This is the stub README.txt for the "smackjack" project.
Smackjack is a small Ajax framework written in Common Lisp. Basically Smackjack allows browser code call lisp functions via ajax and get a return value. The code can be downloaded with all its dependencies and loaded by quicklisp (10/2013).
Currently runs under Hunchentoot web server but there are plans to allow other web servers. It was a fork of ht-simple-ajax and aspires to be a replacement to the unmaintained and out of date ht-ajax.
Differently than those two libraries, this one depends on parenscript to generate client-side javascript and allows greater flexibility in generated javascript.
Current version is compatible with ht-simple-ajax but it lacks many features of ht-ajax.
The following features are addition to those available in ht-simple-ajax:
AJAX via Post as well as Get
response can be text, xml or json.
optional javascript namespaces to encapsulate generated javascript functions.
The arguments of the functions can be treated by cl-json before calling the function.
The code also contains a "pusher" subclass. This allows a lisp function call indirectly a javascript function defined in your lisp code by parenscript but runs in the browser. Basically the opposite of SmackJack. This is achieved by adding a simple polling mechanism. Future development may include long polling.