ASP.NET AJAX is a set of extensions to ASP.NET developed by Microsoft for implementing Ajax functionality.

Road Map

In its early development stages, ASP.NET AJAX was given the code name Atlas. Initial releases were made public to the development community in the form of CTPs (Community Technical Previews). The production version, ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 RTM; was released on January 23, 2007 as an extension to ASP.NET 2.0.

Important release milestones for ASP.NET AJAX are as follows:

• CTPs: October, December 2005, January, March, April, June, July 2006
• Beta: October, November 2006
• Release Candidate (RC): December 2006
• ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 RTM: January 23, 2007
• ASP.NET AJAX 3.5: November 19, 2007 (as part of ASP.NET 3.5)

The next version, ASP.NET AJAX 4.0; will be part of the ASP.NET 4.0 framework release.

Browser support

ASP.NET AJAX runs on the following browsers:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer (> 6.0)
• Mozilla Firefox (> 1.5)
• Opera (> 9.0)
• Apple Safari (> 2.0)

ASP.NET AJAX Suite

At present, the ASP.NET AJAX suite consists of the following components and packages:

• Microsoft Ajax Library 3.5: It is a JavaScript library that provides the client-side features of the ASP.NET AJAX framework. Integrated in ASP.NET 3.5, the library is also available as a separate download for use in other environments, such as PHP.
• A server framework: It is included in ASP.NET 3.5 for building Ajax-enabled ASP.NET server controls. These components are also available for ASP.NET 2.0 in a separate package called ASP.NET 1.0 Extensions.
• ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Templates: It is a package with a set of Visual Studio templates for building ASP.NET AJAX applications with ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Studio 2008.
• ASP.NET AJAX Preview: It is a package with the new features that will be part of the future versions of the framework.
• Ajax Control Toolkit

Microsoft Ajax Library

The Microsoft Ajax Library is a JavaScript library that provides the features for the client portion of the ASP.NET AJAX framework.

• Components: The library provides an infrastructure to build either visual or non-visual JavaScript components. A global JavaScript object Sys.Application is responsible for managing the lifecycle of client components.
• JavaScript extensions: It is an enhanced type system is introduced to emulate object-oriented constructs such as namespaces, classes and interfaces; and to perform reflection on client types.
• Abstraction API: It is common operations on the DOM (retrieving elements, setting styles and other manipulations) are automatically translated by the library into browser-specific calls.
• Ajax: It is a set of client components is provided to handle Ajax requests.
• Application Services: It is the library that allows accessing the ASP.NET Membership, Authentication, Roles and Profile services from the client side.

Recently, new features have been announced as part of the ASP.NET AJAX 4.0 release:

• Template Engine: It allows displaying data on the client side by using HTML templates and a custom binding notation. This approach avoids performing page rendering on the server side.
• Declarative instantiation of client components: It allows registration, instantiation and configuration of client components using markup code, without writing any imperative JavaScript code.
• Live Bindings: It synchronizes element properties.
• Command Bubbling

The UpdatePanel Control

The UpdatePanel is an ASP.NET server control that updates portions a web page without reloading it. Through a mechanism called asynchronous postback, the HTML for the region of the page wrapped by the control is sent by the server asynchronously through an Ajax request.

The ASP.NET controls that have been specified as content in an UpdatePanel are able to cause either synchronous (traditional) or asynchronous postbacks, by means of triggers.

A trigger is an event coming from an ASP.NET control that causes an UpdatePanel to refresh its contents. Through triggers, an asynchronous postback can be started also by controls that are declared outside the region of the ASP.NET page wrapped by the UpdatePanel control.

Script Controls and Extenders

The server portion of the ASP.NET AJAX framework introduces two categories of ASP.NET server controls for adding client capabilities to server controls.

An Extender is used to add client functionality to an existing ASP.NET control, without the need to create a new server control. A Script Control is a standalone ASP.NET control that offers both server and client functionality.

Using AJAX in Visual Studio.Net 2008 or .Net Framework 3.5

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Configuring and Deploying WPF Applications

• Deploy for standalone access. It may include but not limited to using the MSI to create the installation; using click-once installation; configuring update options.

• Deploy to a partial trust environment. It may include but not limited to choosing the correct local persistence mechanism; remove or disable application features that will not work in a partial trust environment.

