Keith Smith's Blog : ASP.NET AJAX

Microsoft joins OpenAjax Alliance

keiths — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 08:29:13 GMT

I am sure you have heard the news already but wanted to post anyway following a long day of meetings and press briefings that prevented me from doing so sooner.

Well, the rumors are true: Microsoft has officially joined OpenAjax Alliance (OAA).

Over the past year we were really focused on bringing ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 to market much faster than anyone thought we would when the technology was first previewed back in October 2005. Delivering a cross-browser, cross-platform AJAX framework that seamlessly integrates with ASP.NET on the server (ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions) while providing a client-side library that can be used to enhance any server framework (Microsoft AJAX Library) was no small feat.

Many of you may recall the "Atlas" project began a few months before Visual Studio 2005 and .NET Framework 2.0 were released. In addition to developing "Atlas" concurrently with the most advanced VS and .NET release to date, we also accomplished some pretty noteworthy firsts along the way to releasing ASP.NET AJAX 1.0. For example, there were the regular Community Technology Preview (CTP) releases every 6-8 weeks, the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit shared source project, the Go-Live licensing with the March 2006 CTP at Mix, the refactoring of the framework into the supported "core" and Futures CTP, and the release of the source code for both the client-side script and server-side managed code.

What does all this have to do with OpenAjax Alliance? It should be clear from our actions during the development of ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 that we have maintained our deep commitment to our developer community. We have been transparent, agile and open. We have solicited and incorporated feedback to help solve real problems in close to real-time. We made it possible for the broader developer community to do AJAX without doing AJAX. Over the past year we have focused on shipping both platform and tools components any developer can use to build enhanced browser-based Web experiences using the skills they already have.

With today's announcement we continue our work on behalf of developers by joining with other industry leaders and AJAX vendors to promote and contribute to a high degree of interoperability among the myriad AJAX frameworks.

It is great to see industry watchers like Ryan Stewart recognize our efforts and commend the work we are doing around standards, openness and interoperability. Stay tuned to Bertrand Le Roy's blog if you want to follow our OAA participation more closely. (Bertrand is Microsoft's OpenAjax Alliance representative.)

By the way, if you happen to be in New York City for AjaxWorld East, be sure to check out Brad Abram's keynote tomorrow morning. He will be sharing his thoughts on AJAX development starting at 7:30AM.

Free ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 Clinic from Microsoft Learning

keiths — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:57:31 GMT

I am excited to announce the launch of a new, free, 2-hour "Developing Enhanced Web Experiences with Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX Extensions" clinic created by Microsoft E-Learning. The delivery of this clinic helps us reach a major milestone in our content & training roadmap for ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 following its release back in January. The clinic was created by professional instructors from around the world with contributions and input from members of the Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX product team.

From the course description:

In this 2-hour clinic you will learn about the rich functionality that ASP.NET AJAX Extensions provides for building highly responsive and enhanced web applications. In addition to learning about the different server and client components of ASP.NET AJAX, you will also learn how to build new ASP.NET AJAX applications and how to upgrade existing ASP.NET applications to take advantage of ASP.NET AJAX.

This clinic is appropriate for experienced .NET Web Developers and Software Architects who are looking to incorporate ASP.NET AJAX within their existing and future solutions.

Here is a list of the modules and lessons covered in this clinic:

Clinic Overview
- Module Introduction
- Navigation Overview
Overview of ASP.NET AJAX
- Module Introduction
- Introduction to AJAX and ASP.NET AJAX
- Introduction to the Architecture of ASP.NET AJAX
- Module Summary
Programming with ASP.NET AJAX
- Module Introduction
- Building a Simple ASP.NET AJAX Application
- Using the AJAX Library to Enhance Web User Interfaces
- Calling Web Services and Web Methods from the Client
- Module Summary
Additional Information
- Module Introduction
- Glossary
- Next Steps

Please help me spread the word about this free training for AJAX development using the Microsoft platform. Also, send me any feedback you have. I would also like to get your feedback on follow-up lessons and content you would like to see.

Nikhil Does it Again

keiths — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 09:57:34 GMT

ASP.NET AJAX Architect, Nikhil Kothari, has released 3 updated server controls (one existing, two new) for ASP.NET AJAX 1.0:

UpdateHistory

A non-visual control that allows you to add history entries to the browser's navigation stack selectively for some post-backs, and not for some others. This helps fix the back button to make it work, and allows you to implement Ajax patterns such as "logical navigation" and unique URLs.

