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Over the past several years web developers have started using JavaScript to make asynchronous postbacks to the web server that only transmit and receive the necessary data; these techniques are commonly referred to as AJAX. Microsoft has released a free AJAX framework for ASP.NET developers named Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX. This article series examines using Microsoft's ASP.NET AJAX framework to build responsive user interfaces.

Dino Esposito introduces the Microsoft AJAX Library and the JavaScript library for ASP.NET AJAX 1.0.

Since AJAX involves many disparate technologies at different layers in the networking stack, implementing AJAX without the use of an AJAX framework is difficult and error-prone. Fortunately, Microsoft has released a free AJAX framework for ASP.NET developers: Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX. This article is the first in a series of articles that examines the ASP.NET AJAX framework. This installment provides an overview of AJAX technologies and looks at getting started with Microsoft's framework. Future installments will focus on specific controls and scenarios..

When building enterprise web applications, we often need to let the user select one item from a large list of records. For instance, on an order entry form, the user must be able to select the customer from a large list of customers. For performance reasons, it would be insane to just load a DropDownList with 50000 items. The other alternative would be to open another form where the user would be able to search and select the desired customer. I've used this approach before, but the users usually found it very annoying and were constantly demanding a better solution..

Most blog, forum and Wiki applications use an HTML editor as the primary authoring tool for site content. With this type of control, an online user can create and edit an HTML document. The user is able to modify the text  — including its format, fonts and colors  — as well as add links and images. Often, the user may also view and/or edit the HTML source.

Microsoft AJAX (ASP.NET AJAX Extensions) introduces a new implementation model for server controls with related script. This article discusses how to create an HTML editor server control specifically for the Microsoft AJAX environment.

It's a reference for beginners who like to learn AJAX.

When using ASP.NET AJAX Extensions to transition your site to an AJAX experience, there are two main programming models to choose from: partial rendering and script services. In last month's column, I discussed partial rendering from a primarily architectural perspective. Simply put, with partial rendering, you don't need to change the underlying architecture of an ASP.NET application—it's an easy route to implementing some of the best elements of AJAX, such as no-flicker updates to pages on your site. This enhanced behavior is achieved by simply adding a few new server controls (specifically, ScriptManager and UpdatePanel) and having them silently perform a few tricks to transform a traditional postback in an asynchronous request run through the XMLHttpRequest object. This approach is pretty easy as it simply applies AJAX functionality to the existing Web development model...

ASP.NET AJAX opens a wide range of possibilities to developers. One of them is periodic pinging of database and check for changes to the data. It is certainly not a new technique and developers achieved it in the past using JavaScript and XMLHTTP. However, with the help of ASP.NET AJAX the same task becomes much simple.

The ModalPopupExtender control provided by the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit allows the display of content in a div panel that floats in the middle of the page and prevents the user from interacting with the rest of the page until the div panel has been closed, thus creating a modal form type of entry on a web page. This is really useful technology but I wanted to make a few improvements in this modal form-like interface.

ASP.NET AJAX was released by Microsoft to answer this need in Web application development. My goal in writing this article is to expand your knowledge of a central component of ASP.NET AJAX called the ScriptManager control and to show how advanced programming of ASP.NET AJAX is achieved using it. ScriptManager is a server-side control that sits on your Web Form and enables the core of ASP.NET AJAX. Its primary role is the arbitration of all other ASP.NET AJAX controls on the Web Form and the addition of the right scripting libraries to the Web browser so that the client portion of ASP.NET AJAX can function. Often you will find yourself using the ScriptManager to register other controls, Web services, and client scripts...