Introducing Microsoft® ASP.NET AJAX

Chapter 7. Remote Method Calls with ASP.NET AJAX

In this chapter:
Designing the Server API for Remote Calls	234
Remote Calls via Web Services	238
Remote Calls via Page Methods	251
Bridging External Web Services	256
Conclusion	265

The chief factor for the success and rapid adoption of the AJAX model is that it enables most application tasks to be performed on the client with limited exchange of data with the server. Nonetheless, some data exchange with the server environment is necessary.

As discussed in Chapter 4, “Partial Page Rendering,” ASP.NET AJAX applications can use asynchronous postbacks to refresh portions of the page and update the state of controls through lightweight server events. An AJAX postback is more lightweight than a full postback, but ...