What is it?

The Cisco AJAX XMPP Library is an API designed to simplify and accelerate the development of client applications. The client library provides a jump start for developers writing Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP)-enabled web applications or clients from scratch.

The Cisco AJAX XMPP Library is ideal for companies looking to leverage the Cisco WebEx Collaboration Cloud and integrate presence and messaging into their own custom web-based applications.

With the AJAX Library developers can:

  • Embed a customer support portal into your company website
  • Add instant messaging capabilities into your gaming application
  • Add presence information and messaging capability to custom applications

Tech Details

The Cisco AJAX XMPP Library (CAXL) provides a foundation for developing web-based applications that utilize the XMPP protocol. For detailed information on the XMPP standard, please visit http://xmpp.org

The AJAX library is a JavaScript XMPP client library for integration of instant messaging, presence and roster services from the Cisco WebEx Collaboration Cloud. It is comprised of the following components:

  • jQuery: an open-source library for searching, traversing, and manipulating the browser's DOM
  • CAXL Core: a high-level API for messaging and presence
  • CAXL UI: HTML UI components built on top of the core CAXL API

The library can be used purely as an API or as a web UI or both. The core CAXL API is not dependant on the CAXL UI being used. The internals of the library utilize jQuery for low-level JavaScript tasks but there is no dependency on any JavaScript UI framework for the UI components.

The Cisco AJAX XMPP library is an object-oriented, client-side library which communicates to a BOSH server component. BOSH (Bidirectional-streams Over Synchronous HTTP) technology is used as an HTTP binding for XMPP communications that is useful in situations where a device or client is unable to maintain a long-lived TCP connection to an XMPP server, e.g. in a web browser.

Architecture

Below is a diagram that illustrates the architecture of Cisco AJAX XMPP. Click to enlarge.