ASP.NET AJAX Controls
What is ASP.NET AJAX? ASP.NET is a part of the Microsoft .NET Framework that enables Web developers to create Web sites and corporate Intranet sites more easily. ASP.NET can be viewed as the next step on from the Microsoft ASP technology where Microsoft first provided Active Server Page (ASP) technology to allow programmers to create Web apps. ASP.NET is a progression from ASP, (initially it was known as ASP+, before being named ASP.NET), in that it is part of the .NET Framework and hence applications built with it are easier to use and maintain, as they are based on the solid .NET Framework component model. Microsoft added AJAX capabilities to the basic ASP.NET technology to help the performance and the user experience of ASP.NET based apps.
AJAX is short for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML and is a technique of using several unrelated technologies together, rather than a technology itself. Microsoft started to add AJAX support, in a project known as ATLAS originally, so that user interaction with Web pages would be more dynamic and responsive. Asynchronous communication allows data to be gathered from a server in the background, without holding up other parts of the application that may cause it to freeze unexpectedly for the user. Another advantage of AJAX is that when data is updated on the Web page, only those parts of the Web page that have changed need to be redrawn, as opposed to Web pages being completely redrawn when they are updated. The data is exchanged between the server and the Web browser in XML (eXtensible Markup Language) format and this XML data can then be presented on a Web page using style sheets and other common approaches to display data in HTML, such as displaying the data using an ASP.NET AJAX control.
What is an ASP.NET AJAX control? An ASP.NET AJAX control is a visual reusable software component that can be added and integrated into a Web page by an ASP.NET AJAX developer. This ASP.NET AJAX component has a visual interface and can be used to enter data, display data, visualize data or allow the user to control the ASP.NET AJAX application in some way.
In this ASP.NET AJAX controls gallery you will find a wide variety of ASP.NET AJAX custom controls that you can download, review, try and buy for your app. For example, in the gallery you will find a ASP.NET AJAX resizer control that provides resizing capabilities for other Web controls, such as Microsoft's Panel and also HTML div and table elements. This ASP.NET AJAX control therefore allows your users to resize the Web page proportionally inside their browser. There is also a wide selection of ASP.NET AJAX datagrids and ASP.NET charting controls that will allow you to create data input and output apps, as well as extensive ASP.NET AJAX gauges & ASP.NET AJAX dials that will allow you create great ASP.NET AJAX dashboards or instrumentation panel mash ups for your BI ("biz intel") users.
(29)
