ASP.NET AJAX v1.0 Beta ("Atlas")
Since we release the Beta of ASP.NET AJAX v1.0 (code-name "Atlas") about a week ago, there has been a ton of buzz throughout the trade press and developer community. The buzz was mostly anticipated considering we have made many visible and behind-the-scenes improvements each meant to help developers build better Web sites, large or small, using ASP.NET AJAX. There has been some confusion and umbrage surrounding everything from terminology, to documentation, to execution which we are taking the appropiate steps to correct for the next refresh.
Looking back at the Beta release, the first thing you may notice is ASP.NET AJAX has been factored into separate downloads in preparation for the final v1.0 release: The Microsoft PSS Supported ASP.NET AJAX v1.0 "core" and the community supported, "Value-Add" features available as part of the ASP.NET AJAX CTP.
The features in the core will receive full, enterprise-scale product support from Microsoft upon final release. These features will be super stable and ready to be deployed with any mission-critical Web-based solution.
Value-Add features provide many enhancements on top of the core and are stable enough for use in production similar to previous CTPs. However, the Value-Add features will continue to be supported by the vibrant and active ASP.NET community.
For example, with the ASP.NET AJAX Extensions on the server side, workhouse controls like ScriptManager, UpdatePanel, UpdateProgress and Timer will be part of the supported core. Whereas, Value-Add features like AutoCompleteExtender, DragOverlayExtender, and PopupExtender continue to be available in the Value-Add package. Likewise, with the Microsoft AJAX Library on the client side, the networking stack, base class library, and application services APIs are now part of the supported core. Value-Add features like client-side controls, client-side data binding and Xml-Script are part of the Value-Add package.
The plan for the Value-Add components is to move them into the supported core, submit them to the AJAX Control Toolkit community or release them as source. We will not remove any functionality and we will continue to support a Go-Live license for all features in all future releases. So, down the road, you will be able to accomplish the same scenarios you can today, take advantage of all new features, and benefit from additional product support as features get moved into the core.
The ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit community project remains a separate but key piece of ASP.NET AJAX for fully realizing the potential of the server-centric model and it has also been updated to work with the new Beta. This shared-source project will continue to be supported by the community and provide additional capabilities and increased productivity to anyone already using the core.
After downloading and installing the updated core, Value-Add and Control Toolkit packages, you will likely encounter changes that may require you to update your existing apps. These changes were introduced in preparation for the final v1.0 release based on three main focus areas:
- Customer feedback: We have been listening and reading your posts and comments and have used that feedback to make improvements throughout the AJAX Extensions and AJAX Library. There has been even more feedback with the Beta release, some positive, some not so positive, and that has been extremely valuable to us as well.
- Developer productivity: Visual Studio 2005 works well with ASP.NET AJAX today but we know we can do better with VS “Orcas.” Our plan is to release a more integrated, end-to-end development experience with our future tools. There were areas of the platform that needed to be modified to support better authoring, debugging and extensibility and to make development with ASP.NET AJAX more consistent with .NET Framework design guidelines.
- Performance: In addition to providing a rich set of features and improving the design-time development experience, we also want ASP.NET AJAX to be fast and efficient at runtime as well. We have looked for ways to reduce footprint, working set and startup time throughout the framework and give developers more control over how and which libraries get loaded.
For a more complete and detailed view of what to expect in transitioning from earlier CTPs to the Beta release, you should read the Changes between the ASP.NET AJAX (“Atlas”) CTP and the v1.0 Beta/RTM Release whitepaper.
Our goal is to make building the next generation of Web applications easier and more fun today and down the road. Go ahead and download the v1.0 Beta release if you haven't already and check out the updated Control Toolkit as well. Let me know what you think — good, bad and ugly. We are listening and your feedback will help us ship a rock-solid v1.0.
For an example of the power of the ASP.NET AJAX ecosystem and strength of our partner community, go check out ComponentArt's Web.UI for ASP.NET AJAX Beta. They have already updated Web.UI to work with thev1.0 Beta release as well. If you don't have the time or desire to download & install the Web.UI controls, check out their live demos which all include "Show Code" functionality. Very cool!
