August 3rd, 2009 lvs
Ajax is a set of technologies that have formed the foundation for many of new interactive (web 2.0) websites you see now on the web. Ajax allows you to update parts of your website without refreshing the entire page giving your web visitors a more pleasing web experience.
Many web technologies use Ajax; and ASP.NET is just one of them. The components of Ajax are the same no matter what technology you use, but with ASP.NET AJAX you can use the power of server-side controls to dramatically reduce the amount of coding. Microsoft has its own JavaScript framework which handles the client interaction of the browser as well. This library can be accessed with JavaScript code in an ASP.NET page as well.
In this online course we learn the basics of Ajax as well as how to use new ASP.NET AJAX controls and JavaScript libraries to create truly intereactive and dynamic web pages and web sites.
Upon completion of this online class, the student will have a great understanding of how the .NET framework and ASP.NET uses the AJAX technologies to create more interactive and user-friendly ASP.NET websites.
Course Excerpt:
ASP.NET is a server-side technology for building web applications. Almost all the work happens on the web server and not the web browser. Whenever you perform an action in an ASP.NET page-such as clicking a button or sorting a GridView-the entire page must be posted back to the web server. Any significant action on a page results in a postback.
If you think about it, this is incredibly inefficient. When you perform a postback in an ASP.NET page, the entire page must be transported across the Internet from browser to server. Next, the .NET class that corresponds to the page must re-render the entire page again from scratch. Finally, the finished page must be sent back across the Internet to the browser. This whole long, slow, agonizing process must occur even if you are updating a tiny section of the page.
Using a server-side technology such as ASP.NET usually results in a bad user experience. Every time a user performs some action on a page, the universe temporarily freezes. Whenever you perform a postback, the browser locks, the page jumps, and the user must wait patiently, twiddling his thumbs, while the page gets reconstructed. All of us have grown accustomed to this awful user experience. However, we would never design our desktop applications in the same way.
When the members of the ASP.NET team invented ASP.NET in the late 1990s, there was good reason to embrace the server-side. Getting a page that was written in JavaScript to work consistently across different browsers, and even across different versions of the same browser was very difficult. The server side was safe and reliable.
Web developers are discovering that if they want to build truly great applications, they need to leave the safety of the server side and enter the wilds of the client side.
Google has hacked out a path for us by creating several proof-of-concept web applications that demonstrate that you can build reliable, user-friendly, web applications that execute entirely in the browser without the need for postbacks. [See: Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Suggest and Google Gmail]
What is Ajax?
Ajax is a blanket term. The term Ajax was coined by Jesse James Garrett back in 1995, primarily as a cool way to sell a set of technologies and a new approach to web development.
Ajax refers to using a set of specific browser technologies to build web pages. None of these technologies are new and consist of three main components: XMLHttpRequest, DOM and JavaScript.
Especially with the advent of ASP.NET, the world of web programming has been simplified. Frameworks offer a think layer of abstraction over basic HTML and HTTP interaction, and the ASP.NET development environment makes it easy with automated code generation and remote debugging.
To learn more – register for the AJAX Web Development with ASP.NET
Visual Web Developer 2008 Express is required for this class and is a free download! This tool is fully compatible with any version of Windows XP or Vista. For important information visit the Microsoft Express Support website.
Frank Stepanski is the instructor of this online course. He is web developer and a part-time faculty member at a local community college. Frank has taught a number of different web related classes over the years focusing on topics such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, ASP and Flash.
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