ASP.NET AJAX UpdatePanel Control

Introducing the UpdatePanel Control

When an ASP.NET page performs a postback to the server, there is often a pause followed by a flash of the browser screen as content returned from the server is rendered. During this pause, the user cannot interact with the application. The disruption becomes even more pronounced if the server needs extra time to process user input or retrieve data from a remote source.

What You Need to Get the Most from This Short Cut

To run an ASP.NET Ajax web site, you need:

• A web server running IIS 5 or later (for local development, the Visual Studio 2005 Web Server can be used instead)

• ASP.NET 2.0, which can be downloaded from http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/downloads/updates/default.aspx

• ASP.NET Ajax, which can be downloaded from http://ajax.asp.net/default.aspx?tabid=47&subtabid=471

Any text editor can help you develop an ASP.NET Ajax site, but we recommend you download and install the free Visual Web Developer 2005 IDE, available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vwd/download/.

Some of the samples in this Short Cut require SQL Server Express, the free version of SQL Server that can be downloaded as part of Visual Web Developer Express or from http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/sql/download/. We use the SQL Server sample database, AdventureWorks, for which download and installation instructions can be found at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms310325.aspx.

On the client side, IE6 or later, Firefox 1.5 or later, Opera 9 or later ...