To start with we will create a new ASP.NET AJAX-Enabled Web
Site by selecting a template that has been added to your Visual Studio
Templates upon the installation of the Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX 1.0
Extensions. You can refer back to Figure 1 below to see how to select the right
template:
Figure 1: Selecting ASP.NET AJAX-Enabled Web Site
template
The reason behind creating a new website based on the above
template is that the ASP.NET Web Application’s configuration file will have all
the sections required to run AJAX successfully. This way you will save some
time.
In this first version of the application, we will develop a
Master Page and a Content Page:
MainMaster.master
MainContent.aspx
Before discussing the functionality of the above content
page, you will need to have on whatever version of Microsoft SQL Server that
you are using the Northwind database that was part of the Microsoft SQL Server
2000. If you do not already have it, you can visit this URL and download it
from there:
Northwind
and pubs Sample Databases for SQL Server 2000
The MainMaster.master will show a simple layout for the web
application we are working with and the MainConten.aspx page will simply show a
web form that is used to filter a GridView that is bound to the Employees data
table inside the Northwind database.
The Master Page will have a simple layout including a
header, footer, and content sections. The layout is shown in Figure 2 below:
Figure 2: Master Page layout
The MainContent page will include a simple TextBox together
with a Button that are used to filter a shown GridView that is bound to the
Employees data table inside the Northwind database. The MainContent.aspx page
is shown in Figure 3 below:
Figure 3: Content Page showing a filtered GridView
Once you type in some letter from the FirtstName field and
press the Button, then the GridView will be filtered accordingly.
That was straight forward and nothing new in here! Let us
now start adding some AJAX!!
