As the Internet user experience (UX) progresses, more users are demanding and expecting their custom-built business applications to provide the same UX that they see on the Internet every day. ASP.NET 3.5 AJAX Unleashed empowers ASP.NET developers to easily provide this type of experience with minimal code. Author Rob Foster has built AJAX-enabled web applications for a number of major corporations and uses the experience he has gained there to explain concisely, clearly, and completely what ASP.NET developers need to learn to start taking advantage of the rich opportunities made possible by ASP.NET AJAX.
- Learn ASP.NET AJAX by working with real-world examples
- Use the ScriptManager and ScriptManagerProxy controls in your ASP.NET AJAX-enabled applications
- Leverage the ASP.NET AJAX client-side API to maximize the flexibility of ASP.NET AJAX
- Build applications that use the UpdatePanel and Timer controls
- Use the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit to provide rich AJAX functionality to your web applications
- Build ASP.NET AJAX-enabled extender controls
- Integrate ASP.NET AJAX and .NET 3.5 with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
- Create ASP.NET AJAX-enabled Windows Vista Gadgets
- Learn advanced AJAX concepts such as JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) and WCF Web services
Introduction 1
Part I Introduction
Chapter 1 Introduction to AJAX Technologies 5
AJAX and Web 2.0 6
Why Use AJAX? 7
AJAX Rationale 7
AJAX: An Example 8
The XMLHttpRequest Object 8
A Simple AJAX Library 10
Using the AJAX Library 14
Summary 20
Chapter 2 Introduction to ASP.NET AJAX 21
Introducing the Visual Studio Controls 22
ScriptManager 22
ScriptManagerProxy 23
Timer 23
UpdatePanel 23
UpdateProgress 23
Introducing the Visual Studio Projects and Web Site Items 24
Projects 24
Web Site Items 25
Introducing the AJAX Control Toolkit 26
Summary 27
Part II Working with ASP.NET 3.5 AJAX
Chapter 3 The ScriptManager and ScriptManagerProxy Controls 31
About the ScriptManager Control. 31
ScriptManager Properties, Methods, and Events 34
JavaScript Proxy Classes for Web Services 37
Partial-Page Rendering 43
Summary 47
Chapter 4 The ASP.NET AJAX Client API 49
The Namespaces 49
Global 49
Sys 52
Sys.Net 53
Sys.Serialization 54
Sys.Services 62
Sys.UI 66
Sys.WebForms 68
Summary 71
Chapter 5 The UpdatePanel and Timer Controls 73
About the UpdatePanel Control 73
Using the UpdatePanel Control 74
Advanced Features of the UpdatePanel Control 78
Triggers 78
Multiple UpdatePanel Controls on a Single Page 81
The Timer Control 89
Using the Timer Control with Partial-Page Rendering 90
Summary 92
Chapter 6 Advanced Techniques with the ASP.NET AJAX PageRequestManager Object 93
Using the PageRequestManager Object 93
A Practical Example of the PageRequestManager Object 95
Summary 100
Chapter 7 Using the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit 101
ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit: The Controls 102
Using Controls in the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit 105
Configuring Visual Studio to Use the Toolkit 105
The Accordion and AccordionPane Controls 106
The CalendarExtender Control 110
The CollapsiblePanelExtender Control 112
The ConfirmButtonExtender Control 118
The DragPanelExtender Control 120
The DropDownExtender Control 122
The FilteredTextBoxExtender Control 125
The HoverMenuExtender Control 127
The TextBoxWatermarkExtender Control 130
ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit: A Practical Example 134
Using the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit with Microsoft Expression Web 145
Configuring Expression Web for the ASP.NET AJAX
Control Toolkit 145
Summary 150
Chapter 8 Building an ASP.NET AJAX Extender Control 151
Add ASP.NET Controls 151
How to Build an Extender Control 154
Server-Side Code 156
Client-Side Code 159
Summary 163
Chapter 9 ASP.NET AJAX and SharePoint 2007 165
SharePoint and AJAX 165
Modifying Web.Config 166
Developing an AJAX-Based SharePoint Web Part 171
Summary 177
Chapter 10 Creating ASP.NET AJAX-Enabled Vista Sidebar Gadgets 179
Vista Sidebar Gadgets 179
Creating the Gadget 181
Create the Web Service 181
Generate the JavaScript Proxy 183
Create the Vista Gadget 186
Test the Gadget 187
Summary 188
Part III Appendices
Appendix A Microsoft Expression Web 191
An Introduction to the Expression Web Interface 191
Creating Web Pages and Web Sites 191
Customizable Interface 194
Creating Standards-Based Web Sites 198
Quickly Build Standards-Based Sites 198
Code Formatting and IntelliSense 202
Autoformatting Code 202
IntelliSense 204
XML and XSLT Tools in Expression Web 204
Drag and Drop XML 205
Creating and Updating XSL 207
Summary 209
Appendix B Deploying the .NET Framework 3.5 as a SharePoint Feature 211
Features and Solutions 211
Creating the Solution 213
Using Visual Studio 214
Creating the Feature Receiver 218
Deploying the Solution to SharePoint 228
Compiling the Solution 228
Running STSADM.EXE to Register the Solution 234
Deploying the Solution Using SharePoint
Central Management 235
Activating the Feature 237
Summary 239
Index 241
