Calling a Java function from a href tag

[Joe San]

Guys,

I do not know if this is the right forum. I would like to know how I could call a java method when clicking on a href element??

[Lei Guoguo]

you can use the dwr for Ajax framework,

[Bear Bibeault]

DWR is pretty invasive and mandates a whole new way of working with web applications. While I think it is a cool project, I don't really recommend it just to be able to perform this sort of thing.

Using a lighter-weight library such as jQuery or Prototype make a lot more sense unless you really, really want to to adopt the "DWR way" of working, and agreeing to the resulting vendor lock-in.

[Joe San]

Thanks guys for the option. I'm in a situation wherein I cannot use any frameworks. Got to do it with just jsp and servlets...

[Paul Clapham]

Well, there's your solution then. Have the href element link to a servlet which calls the Java method in question.

[Joe San]

I just thought of this way using the servlet mapping tag in the web.xml.

[Lei Guoguo]

write the ajax implements for yourself?

[Eric Pascarello]

Java is on the server and html/JavaScript is on the client.

Your choice is post back the page with the href by clicking on it.
OR
Make an Ajax call with the onclick link to the server.

There is no fancy magic here.

Eric

[Joe San]

By the way, it is a jspf page and can I use the form element it in?

[Bear Bibeault]

Jothi Shankar Kumar wrote:By the way, it is a jspf page and can I use the form element it in?

I have no idea what you are asking.

[Joe San]

I'm using a jsp fragment page in which I have this href element.

[Joe San]

Would it be possible to do using a simple form submit. I mean enclosing the a href element in the form tag of html?

[Bear Bibeault]

Forms and anchor tags don't have anything to do with each other. Putting an anchor in a form has no special semantic meaning.

I'm still unsure what your question is at this point. The easiest way to invoke Java on the server as a result of a client side action, without the need to submit the whole page, is via an Ajax call to a servlet. What's the issue at this point?

[Joe San]

There isn' an AJAX framework involved in the project that I#m working. I have to do it with simple javascript or using the servlet mapping.

[Balu Sadhasivam]

Jothi Shankar Kumar wrote:Would it be possible to do using a simple form submit. I mean enclosing the a href element in the form tag of html?

Jothi,

You could call a javascript funciton like this and submit the form

function submitform() {
// your logic
document.myform.submit();
}
// <a href='javascript:submitform()'> Submit </a>

Edit : href='javascript:submitform()' is not shown correctly

[Bear Bibeault]

Doing Ajax "by hand" is a pain and fraught with pitfalls because of browser nuances. jQuery isn't a "framework" but a JavaScript library that can help you immensely. Saying you can't use it is like saying you can't use any of the Java libraries.

In any case, if you need to use Ajax without jQuery or other library, this article is a good place to start.