Update div html and content with ajax

Question

I would yo have a functionality similar to the StackExchange link on the top left of the Stack Overflow site.

As I understand it, after the stack exchange link is clicked, the following things happen:

• the hidden div container is shown.

• this div is populated with its html and the actual data using ajax (maybe jquery)

I've noticed that the html and data does not appear in the page markup, so I think it is probably fetched using javascript/jquery/ajax.

one note - I'm using asp.net mvc 2 and linq-to-sql.

Please give me examples on how this can be acheived, or maybe links to similar examples, thanks.

Answer 1

You can achieve this with jQuery and page methods in the code behind.

//Gets the list of requests
function getRequestList() {
    // call server-side webmethod using jQuery
    $.ajax({
        type: "POST",
        contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
        url: "Index.aspx/GetOrdersForApproving",
        data: "{ }", // send an empty object for calls with no parameters
        dataType: "json",
        success: displayRequests,
        failure: reportError
    });
}

//displays the requests in the ul
function displayRequests(result) {
    // ASP.NET encapsulates JSON responses in a property "d"
    if (result.hasOwnProperty("d")) { result = result.d; }
    // iterate through player list and add info to the markup
    var ul = $("#requestsForApproval");
    for (i = 0; i < result.length; i++) {

        var li = $("<li class='approvalListItem'><div>"
    + "<h3>" + result[i].OrderID + " - " + result[i].Supplier + "</h3>"
+ "</div>"
+ "<div>"
    + result[i].Description
+ "</div>"
+ "<div> "
    + "<table width='100%'>"
        + "<tr>"
            + "<td>"
                 + "Quant: " + result[i].Quantity
            + "</td>"
            + "<td>"
                + "Price: " + result[i].UnitPrice
            + "</td>"
            + "<td>"
                + "Total: " + result[i].Value
            + "</td>"
        + "</tr>"
    + "</table>"
+ "</div>"
  + " <div class='approvalButtons' style='display:none'>"
    + "<ul><li class='approveButton'>Approve</li>"
    + "<li class='rejectButton'>Reject</li></ul>"
+ "</div>"
+ "<input type='hidden' class='hiddenID' name='OrderLineID' value='" + result[i].OrderLineID + "'>"
+ "</li>");
        ul.append(li);
    }

Code Behind:

/// <summary>
/// Gets a list of Request Lines
/// </summary>
/// <returns>List of order lines</returns>
[WebMethod]
public static List<iOrderLine> GetOrdersForApproving()
{
    try
    {
        List<iOrderLine> Lines = new List<iOrderLine>();
        foreach (Objects.Database.OrderLine oOrderLine in Objects.Database.OrderLine.GetLinesWaitingFor(StaticStore.CurrentUser.UserID, int.MinValue))
        {
            Lines.Add(new iOrderLine(oOrderLine));
        }

        return Lines;
    }
    catch (Exception)
    {
        throw;
    }