.NET news » Ajax

The whole point of AJAX is to make things faster, so why not include functionality that completes your users' thoughts as they type? In Atlas you can easily implement auto-completion functionality using the AutoCompleteExtender control.

There's no reason to get lost with Atlas, Microsoft's framework for building fast, responsive AJAX-enabled Web apps. Get your bearings by following along as we build two introductory applications: a calendar and a content portal.

Traditionally, web applications have left a lot to be desired from a user experience standpoint, due primarily to the "request/response" lifecycle. Any interaction with a page typically requires a postback to the web server (a "request"), which then performs any server-side tasks needed and returns the updated page's markup (the "response"). Outside of intranet-based applications, such behavior adds a bit of a lag when interacting with a page. One approach to improving the end user's experience is to use AJAX. AJAX is a technique for using JavaScript and the XMLHttpRequest object to make light-weight HTTP requests back to the web server from client-side script. Once a response is received, the web page's layout can be seamlessly refreshed using JavaScript to message the page's Document Object Model (DOM) and CSS settings. AJAX-enabled pages provide a slick, responsive user experience, making web-based applications function more like desktop-based ones.

In the past adding AJAX type behaviors to your web application was difficult and came with a steep learning curve since AJAX encompasses a bevy of technologies (JavaScript, XML, XmlHttpObject, HTTP requests, DHTML, and so on). With the advent of the ASP.NET Atlas framework, however, there is much less of a reason to feel so overwhelmed when it comes to AJAX!

What developer wants to spend hours manually writing Ajax plumbing when the Ajax.NET framework does this for free?

What developer wants to spend hours manually writing Ajax pluming when the Ajax.NET framework does this for free? The Ajax.NET Framework presents a remarkably easy-to-use framework that will simplify Ajax development and allow developers to spend more time on implementation details and less time on parsing XML.

UltimateSpell is an ASP.NET control to spell check editable content on your web pages. * AJAX Enabled - Spell check very long text without compromising on speed. Sends small blocks of text to server using AJAX techniques without refreshing the page. * Auto Find - Drag-and-drop the control onto your page, and you're done. It automatically finds and spell checks all editable controls. * Cache Dictionary - Automatically caches dictionaries for fast interaction and data retrieval. * Lots of Dictionaries - Currently 34 dictionaries available on our website. If not enough you can use your own dictionary as well. * Show Options - Change the spelling options either on the server-side, or on the client-side inside the spell check dialog box at runtime.