XML News from Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The W3C Web API Working Group has posted a new working draft of The XMLHttpRequest Object.

The XMLHttpRequest object implements an interface exposed by a scripting engine that allows scripts to perform HTTP client functionality, such as submitting form data or loading data from a server.

The name of the object is XMLHttpRequest for compatibility with the web, though each component of this name is potentially misleading. First, the object supports any text based format, including XML. Second, it can be used to make requests over both HTTP and HTTPS (some implementations support protocols in addition to HTTP and HTTPS, but that functionality is not covered by this specification). Finally, it supports "requests" in a broad sense of the term as it pertains to HTTP; namely all activity involved with HTTP requests or responses for the defined HTTP methods.

"Given that the previous Last Call Working Draft got feedback that required extensive changes this is a normal Working Draft again. It is expected that this document will become a second Last Call Working Draft with no more than editorial changes. "