Introduction to Ajax

AJAX stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. Ajax is a web based technique and a combination of commonly used techniques like HTML/XHTML, CSS, XML/XSLT, Document Object Model (DOM), JavaScript and the XMLHttpRequest object, to create Rich Internet Applications (RIA).

Ajax allows the user to interact with a web server asynchronously, without using a plug-in. This asynchronous interaction of user with the web server is possible with the help of XMLHttpRequest object found in browsers.

Advantages of AJAX

1. AJAX is platform independent means it is a cross platform technology that can be used with any browsers; since it is based on XML & JavaScript.

2. AJAX makes your application more user friendly, faster, and more interactive.

3. With AJAX, JavaScript script directly communicate with the server with the help of XMLHttpRequest object and can exchange data with the server, without reloading the page.

4. AJAX uses asynchronous data transfer (HTTP requests) between the browser and the web server, by allowing web pages to request small bits of information from the server instead of entire pages.

5. Ajax minimize the round trips to the server.

Disadvantage of AJAX

1. AJAX is based on JavaScript and different browser implement JavaScript different way. Hence your application may behave differently on different browsers. Also, sometimes you need to write browser specific code to implement your application functionality.

2. If JavaScript is disabled with in the browser, then AJAX will not be able to perform any work.

3. It is difficult to bookmark a specific state of the web page since page changes dynamically.

What is Asp.Net AJAX?

ASP.NET AJAX is an extension to Asp.Net, developed by Microsoft to make dynamic, client-centric, user-friendly, and interactive web applications. ASP.NET AJAX has its own AJAX Library and AJAX controls to develop rich Web applications that communicate with the server using asynchronous postback.

What do you think?

I hope you will enjoy the tips while programming with Asp.Net AJAX. I would like to have feedback from my blog readers. Your valuable feedback, question, or comments about this article are always welcome.

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