I've hacked away into the source of the JPSpan framework and added three new features: support for Opera 8.5+, JSON encoding for transfer and global Init and Complete event handlers.

JPSpan meets Opera

The original code for JPSpan for creating the XMLHttpRequest object did not support Opera, which is a downside. I've modified the code to support Opera from 8.5 upwards.

JSON encoding

The JS generated by the server end of JPSpan is too large in size. The same data could be sent with JSON in less than a third of size of the JS generated by JPSpan. Another minus I wanted to and did fix. JPSpan was build in mind for extensibility, and it was rather easy to integrate a new encoding format, which you've guessed it to be JSON.

Now both request and response data will be sent in JSON.

Global Init and Complete event handlers

If you've used JPSpan before you know how the calls are made and how the responses are handled. If not I'll describe it in a few words. Every call will be made through an object which will have to be created in association with a handler. Thus when calling method X, the response will trigger method X on the handler assigned to the calling object.

The problem is there was no kind of global Loading and Complete event support, for displaying visual feedback that an ajax call is currently happening such as a "Loading" area. Now this issue no longer exists. There is support for two method on the handler associated with the calling object. onInit, if defined, fires at the start of every call. And onComplete, fires after the results have been received.

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