StyledUpdatePanel
A simple derived UpdatePanel that adds CSS class semantics. A simple addition, but a useful feature, nevertheless, that didn't make the feature cut.

AnimatedUpdatePanel
Another derived UpdatePanel that displays new content using a variety of animations or effects: slides, wipes, cross-fades as well as a visual highlight. This allows you to implement the "visual notification" Ajax patterns such as the one second spotlight and one second mutation.

In addition to samples, Nikhil also includes a "WPF/E"-hosted video in his post showing all 3 controls in action so you OS X users can enjoy it too.

"WPF/E" == "Wow"

keiths — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 21:57:00 GMT

Now that the "WPF/E" February 2007 CTP is available, I'm sure many of you want to see how cool it is and want to know what all the buzz is about? Just point your browser to http://www.vista.si/ and experience the better Web of the future.

If your Slovenian is not quite what it used to be, first click the icon at the top (if necessary, to install the latest "WPF/E" CTP) then click the icon with the Vista ribbon to launch the app.

Go ahead and interact with this browser-based emulation of Windows Vista, Microsoft's new flagship operating system. You can resize, move, minimize & maximize windows; transparency is enabled; the clock in the Sidebar works as expected; you can even "launch" things from the Start menu. Amazing.

Of course, since "WPF/E" can be programmed with standard JavaScript, you can use it to easily enhance and interact with your existing ASP.NET AJAX applications.

Refactor! for ASP.NET 2.0

keiths — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 03:43:05 GMT

Want to save some serious time developing your ASP.NET 2.0 Web sites using Visual Studio 2005?
Tired of mundane copy & paste or tedious global search-and-replace as your primary tools for cleaning up your code?
Do you want to make your ASP.NET 2.0 solutions easier to maintain in the future?
Do you like having access to useful, whizbang (and very cool) utilities that actually help you get real work done?
What if those utilities were free?

Well, if you answered yes to any of the above questions, you should be ecstatic and astounded to know Developer Express has released Refactor! for ASP.NET for immediate and free download.

One cautionary note to existing users of Refactor! Pro:

Refactor! for ASP.NET is incompatible with existing Refactor! Pro installations. Do not install Refactor! for ASP.NET alongside Refactor! Pro. Instead, those Refactor! Pro customers still within their free one-year maintenance update period can download a free update to Refactor! Pro that includes these new ASP.NET refactorings.

Also, since Refactor! is a VS add-on, it does not work with Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition. You must have Visual Studio 2005 Standard or above.

So, how cool is Refactor! for ASP.NET? Watch this 12-minute video overview to see for yourself.

The v2.1.3 release includes 25 refactorings, with 9 dedicated to ASP.NET development:

Add Validator
Extract ContentPlaceHolder
Extract ContentPlaceHolder (and create master page)
Extract Style (Class)
Extract Style (id)
Move to Code-behind
Move Style Attributes to CSS
Rename Style
Surround with Update Panel

(the "Extract to User Control" refactoring will arrive in a future drop)

Also included are 16 standard refactorings that work inside both C# and VB code-behind files (most also work on code placed inside inline <script> tags):

Extract Method
Extract Property
Flatten Conditional
Inline Temp
Introduce Constant
Introduce Local
Move Declaration near Reference
Move Initialization to Declaration
Reorder Parameters
Rename
Replace Temp with Query
Reverse Conditional
Safe Rename
Simplify Expression
Split Initialization from Declaration
Split Temporary Variable

If you get stuck or need support (note: it is currently in Beta) you have a couple options:

Contact support@devexpress.com, or
Subscribe to the devexpress.public.refactor.asp newsgroup at news.devexpress.com

I am sure after a few uses, Refactor! will become a staple in your development process just like Reflector if it has not already.

Hats off to Developer Express for continuing to enhance the Web development capabilities of Visual Studio 2005 in some very clever and unique ways. The next time you come across a fellow ASP.NET developer let them know about this time-saving solution.

ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 Documentation Released

keiths — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 23:41:44 GMT

The official ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 documentation was released today and includes samples, tutorials, samples in addition to API references. So we have shipped the product, released the source and now the updated docs are available for download.

