What is JSLoader?

JSLoader is a dead-simple, non-intrusive "Javascript-on-demand" packaging convention which helps developers and the internet community rapidly develop and prototype applications without the headache of figuring out the witches' brew of files that need to be copied, included, etc.

It was developed by Dov Katz, Imran Ahmad and Aaron Satlow as part of a hosted Enterprise AJAX solution, but in theory this shouldn't need to run solely within enterprises to produce value.

See Writeup/Comments on Ajaxian.com

Why JSLoader?

  1. First of all, it's a zero-install solution. The goal is to eventually deploy this style of loading and file organization on a "hosted toolkit" system and allow websites to leverage the distribution of new toolkits without having to figure out how to install them.
  2. Second, because multiple sites will share this code the browser and proxy caches will help make things more efficent
  3. Finally, the maintainability of toolkits is minimized as content needs to be distributed only once, instead of having each user download a private copy

How do I get started?

// First Load the Script
<script src="http://vps.jsloader.com/assets/jsloader.js">

// In one script block
JSLoader.load("ria","prototype","1.5.1");
JSLoader.load("ria","prettify","1.0");

// In another script block:
Event.observe(window,"load",prettyPrint);

// JSLoader takes care of the rest!
// Prettify will take any <pre class='prettyprint'> 
// and color-code them.

I want to play with it!

We were hoping you'd say that. That's why we set up a Twiki Prototyping Playground so we can all benefit from the collective wealth of knowledge that's available. We encourage you to play in the Sandbox, build a working example, then move it into the appropriate Wiki Web.

Think of this as an AJAX Toolkit Cookbook.

Demos can be found here. It's a wiki so that anyone can contribute their own!

Getting Help

  • If you want help, please post messages on the SourceForge Developer Forum for JSLoader