About this Book
Almost one year has elapsed since the release of the 1.0 version of ASP.NET AJAX. With the buzz created by the Ajax paradigm, the framework has gained a strong popularity among ASP.NET developers. The official ASP.NET AJAX website provides video tutorials, online documentation, and discussion forums. With all these resources available, one might think that a book would have little to contribute.
Our opinion is different. It’s true that the online documentation acts as a good, general reference. It’s also true that you can search the ASP.NET forums for the latest tips and tricks.
We believe that a strong comprehension of the new concepts and development techniques that ASP.NET AJAX brings to ASP.NET is fundamental in order to become proficient with the framework. What is the client page lifecycle? How does a partial postback work? Why do you need to write an Ajax-enabled control? One of the goals of this book is to explain how things work in ASP.NET AJAX. We also wanted to provide as much code as possible to show how to implement common Ajax scenarios with the help of ASP.NET AJAX.
Each chapter tries to explain the whys and hows of the concepts covered. We believe that simple examples are the way to go, so the reader can quickly start coding without losing the focus on ASP.NET AJAX concepts. Once the main concepts have been assimilated, we challenge the reader with more advanced examples.