames and I always suggest to move away from them.