In this example of using the Adobe Spry ajax framework, we will add to our previous example the ability for the user to select a city from a drop down select box and then update the table with the information for that city. This technique is known as a master (city) - detail (city's information) relationship. Spry makes creating master-detail dynamic regions easy.
In our first Spry example, I'll go over how to create a basic Spry data set and bind the data set to a dynamic region of the web page. In future examples we will add additional Spry features.
Step 1 - Create a CFC method that returns the data you want as XML (GetInfo.cfc in my example). Make sure you set the output to false for the component and for the function. Return type must be XML (which works beginning with CFMX 7.0.1).
Step 2 - Test calling the CFC via a URL. You should see your data and if you view source you should see the XML formatting. Note the name of the root node (the first node) and the node below the root that repeats for each set of data. In my example the root node is NewDataSet and Table is the node below that and repeats for each row of data.
I've been using Adobe's Spry ajax tool set in some of my web applications so I've decided to add a Spry category to my blog and post some examples of how you can use Spry. But step one is to understand what Spry includes and how to get the Spry files.
