AJAX Implemetation

AJAX(ASP.Net) Implemetation

By Priyank Rach

In previous article on Ajax http://techmanthan.wordpress.com/2007/05/07/ajax/, Himanshu had discussed about the Ajax web application model, how it differs from classic web application model, Advantages & disadvantages of Ajax. In this article we will see how to start with Ajax in ASP.Net.

First you will have to download ASP.Net Ajax Extension. It can be free download from web. Now go for its installation. After the successful installation of it, you will able to see a new template in wizard of creating a new web site. It would be named as “ASP.Net Ajax Enabled Website”.

In this web site you will be able to see “Ajax Extensions” in toolbar. It has the controls like script manager, Update panel which gives Ajax benefits to your web application.

As you will be able to see there form is default loaded with script manager. It loads all necessary scripts for Ajax controls. Now you can drag the Update Panel. Update panel is the control which allows asynchronous post back to your application. Means you can refresh the controls inside the panel without refreshing the whole page.

Now as this indicate, controls within the update panel can refresh the portion covered by the panel. Similarly you can refresh the panel by control which is outside of that panel also. These can be gained using “Triggers”. In trigger also you can have the option to partially refresh the page or our convential refresh (whole page). Trigger can be fired on various events like Button click, dropdown selected index change or radio button state change etc.

This was related to creating a new Ajax enabled web site, but if you already have a web application and if you want to have Ajax features in it then you may need to create a dummy Ajax enabled application through template and copy the web.config file to your web application’s web.config file. You may need to copy only the Ajax related portion from your web.config file.

Let us know how useful you find this article…