Of all the JavaScript libraries on the Internet today Dojo stands out from the crowd. No, I’m not saying that it is the most popular by any means (I believe jQuery takes the cake). But for hard core business web page programming Dojo wins out hands down in my opinion. Major corporations the world over such as IBM, BeOS, and AOL use this framework for good reason; it abstracts away many of the inconveniences and pitfalls of cross browser web development. Here’s some good links to get you started (in no particular order so you’ll have to pick through them – sorry).
- Dojo Toolkit http://dojotoolkit.org/ – The Dojo toolkit website where you can download the library for offline development and experimentation. Also a great resource for getting started tutorials.
- Dojo Theme Tester http://download.dojotoolkit.org/release-1.5.0/dojo-release-1.5.0/dijit/themes/themeTester.html – want to see how the different Dojo themes look as a finished product? Go to this page to get an idea how your finished page might look with each of the different Dojo themes. Every basic Dijit widget is shown as well (in case your curious).
- Dojo Quickstart Guide http://sitepen.com/labs/guides/?guide=DojoQuickStart – Sitepen’s quickstart guide for getting Dojo up and running on your web site easily.
- Feature Explorer http://dojocampus.org/explorer/ – check out what Dojo can do for you right away by checking out this feature explorer site. Great for learning how do get that specific bit of javascript up and running using Dojo.
- Dojo API Docs http://api.dojotoolkit.org/ – already working with dojo and need to check out a method signature or go over something how something is nested in the toolkit? Check out the API docs.
- Introduction to the Dojo toolkit, Part 1: Setup, core, and widgets http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-01-2009/jw-01-introduction-to-dojo-1.html – a javaworld article on getting started with Dojo that goes over widgets as well (good for Java people).
- Developing Dojo Widgets with Dojo 1.x http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/wa-aj-dojotool/?ca=dgr-lnxw9dDojo-Widgets&S_TACT=105AGX59&S_CMP=grlnxw9d#2.Introduction|outline – an IBM article that introduces widget development using Dojo. (IBM articles are always well written)
- Functional Ajax with Dojo http://dojocampus.org/content/2008/03/14/functional-ajax-with-dojo/ – a DojoCampus article about making ajax calls with Dojo.
- No end to rounded corners http://dojocampus.org/content/2008/03/21/no-end-to-rounded-corners/ – another DojoCampus article about getting rounded corner boxes using Dojo going on your pages.
- Ajax with the Dojo Toolkit – Tutorial http://www.vogella.de/articles/AjaxwithDojo/article.html – a good article on ajax and Dojo. He uses Java on the server side in this but you can easily adapt it to any server side language – well written.
- Introducing DojoX DataChart http://www.sitepen.com/blog/2009/03/30/introducing-dojox-datachart/ – a sitepen article that introduces charting using Dojo.
- Dojo Drag and Drop, Part 1: dojo.dnd http://www.sitepen.com/blog/2008/06/10/dojo-drag-and-drop-1/ – a sitepen article that introduces drag and drop using Dojo.
- Getting Started with Adobe AIR http://www.sitepen.com/blog/2009/01/21/getting-started-with-adobe-air/ – a sitepen article that introduces desktop development using the open source DAIR (Dojo on Adobe AIR) library (a worthy read).
- Convenient Tools for your AIR Applications http://o.sitepen.com/labs/dair/ – introduction video about how dair can help you create great desktop applications.
- Dojo Extensions for Adobe AIR http://code.google.com/p/dair/ – the google code page for the DAIR library (you download it here).
- Dojo and Air, a fancy file uploader http://dojocampus.org/content/2008/04/02/dojo-on-air-a-fancy-file-uploader/ – a great DojoCampus tutorial for getting started using the dair library to create a file uploader application. If you want to use dojo to create desktop applications this is a good place to start.
- Separating Content from Presentation the Dojo Way http://dojocampus.org/content/2008/06/18/separating-content-from-presentation-ajax/ – short page on content separation and the Dojo reasons behind it.
- Rounded tabs with dijit Theming http://dojocampus.org/content/2008/02/22/make-your-own-rounded-tabs-with-dijit-theming/ – a scarce (the only one I’ve come across on the net) tutorial covering skinning Dojo from DojoCampus.org. This one covers rounded tabs and Dojo, but you can probably use it for more than that.
- Official Dojo Theming Docs http://www.dojotoolkit.org/reference-guide/dijit-themes.html#dijit-themes – the official Dojo documentation for theming the Dojo toolkit’s widgets.
- Styling Dijit Form Elements http://www.sitepen.com/blog/2009/02/25/styling-dijit-form-elements/ – a good sitepen tutorial on tweaking out the css for your Dojo widgets and forms.
- Usable directory listings with a little Dojo http://www.sitepen.com/blog/2008/04/29/usable-directory-listings-with-a-little-dojo/ – if you use directory listings on your Apache server this sitepen Dojo tutorial is for you!
- Dojo Toolbox http://o.sitepen.com/labs/toolbox/ – The Dojo Toolbox is a great resource for offline development as it has a complete copy of the API docs shadowed for offline lookups as well as other tools to make working with Dojo easier. Every Dojo developer should have this Adobe AIR program installed on their system.
