Programming .NET 3.5

ScriptManager

The ScriptManager control is central to integrating AJAX with ASP.NET. The ScriptManager manages the components on a page and is responsible for handling partial page updates. It takes care of loading the ASP.NET AJAX client script libraries into the browser, and it's responsible for using proxy objects so that you can access web service methods from JavaScript.

ora: <Rant>

AJAX came to ASP.NET by way of JavaScript programmers. These programmers' primary concern is with how they can improve the performance of, or the users' experience with, client-side scripting.

ASP.NET programmers, however, are (or, I would argue, should be) concerned with how they can leverage existing tools Microsoft (or others) have already created and tested, so they can focus on design and high-level implementation rather than on building the plumbing.

When we build ASP.NET programs, we drag and drop controls such as listboxes, text boxes, and even calendars with little thought about how they work or how they emit standard HTML to browsers. When we use validation controls, we may be aware that they will emit client-side validation script, but few of us bother to examine that script. We trust that Microsoft got it right.

The goal of using the Microsoft Atlas library, and especially the AJAX Control Toolkit, should be (in my opinion) to enable developers to drag and drop controls wherever possible, writing JavaScript and manipulating the DOM only when necessary. Writing JavaScript is analogous to writing ...