AJAX command-line interface in browser

Question

I'm building a Web app to allow users to view and manipulate data, particularly numeric and geographic data. It's important that the output be clear and professional (data grids, Google Map overlays, etc.). But in terms of the user interface, I'd rather start with the flexibility of a command-line interface before building GUI-style forms.

Can you offer any tips, tricks, or suggestions to create an AJAX-based command-line interface that can drive the rest of the interface? Pointers to existing applications would be great, too.

The stack I'm using is Django/Python on the server side and ExtJS in the browser. If possible, I'd like to route commands to the Django shell and then just add some extra functions to output the results to a data grid, a map, etc.

Thanks!

@Soviut Thanks for the quick response. I'm afraid I must not be making myself that clear. I want to use a shell to fire off commands on the server side that'll then feed back to output on the client side.

Here's an example I just found: http://shell.appspot.com/

It's just that I'd like to have that not just produce text output inside the shell but also produce output that will be picked up by other AJAX listeners for data grids and maps.

Answer 1

Get Firebug for Firefox. It has consoles for monitoring the DOM and network traffic, and has a command line for making calls directly. This works especially well for testing ajax commands in frameworks like JQuery and, I assume, ExtJS. The network traffic panel is especially useful since it can see AJAX errors that often get swallowed by ajax libraries.

Answer 2

goosh is a great example of a command line web application. I had nothing to do with it's creation but I have used parts of it's design for something at work.