- Sitepen’s Dojo Resource Page http://o.sitepen.com/labs/dojo.php – a listing of all the sitepen articles and tutorials related to the Dojo toolkit.
- Application development with Lucid http://www.lucid-desktop.org/documentation/en/dev/dev/intro/application-tutorial/#dev-intro-application-tutorial – applications for the online desktop system Lucid (formerly Psych) are developed using the Dojo toolkit. If you are interested in hosting your own multi-user online desktop system Lucid is the way to go if you are a Dojo developer. This page gets you started developing your own applications within Lucid.
- Writing Your Own Widgets http://www.dojotoolkit.org/reference-guide/quickstart/writingWidgets.html – the official Dojo tutorial for writing your own widgets for use within the Dojo framework.
- Dojo and TinyMCE – Creating a Widget http://grasshopperpebbles.com/ajax/dojo-and-tinymce-creating-a-widget/ – a tutorial for getting TinyMCE up and running as a widget within the Dojo toolkit.
- Dive into Dojo Data http://www.sitepen.com/blog/2010/10/13/dive-into-dojo-data/ – a good yet not too long sitepen tutorial on getting started using dojo data.
- Animated AJAX Record Deletion Using Dojo http://davidwalsh.name/dojo-ajax – a tutorial on animating the record deletion process on a web page using Dojo.
- Create a Dojo-Powered WordPress Website View http://davidwalsh.name/dojo-wordpress – shows you how to get a Dojo powered WordPress view up and running.
- Create a Simple Dojo Accordion http://davidwalsh.name/dojo-accordion – shows you how to get a Dojo accordion widget up and running on your pages.
- Create a Context Menu with Dojo and Dijit http://davidwalsh.name/dojo-context-menu – gets you going creating context menus using Dojo quickly.
- Accomplishing Common Tasks Using MooTools, jQuery, and Dojo http://davidwalsh.name/mootools-jquery-dojo – while not exclusively a Dojo tutorial, David Walsh covers how to do a few thing with each of the three frameworks mentioned in the title. There’s a part two and three as well if you are interested (the links are on the bottom of this tut).
- gpDojoGallery: A Dojo Photo Gallery Widget http://grasshopperpebbles.com/ajax/gpdojogallery-a-dojo-photo-gallery-widget/ – Les Green discusses his photo gallery widget (download from https://github.com/lesgreen/gpDojoGallery)
- Create a Dynamic Flickr Image Search with the Dojo Toolkit http://davidwalsh.name/dojo-flickr – David Walsh teaches you how to make a nifty Flickr image search application.
- Portlet development using REST services and the Dojo Toolkit http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/0803_lawless/0803_lawless.html – This article focuses on the creation of a reusable reference design for creating Web 2.0-enabled portlets using Representational State Transfer (REST) services and the Dojo Toolkit. (IBM)
- Dojo Portlets http://www.dojotoolkit.org/reference-guide/dojox/widget/Portlet.html – official Dojo docs on the Portlet widget.
- Creating new Dojo Widget http://www.alexatnet.com/content/creating-new-dojo-widget – a well written article on Dojo widget creation by Alex Netkachov.
- Custom Dojo Builds http://www.dojotoolkit.org/reference-guide/quickstart/custom-builds.html#quickstart-custom-builds – official documentation on creating a custom Dojo build for your web app.
- cb1inc’s Dojo Resource Page http://www.cb1inc.com/category/dojo/ – covers all of cb1Inc’s articles on Dojo.
- Bringing PHP, MySQL, and Dojo together http://o.dojotoolkit.org/forum/dojo-core-dojo-0-9/dojo-core-support/bringing-php-mysql-and-dojo-together – discusses web development utilizing Dojo on the front end, JSON in the transport layer (instead of XML), and PHP and MySQL on the backend.
- RoseIndia’s Dojo Resource Page http://www.roseindia.net/dojo/ – covers all articles and tutorials from RoseIndia about Dojo.
- A Beginner’s Guide to Dojo Charting, Part 1 of 2 http://www.sitepen.com/blog/2008/06/06/a-beginners-guide-to-dojo-charting-part-1-of-2/ – a good primer for producing charts with Dojo.
- Dive Into Dijit http://www.sitepen.com/blog/2010/07/12/dive-into-dijit/ – The first of a four part series from sitepoint about learning the Dojo widget set – Dijit
- Introducing The Dojo Toolkit http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/introducing-the-dojo-toolkit/ – Opera’s introductory documentation to Dojo (excellent).
- Creating and Enhancing Dojo Classes http://www.sitepen.com/blog/2010/07/01/creating-and-enhancing-dojo-classes/ – a good starter tutorial for object oriented development using Dojo by David Walsh.
- Widgets within Widgets http://higginsforpresident.net/2010/01/widgets-within-widgets/ – a Dojo master discusses widget nesting.
- From jQuery to Large Applications http://www.sitepen.com/blog/2010/11/15/from-jquery-to-large-applications/ – start using Dojo without abandoning your investment in jQuery.
If you know of any good Dojo links please leave them in a comment so that everyone can know them. Happy JavaScripting!
I recently snatched up the Dojo Findings http://dojofindings.blogspot.com/ blog name at blogspot to discuss the dojo toolkit tutorials I come across on the web. Check it out!