ASP.NET 3.5 Ajax Unleashed - Softcover

Foster, Robert

9780672329739: ASP.NET 3.5 Ajax Unleashed

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0672329735 ISBN 13: 9780672329739

Publisher: Sams, 2008

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 &nb...

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About the Author:

Rob Foster is an enterprise architect and MOSS MVP in Nashville, Tennessee. He began writing code at the age of 10 when he purchased his first computer, a Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer 2, with money he received for his birthday. He graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a BBA in Computer Information Systems and holds several certifications, including MCSD, MCSE, MCDBA, and MCT. In 2000 with the PDC bits in hand, Rob founded the Nashville .NET Users Group (www.nashdotnet.org), which is a charter member of INETA. He has been writing and designing .NET applications since version 1.0, as well as implementing SharePoint solutions since SharePoint 2001. In his spare time, Rob enjoys writing books and articles related to .NET and SharePoint. His latest book, which he co-authored, is titled SharePoint 2007 Development Unleashed. Rob lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, with his wife, Leigh, and two sons, Andrew and Will.

Introduction

Introduction

As an ASP.NET web developer in today’s market, you need countless skills to distinguish yourself from the next person. One of those skills that you can quickly acquire is developing AJAX-enabled applications. As your users begin to utilize AJAX-enabled sites on the web, such as Live.com and Google Maps, they are beginning to expect the same rich functionality in the applications that you deliver.

Although these applications took many man hours to create, the process is made easier for you as a developer with the AJAX library that’s packaged with ASP.NET 3.5. You can save many hours and lines of code by learning and leveraging ASP.NET AJAX to create and deliver a very rich user experience in your applications.

In this book, you learn how to make the most of ASP.NET AJAX by building on the knowledge that you already have as an ASP.NET developer and extend that knowledge so that you can easily create AJAX-enabled applications. The book has been divided into the following chapters:

Chapter 1—Introduction to AJAX Technologies

In this chapter, you learn the fundamentals of AJAX by first understanding the XmlHttpRequest JavaScript object, and then building a simple AJAX library for use in your applications.

Chapter 2—Introduction to ASP.NET AJAX

Chapter 2 introduces you to the controls and capabilities that are available in ASP.NET AJAX and serves as a springboard for technologies that are discussed in future chapters.

Chapter 3—The ScriptManager and ScriptManagerProxy Controls

Chapter 3 discusses the core object of the ASP.NET AJAX library: the ScriptManager control. In this chapter, you learn the capabilities of the ScriptManager control and how you can best utilize it in your AJAX-enabled pages.

Chapter 4—The ASP.NET AJAX Client API

In Chapter 4, you learn how to make the most of the ASP.NET AJAX client-side objects that are made available via the ScriptManager control.

Chapter 5—The UpdatePanel and Timer Controls

In Chapter 5, you learn how to use the UpdatePanel control to quickly and easily add AJAX functionality to your ASP.NET web pages. You also learn how to use the Timer control to make asynchronous callbacks from your pages at a specified time interval.

Chapter 6—Advanced Techniques with the ASP.NET AJAX PageRequestManager Object

In Chapter 6, you learn some essential techniques that can be used with the ASP.NET AJAX PageRequestManager object to save you many lines of code as well as help you create richer user experiences for your AJAX-enabled applications.

Chapter 7—Using the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit

In Chapter 7, you learn about the controls that are available in the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit, which is an open-source, community-based suite of controls for ASP.NET AJAX.

Chapter 8—Building an ASP.NET AJAX Extender Control

Chapter 8 first introduces the concept of creating AJAX-enabled extender controls, and then shows you how to build an extender control that can be used in your applications.

Chapter 9—ASP.NET AJAX and SharePoint 2007

In Chapter 9, you learn how to enable ASP.NET AJAX in SharePoint 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0, and then you learn how to build an AJAX-enabled WSS web part.

Chapter 10—Creating ASP.NET AJAX-Enabled Vista Sidebar Gadgets

In Chapter 10, you learn how to build ASP.NET AJAX-Enabled Gadgets for the Windows Vista Sidebar.

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