Chapter 10. Dynamic interfaces in Web Parts
This chapter covers
- Understanding dynamic Web Parts
- Using JavaScript and jQuery to update the interface
- Introducing the SharePoint dialog framework
- Modifying the Ribbon
- Building context-aware Web Parts
Web pages have traditionally been built on the request-response methodology. You send a request for a web page and wait for a response containing the HTML. Each view requires that the server process and render all content, images, and scripts. This static process is slow. In recent years, browser technology has evolved and you can now create web pages that are dynamically and asynchronously updated. The combination of technologies, such as JavaScript, web services, Ajax, XML, and JSON, allows you to update only specific parts of a web page and make the experience more dynamic than ever before.
SharePoint 2010 uses the ASP.NET AJAX framework to build its interface. In this chapter, you’ll take a look at some of the new user interface features that you can leverage in your Web Parts. The chapter begins by showing you how to make your Web Parts more dynamic using the ASP.NET Ajax framework and JavaScript. You’ll also review the jQuery JavaScript library, which allows you to create clean, compact, and cross-browser compliant JavaScript code.