Professional ASP.NET 3.5 AJAX

7.1. Downloading and Installing

Since the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit is not part of the default installation of Visual Studio 2008, you have to set the controls up yourself. At the Control Toolkit's site on CodePlex, there are a couple of options available to you.

First, you can download a Control Toolkit that is specifically targeted at Visual Studio 2008. On the CodePlex page for this project, there are two ways to do this. The ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit can be downloaded as source code or as a compiled DLL.

The source control option allows you to take the code for the controls and ASP.NET AJAX Extenders and change the behavior of the controls or extenders yourself. The DLL option is a single Visual Studio installer file and a sample application.

There are a couple of parts to the installation. One part provides a series of new controls that are built with AJAX capabilities in mind. Another part is a series of control extenders (extensions upon preexisting controls). You will also find some new template additions for your Visual Studio 2008.

To get set up, download the .zip file from the CodePlex site and unzip it where you want on your machine. The following sections show you how to work with the various parts of the Control Toolkit.

7.1.1. New Visual Studio Templates

Included in the download is a .vsi file (Visual Studio Installer) called AjaxControlExtender.vsi. This installer installs four new Visual Studio projects for your future use. The installer options are presented ...