• Deploy an XBAP application. It may include but not limited to publish an XBAP application to a temporary location; publish an XBAP application to a final location; deployment dependencies.

• Manage upgrades. It may include but not limited to loading modules on demand; migrating settings; migrating user data; programmatically check for updates.

• Configure the security settings of an application deployment. It may include but not limited to configuring application manifest; associating certificates with the application.

Customizing Appearance

• Create a consistent user interface appearance by using styles. It may include but not limited to applying a style automatically to all controls of a specific type;  implementing style inheritance;  property value precedence (order in which dependency property values are applied).

• Change the appearance of a UI element by using triggers. It may include but not limited to using multiple triggers;   using property triggers; using event triggers;  using data triggers.

• Add interactivity by using animations. It may include but not limited to creating a storyboard;  controlling timelines;  controlling the behavior when the animation completes; animating non-double data types;  starting an animation from code.

• Share logical resource throughout an application. It may include but not limited to choosing where to store a resource; merging resource dictionaries;  retrieving a resource by using procedural code.

• Change the appearance of a control by using templates. It may include but not limited to inserting a trigger inside a template;  using predefined part names in a template;  respecting the templated parent’s properties.

• Localize a WPF application. It may include but not limited to loading resources by locale;  marking localizable elements;  using culture settings in validators and converters;  using language properties and rendering direction properties.

Binding to Data Sources

• Configure binding options. It may include but not limited to setting the correct binding mode and update mode;  using static resources;  using dynamic resources.

• Bind to a data collection. It may include but not limited to filtering,  sorting,   and grouping data; using data templates;  binding to hierarchical data; binding to objects.

• Bind to a property of another element. It may include but not limited to using template binding; binding to an ancestor property.

• Convert and validate data. It may include but not limited to localizing data;  using custom converters and custom validators;  using multivalue converters.

• Configure notification of changes in underlying data. It may include but not limited to implementing INotifyPropertyChanged; using ObservableCollection.

Adding and Managing Content

• Create and display two dimensional and three dimensional graphics. It may include but not limited to  using geometric transformation; brushes;  drawing shapes; clipping;  flipping;  hit testing.

• Create and manipulate documents. It may include but not limited to XML Paper Specification (XPS) and flow documents;  incorporating UI elements inside documents; choosing the right element for text presentation;  scaling text; selecting controls for formatting text documents;  printing.

• Add multimedia content. It may include but not limited to media player vs. media element; adding a sound player;  handling media-specific events such as buffering.

• Manage binary resources. It may include but not limited to embedding resources in your application;  linking to external resources;  preloading resources; asynchronously using resources;  sharing resources.

• Manage images. It may include but not limited to accessing image metadata; transforming graphics into images;  stretching and sizing images.

Building User Interfaces

• Select and configure content controls. It may include but not limited to applying attached properties of controls to a user interface element;  selecting appropriate controls for specific uses.

• Select and configure item controls. It may include but not limited to using lists, toolbars, menus, tree views, virtualization of item controls, and  status bar.

• Select and configure layout panels. It may include but not limited to choosing the correct layout panel; configuring sizing; aligning content; using a grid splitter.

• Integrate Windows Forms controls into a WPF application. It may include but not limited to adding controls not available in WPF, such as the property grid and masked text box;  interop dialog boxes.

• Create user and custom controls. It may include but not limited to render appearance based on currently selected system theme; incorporate accessibility features by using UI automation; choosing between custom controls, user controls, and templates; consuming user control or custom controls; creating and handling routed events.

Creating a WPF Application

• Select an application type. It may include but not limited to choosing between Windows application, Navigation application, and XAML Browser Application (XBAP) application;  select the right type of application based on security restrictions.

• Configure Event Handling. It may include but not limited to tunneling vs. bubbling events; using the Event Manager class; handle application-level events.

• Configure commands. It may include but not limited to defining commands; associating commands to controls; creating custom commands; handling commands.

• Configure page-based navigation. It may include but not limited to defining and using PageFunction; using Navigation Service and hyperlinks; simple navigation vs. structured navigation; using the Journal; handling navigation events.

• Configure application settings. It may include but not limited to creating application settings; creating user settings; loading and saving settings.

• Manage application responsiveness. It may include but not limited to implementing asynchronous programming patterns; marshalling between threads; freezing UI elements.