AJAX

ASP.NET AJAX is a free framework for quickly creating efficient and interactive Web applications that work across all popular browsers.ASP.NET AJAX is built-into ASP.NET 3.5. It is also available as a separate download for ASP.NET 2.0.

With ASP.NET AJAX you can:
Create next-generation interfaces with reusable AJAX components.
Enhance existing pages using powerful AJAX controls with support for all modern browsers.
Access remote services and data from the browser without tons of complicated script.
Take advantage of the improved efficiency and ease of use in Visual Studio 2008, with its built-in support for ASP.NET AJAX, improved JavaScript support, and a new Web page designer interface. Enjoy the benefits of a free framework with technical support provided by Microsoft.

Understanding ASP.NET AJAX Authentication and Profile Application Services
The Authentication service allows users to provide credentials in order to receive an authentication cookie, and is the gateway service to allow custom user profiles provided by ASP.NET. Use of the ASP.NET AJAX authentication service is compatible with standard ASP.NET Forms authentication, so applications currently using Forms authentication (such as with the Login control) will not be broken by upgrading to the AJAX authentication service.

Understanding ASP.NET AJAX Debugging Capabilities
The ability to debug code is a skill that every developer should have in their arsenal regardless of the technology they’re using. While many developers are accustomed to using Visual Studio .NET or Web Developer Express to debug ASP.NET applications that use VB.NET or C# code, some aren’t aware that it’s also extremely useful for debugging client-side code such as JavaScript. The same type of techniques used to debug .NET applications can also be applied to AJAX-enabled applications and more specifically ASP.NET AJAX applications.


Understanding Partial Page Updates with ASP.NET AJAX
Perhaps the most visible feature of the ASP.NET AJAX Extensions is the ability to do a partial or incremental page updates without doing a full postback to the server, with no code changes and minimal markup changes. The advantages are extensive – the state of your multimedia (such as Adobe Flash or Windows Media) is unchanged, bandwidth costs are reduced, and the client does not experience the flicker usually associated with a postback.

Understanding ASP.NET AJAX Localization
Localization is the process of designing and integrating support for a specific language and culture into an application or an application component. The Microsoft ASP.NET platform provides extensive support for localization for standard ASP.NET applications by integrating the standard .NET localization model; the Microsoft AJAX Framework utilize the integrated model to support the diverse scenarios in which localization can be performed.