How to Update Data on Handlebars Partials Without Refreshing the Page Using Ajax

Discover how to keep your webpage dynamic by updating Handlebars partials with Ajax calls, ensuring a seamless user experience without reloading.
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This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/65458453/ asked by the user 'Amaan' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/14892668/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/65459308/ provided by the user 'jfriend00' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/816620/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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Keeping Your Handlebars Pages Dynamic: Updating Partials Without Page Refresh

When developing web applications, we often encounter situations where we need to dynamically update parts of a page without refreshing the entire webpage. This is essential for a seamless user experience. If you're using Node.js, MongoDB, and Handlebars (hbs) to serve your web application, you might be wondering: Is there any way to update data sent along with a Handlebars partial without refreshing the page?

In this guide, we’ll explore multiple solutions to this common problem, particularly focusing on how to fetch and display newly added comments or any other dynamic content without requiring a full-page reload.

Understanding the Challenge

Imagine you're managing a blog where users can leave comments. You've set up a route that retrieves posts and associated comments from your database and renders them using Handlebars. However, you'd like to display new comments in real time without requiring users to refresh the whole page. How do you achieve this?

Solution Overview

There are a few methods to dynamically update components in your application without reloading the entire page. Below, we will break down three effective approaches:

1. Ajax Call that Returns HTML Segment

Create a Dedicated Route: Set up a specific route on your server that responds to Ajax requests and returns just the HTML segment of the comment section.

DOM Manipulation: Utilize JavaScript on the front end to replace the previous comment section with the newly fetched HTML. This way, you only update the necessary part of the page rather than re-rendering the entire content.

Example Implementation:

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2. Ajax Call that Returns JSON Data

Server-Side JSON Route: Create a dedicated route to return JSON data of the new comments instead of HTML. This method gives you more control over how you want to present the data.

Client-Side Rendering: Use client-side JavaScript (or Handlebars on the client-side) to convert the JSON data into HTML format and insert it into the comments section.

Example Implementation:

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3. Using WebSocket or Socket.IO

Real-Time Data Updates: For a more advanced approach, you can use WebSocket or Socket.IO to establish a real-time connection between the server and your client. This allows the server to push updates to the client whenever new comments are added.

Push Model: Instead of having the client poll for new data, the server can send updates whenever they occur, significantly improving efficiency and user experience.

Example Implementation:

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Handling Form Submission without Page Refresh

It’s worth noting that when you submit a form using a standard POST request, the page will refresh based on the server's response. To avoid this, consider using JavaScript to handle the form submission. You can prevent the form's default behavior and submit the data using Ajax.

Example Form Submission with Ajax:

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Conclusion

Incorporating dynamic content updates into your Node.js and Handlebars applications can significantly enhance user experience. Whether you choose to use a dedicated route returning HTML, JSON data, or real-time updates through WebSocket or Socket.IO, these methods allow you to efficiently keep your content fresh without requiring unnecessary page reloads.

By adopting these techniques, you're on your way to creating a more interactive and user-friendly web application. Happy coding!

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