We are still not done and have even more exciting training and samples coming. Stay tuned...

ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions Source Code Released

keiths — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:41:43 GMT

If you have read the main ASP.NET Community Site page or Scott's blog today, you already know we have delivered on our promise to make the ASP.NET AJAX source code available following last week's release.

Here is the blurb...

Following the release of ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 last week, Microsoft has made the source code for the ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions available for immediate download. Now developers will have the tools they need to maintain and debug their ASP.NET AJAX Web sites and to better understand how the server features of ASP.NET AJAX work. With this source code release, Microsoft continues to break new ground in transparency and engagement with the .NET Framework developer community.

Remember this source code release is under the Microsoft Reference License (Ms-RL) so you can view and debug but not recompile or redistribute.

You may also be interested in Steve Marx's project out on CodePlex for improving the Microsoft AJAX Library for PHP development.

Enjoy,
Keith

ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 Has Shipped

keiths — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 22:27:14 GMT

We have released ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 and it is now available for immediate download on our newly redesigned ASP.NET AJAX Community Site.

You can read more about this major milestone on Scott's blog.

There are 4 things that excite me the most about this release:

Now developers have a fully-supported solution for building AJAX-enabled Web experiences using ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005. No new tools are required, no new concepts to learn. You can literally stick of few controls on your page and create a more sophisticated user experience that works in all modern browsers.
The ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit is up to 30 powerful controls and counting. The Control Toolkit has brought together some of the most creative developers in the ASP.NET community and everyone can benefit from their contributions.
We will be providng access to the source code for both the Microsoft AJAX Library and the ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions to aid in debugging and provide our developer community an unprecedented level of transparency.
Last, but certainly not least, there are many partners and early adopters who have gone to great lengths to support us since our early CTPs. From ComponentArt and SPI Dynamics to Burton Snowboards, Phanfare, Pageflakes, Squeet, TitleZ and Shelfari. There are way too many to list here and more sites coming online each week so be sure to check out the Showcase.

Over the next few weeks we will be providing a ton of new content and training material to help ASP.NET AJAX newbies and veterans alike take advantage of all the newest features and capabilities. This includes a complete MSDN eLearning Clinic, MSDN Virtual Labs, tutorials, sample applications and "How Do I?" videos.

Go download ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 today and let us know what you think.

ASP.NET AJAX wins Product of the Year

keiths — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 01:02:58 GMT

As you may have already read over on Glavs Blog, Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX was recently awarded the Developer.com Product of the Year 2007 award in the ".NET Tool or Add-in" category.

Other finalists in that category included some very popular tools:

CodeSmith
Lutz Roeder's .NET Reflector
NUnit
TestDriven.NET

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 won in the "Database Tool or Add-in" category.

Of course all of us working on these products are excited about this and pleased with the recognition. Even more rewarding is knowing members of the developer community are excited about these products as well.

A big thanks to everyone who voted for us. We won't let you down.

ASP.NET AJAX v1.0 Beta ("Atlas")

keiths — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 10:41:00 GMT

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!

ASP.NET AJAX Mash-It-Up Contest Winners

keiths — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 08:21:00 GMT

Congratulations to all the winners of the Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX Mash-It-Up contest. They are:

Grand Prize Winner:

GeotagIt! created by Alessandro Gallo (Garbin)

First Prize Winners:

Activeds created by Laijun Xie
GPS Trainer created by Bud Cribar
HEV Schweiz created by Patrick Rudzitis
PowerResult created by Wanjun Gao
RSS Search Engine by Sadek Alaoui

Honorable Mention:

BrashWEB.com Domain Lookup created by Khaled Atashbahar

All the winners did a great job building some of the coolest and first ASP.NET AJAX ("Atlas") Mash-Ups on the planet. Go check them out, download the code and start building your own sites today.

"Atlas" 1.0 Official Naming and Release Plan

keiths — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 21:08:00 GMT

Scott Guthrie, General Manager of .NET Development Platform, today announced the "Atlas" v1.0 official naming and product release plan via his blog. You can review the specifics by reading Scott's post. In summary:

Official Naming

Microsoft AJAX Library: The client-side Javascript library (i.e., all the .js files) that works with any browser and also supports any server-side framework, not just ASP.NET.
ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions: The server-side functionality that seamlessly integrates with ASP.NET and uses the same programming model familiar to existing ASP.NET developers.
ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit: The set of free, shared source controls and components that currently form the "Atlas" Control Toolkit community project hosted on CodePlex.
Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX = Microsoft AJAX Library + ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions.

