Visual Studio® 2010 All-in-One For Dummies®

Chapter 5. Using AJAX for Rich Web Pages

In This Chapter

• Discovering what AJAX does and why you should consider using it

• Using AJAX extensions to create rich Web Applications

• Extending ASP.NET controls with AJAX for smooth page response

• Creating custom AJAX controls for additional functionality

Creating Web pages with rich content while also creating Web pages with nimble response is the Holy Grail of Web development. For years, desktop applications have performed user interface (UI) operations with almost no perceptible delay, but Web applications are at the mercy of the Internet connection speed. Even with a fast Internet connection, though, many Web applications with rich content are sluggish, taking as long as several seconds to load.

This chapter offers a solution: the addition of Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) extensions. These extensions go beyond the traditional ASP.NET controls and give you the ability to make your Web pages respond almost as well as desktop applications, even if the content is relatively rich.

AJAX Explained: What It Does and Why You Should Consider Using It

AJAX is a relatively new technology that relies on JavaScript. The JavaScript code that AJAX employs allows it to perform to the point where very little perceptible delay is seen with the UI because AJAX reduces the amount of data that must be transferred from the server to the client. As a result, the user experience is far more enjoyable because users don't wait for page updates and refreshes.

ASP.NET ...