Question

Populate multi select list dynamically using Ajax

Asked by: wjad

I am working with Cold Fusion 8 and Oracle.  What I have in my application is two multiple select list items. One for state and other for ZIP Code, once a state is selected; I want the ZIP list to be populated with all ZIP Codes in that particular state. These values are coming in from an Oracle table.
I have tried JavaScript with arrays and it seems to work perfectly fine, but since there are too many ZIP Codes it takes much longer for these to populate. I was told Ajax is the way to go for this kind of issues. Can someone give me examples on how this is done using Ajax technology?

Thanks!

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Asked On
2009-09-10 at 17:32:55ID24723330
Tags

Ajax

,

Javascript

,

ColdFusion

Topic

Asynchronous Javascript and XML (AJAX)

Participating Experts
1
Points
400
Comments
4

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Answers

 

by: wjadPosted on 2009-09-10 at 17:35:54ID: 25305910

Increased points

 

by: b0lsc0ttPosted on 2009-09-10 at 17:36:08ID: 25305911

One of the best explanations and simplest examples I have found on the net is at http://skeymedia.com/classic-asp-and-ajax-tutorial/.  There is also a good explanation on what AJAX is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_%28programming%29.  The reference site W3Schools has a good section on AJAX at http://www.w3schools.com/ajax/default.asp.

The example in that first link will provide a good guide for what you want.  If you want another example that uses it a couple of times then let me know (i.e. choose one AJAX fills second, make another choice for second and AJAX fills third).  The first example should be enough.  After that it is ASP (or server script), Javascript, and page stuff.  Let me know if the ASP part is confusing or unclear since you will use CF.

If you need help using it then please provide what you have so far.  Let me know how this helps.

bol

 

by: wjadPosted on 2009-09-10 at 19:35:36ID: 25306325

I looked at the first URL example.  Yes, I'm a bit confused with the ASP code as I don't know ASP.  Looks like the Javascript is calling the ziplookup.asp, do I need to create an extra ColdFusion module here.  In my case, when one selects a single or multiple States it should populate the second list box with all the ZIP codes for the selected States.

 

by: b0lsc0ttPosted on 2009-09-10 at 19:52:51ID: 25306408

The ASP portion is pretty minor and so those details don't really matter.  You got the key though.  You will need another ColdFusion page that can take the state(s) and return the zip codes.  The Javascript part at the start of the AJAX process will use this ColdFusion page as the URL.  It is what provides the dynamic list of zip codes.  You can either use the query string of the URL or the Post headers to pass the state(s) to this ColdFusion page.  All the page needs to send back is the list of Zips, although you can choose to include html or format it like JSON to make the results easier to use in the Javascript.

Let me know if you have a question about what I have said or need any other help doing this.

bol

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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