Professional ASP.NET 3.5 AJAX

1.5. AJAX Libraries

ASP.NET AJAX is the focus of this book. ASP.NET AJAX is an AJAX library that provides you with the tools and components that you need to tie all the varying aforementioned technologies together. Although this book is about ASP.NET AJAX in particular, there are many third-party AJAX libraries that can be used with ASP.NET, although not all of them were specifically designed for it.

Some of these AJAX libraries are mainly focused on providing JavaScript libraries for use from within the browser to make manipulation of the browser DOM easier. Others include some level of server functionality for use within ASP.NET pages (where server controls will render on the client side).

This section briefly highlights some of what these libraries offer. The ASP.NET AJAX Framework can coexist with script and controls from other libraries, although given the dynamic nature of the JavaScript language, it is possible to extend types so that they conflict with each other. Mixing and matching libraries might work just fine for many uses, but you might find conflicts in other cases. So if you decide to move forward on this route, make sure that you are aware of the potential problems. Some of the available libraries include the following:

• Ajax.NET Professional: Michael Schwartz developed Ajax.NET Professional as a tool primarily used to simplify the data transport mechanism that enables a client JavaScript routine to communicate with a server program. The server code is simple to ...