A Silverlight Bing API Web Application: Server side (Part 2)

This is part 2 of the A Silverlight Bing API Web Application walk-through. After the jump some Silverlight information, server side code and screen-shots of the application.

Requesting a file using C#, ASP.net and the Microsoft Ajax Toolkit

In this post I will describe how to request a small text file from the server and display its content inside a ASPX page, using server side logic along with the Microsoft Ajax toolkit to provide a more interactive experience for the user. Please see my earlier post on the toolkit for more information.

Requesting a file using Firefox, XMLHttpRequest object and ASP.net

Here is a short sample of Javascript code using the XMLHttpRequest object to request a file from a ASP.net server.

Continued after the jump.

Microsoft AJAX Control Toolkit

In an earlier post I outlined the XMLHttpRequest object and showed you Java-Script code to implement the API released by the W3C. However, there are other ways to incorporate Ajax into a web-page or a web-application.

This post will concentrate on the Microsoft Ajax Toolkit, a free toolkit released by the Microsoft team making Ajax a plug and play process.

After the jump I will describe the many components available in the toolkit.

Synchronous vs. Asynchronous communication

Two figures which illustrate clearly the difference between the two communication techniques.
The following figures taken from an essay written by Jesse James Garrett (2005), available from http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/essays/archives/000385.php illustrates both web application models using synchronous and asynchronous communication sequences.

Figure 1: Synchronous interaction

Figure 2: Asynchronous interaction

Asynchronous Javascript and XML aka Ajax

We’ve all come across Ajax across the internet, Google uses it pretty much everywhere. But what is it, and how does it work?

After the jump I will try to clarify these questions.