ajaxGetPluginResponse will send back your plugin's response. It behaves the same way as the usual renderForm function.

instead of doing :

$template->assign($some_content);

you do :

$ajaxPluginResponse->addHtmlCode('some_variable_name', $some_content);
$ajaxPluginResponse->addVariable('another_variable_name', $some_content);

HtmlCode and Variable are pretty much the same thing, it only differentiates the treatments between html output and javascript variables.

ajaxHandleAction is where you specify which plugin(s) is activated when an action is triggered through your plugin. The content is usualy a switch on the action name:

switch ($actionName) {
    case 'YourPlugin.SomeAction':
        $pluginEnabler->disableCoreplugins();
        $pluginEnabler->enablePlugin('images');
        $pluginEnabler->enablePlugin('yourplugin');
    break;
    case 'YourPlugin.AnotherAction':            
        $pluginEnabler->disableCoreplugins();
        $pluginEnabler->enablePlugin('yourplugin');
    break;
}

You must explicitly enable your plugin

$pluginEnabler->enablePlugin('yourplugin');

otherwise your plugin will not send back anything.

disableCoreplugins(); explicitly deactivate all coreplugin. It means nothing will be sent back to the browser.

You can activate plugin case by case, for example:

$pluginEnabler->disableCoreplugins();
$pluginEnabler->enablePlugin('images');

will only enable the images coreplugin and the map will then be refreshed.

AjaxPlugins.YourPlugin = {
  
    handleResponse: function(pluginOutput) {
        /* Plugin general behaviour */
        
        if (pluginOutput.variables.variable_name) {
        // do something with your variable
        alert(pluginOutput.variables.another_variable_name);
        }

        AjaxHandler.updateDomElement('target_id', 'innerHTML',
                                     pluginOutput.htmlCode.some_variable_name);
    }  
};
}

The answer sent by PHP is handled in handleResponse. Here you recover the variables and htmlCodes.

The function updateDomElement will handle all the html insertion. It takes 3 parameters:

In this part, you simply define all your actions and what to do before, when and after the actions are triggered.

AjaxPlugins.YourPlugin.Actions = {};
// always empty, it only define a Actions object which will store our various actions.

AjaxPlugins.YourPlugin.Actions.SomeAction = {

    buildPostRequest: function(argObject) {
        return AjaxHandler.buildPostRequest();
    },
    .
    onBeforeAjaxCall: function(argObject) {
        Logger.note('Output something in the JSTraceDebugger window');
        callSomeJavascriptFunctions();
    },

    onAfterAjaxCall: function(argObject) {
        Logger.note('Output something in the JSTraceDebugger window');
        callSomeJavascriptFunctions();
    },

    onBeforeAjaxCallGeneral: function(argObject) {
        Logger.note('Output something in the JSTraceDebugger window');
        callSomeJavascriptFunctions();
    },

    onAfterAjaxCallGeneral: function(argObject) {
        Logger.note('Output something in the JSTraceDebugger window');
        callSomeJavascriptFunctions();
    },

    oneCustomFunction: function() {
        Logger.note('Output something in the JSTraceDebugger window');
        // you can also define functions 
        ...
    }
};

AjaxPlugins.YourPlugin.Actions.AnotherAction = {

    buildPostRequest: function(argObject) {
        return AjaxHandler.buildPostRequest();
    }
};

AjaxHandler.attachAction('target_element_id', 'type_of_event', 'callback_function', json_defined_arguments);

AjaxHandler.attachAction('pan_n', 'click', 'Location.Pan', {source: 'button'});

Logger.note('Some text that will appear in the debugger');

You may want to call some functions or define some variables on page load. To do so simply add your plugin into the AjaxPlugins.initializablePlugins array, like this:

// add your plugin to the list of Ajax initializable plugins
AjaxPlugins.initializablePlugins.push(AjaxPlugins.YourPluginName);

Add this after your main

AjaxPlugins.YourPluginName = {...};