Release Plan

We are releasing a fully-supported version of the Microsoft AJAX components that works on top of ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005 by the end of this calendar year. The plan is to first release a Beta, then a Release Candidate (RC), then finalize the final release date based on customer feedback.
Improved tools support will be delivered with the "Orcas" release of Visual Studio and you can expect to be able to preview the new tool capabilities in future VS "Orcas" Community Technology Previews (CTPs).
Microsoft AJAX CTPs will continue throughout the Visual Studio "Orcas" product cycle as a way to incorporate partner & customer feedback into the development process. These CTPs will continue to have Go-Live licenses as they have had since March 2006.
A whitepaper detailing the v1.0 feature list and anticipated product changes will be published in the next few weeks.

I encourage you to provide feedback on the roadmap and naming either by posting comments here or any of the other "Atlas" team blogs. Feel free to contact me directly if you prefer.

What's New with "Atlas"?

keiths — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 21:16:00 GMT

It's been a while since my last post. The silence and lack of new content is by no way an indication of a lack of new developments in the web platform & tools space here at Microsoft. In fact, I've been pretty busy with some exciting developments over the last month and preparing for our fall event schedule.

With the month of July it was a prime opportunity for a new Community Technology Preview (CTP) release and the engineering team didn't disappoint. The Atlas July CTP is ready for download and includes several UpdatePanel, ScriptManager and drag-and-drop bug fixes. This is the 4th Atlas CTP release since March. Don't forget to checkout the latest Atlas Control Toolkit as well on CodePlex.

We hosted TechReady3 the week of July 24 here in Seattle to help Microsoft's technical field prepare for the next wave of technology developments aimed at the enterprise segment. Since "Atlas" has been in CTP form since October 2005 and has had a Go-Live license since March, it was heavily featured at TechReady3. We received some great feedback on the product plan and the field is really excited with where we are headed.

Joe Stagner, has published a How-To video on "Atlas" that I highly encourage everyone to check out. The video is just under 12 minutes long and discusses how to make network callbacks directly from client-side script. There are several other ASP.NET and "Atlas" videos in the video showcase. Watch them all and let us know what you think.

Up next for me are a few Tech-Ed events in the Asia/Pacific region. Specifically, I will be presenting on ASP.NET, "Atlas," and Visual Studio for Web development at Tech-Ed Australia (Sydney), Tech-Ed New Zealand (Auckland) and Tech-Ed Southeast Asia (Kuala Lumpur). It should be a lot of fun as we continue to build the momentum created by the domestic Tech-Ed event which took place in Boston the week starting June 11.

Simplifying Ajax-Style Web Development

keiths — Thu, 18 May 2006 08:38:00 GMT

Below is a link to an article I wrote for the May issue of Computer magazine on Ajax-style web development and ASP.NET codename "Atlas." The publishers at IEEE were gracious enough to allow me to make the article available on my blog otherwise it would cost non-subscribers to read it online. The only request is readers should read and agree to the following notice prior to downloading.

Please link to this post (not the article) if you wish to share it with others.

Copyright (c) 2006 IEEE. Reprinted from Computer Magazine, Volume 39, Issue 5, May 2006, pp. 98-101.
This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to pubs-permissions@ieee.org.
By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.

I Agree. Download the "Simplifying Ajax-Style Web Development" article.

"Atlas" Podcast at MIX

keiths — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 22:34:00 GMT

Wally McClure, of ASP.NET Podcast fame, allowed Thomas Lewis (Technical Evangelist for Web Platform & Tools) and me to prattle on about ASP.NET codename "Atlas" at MIX last month as part of an hour-long podcast. You can never get enough Wally in your life so I was honored to have the opportunity to participate in this podcast.

Ours is ASP.NET Podcast Show #45 which is hosted on http://aspnetpodcast.com. I really enjoyed discussing what "Atlas" is about, what it does today and things we are planning to do in the Orcas release of Visual Studio. Let me know what you think.