Programming .NET 3.5

Chapter 6. Applying AJAX: ListMania

This chapter will walk you through a significant AJAX-enhanced ASP.NET application to demonstrate how the various AJAX tools can enrich a real-world application.

The application you'll build is a To-Do List Manager, which will consist of two .aspx pages. The first is the login page shown in Figure 6-1. This page allows users to access their personal to-do lists by entering an email address and a password, then clicking the sign-in button. New users can create to-do lists by clicking the Need To Register? button, completing the form that appears, and clicking the Register button.

The login page uses an AJAX CollapsiblePanelExtender control that expands and contracts when the user clicks on the Need To Register? button. It also includes an AJAX WaterMark control (as described in the previous chapter) and an AJAX PasswordStrength control to assist the user in choosing a strong password. We will examine the PasswordStrength control in detail later in the chapter.

The second page you'll create is the page for the To-Do List Manager itself, shown in Figure 6-2.

On this page, users can maintain the enormous lists of things they need to do. They will be able to add items to their lists and prioritize those items.

This page uses an AJAX ReorderList control to allow the user to change the order of the to-do items using drag handles. Each to-do item has an item name, a full description, and a hidden priority value (an integer).

Creating the To-Do List Manager ...