Course Description

Ajax is a set of technologies (JavaScript, the DOM, XML, and the XMLHttpRequest object) that have formed the foundation for many of new interactive (web 2.0) websites you see now on the web. Ajax allows you to update parts of your website without refreshing the entire page giving your web visitors a more pleasing web experience. Many web technologies use Ajax; and ASP.NET is just one of them. The components of Ajax are the same no matter what technology you use, but with ASP.NET AJAX you can use the power of server-side controls to dramatically reduce the amount of coding. Microsoft has its own JavaScript framework which handles the client interaction of the browser as well. This library can be accessed with JavaScript code in an ASP.NET page as well. In this class we will learn the basics of Ajax as well as how to use new ASP.NET AJAX controls and JavaScript libraries to create truly intereactive and dynamic web pages and web sites. This is a 5 week, self-paced, online course. If you need additional help understanding the material presented, you can communicate with the instructor and fellow classmates. The instructor will monitor and track your progress throughout the class. LVS Online offers many wonderful learning tools to help you get the most out of your online course, including an online portfolio service that manages all your course registrations, certificate of completion option, a class discussion board to interact with your instructor and fellow classmates, free hosting account, and a student upload area. LVS is a Corel Training Partner. LVS students may purchase Corel products at a significant savings. Follow this link for details. LVS students are also eligible take advantage of special offers made available by famous software developers such as Andromeda, AV Bros, Extensis, Harry Heim, namesuppressed, Nik Multimedia, and Ulead. Details are provided in the classinfo link found in the confirmation of registration. If you would like to receive more information regarding this course, click on the "Contact Us" link in the Information section and we'll try to answer any of your questions within the day.

Course Requirements

Visual Web Developer 2008 Express - Free Download! This tool is fully compatible with any version of Windows XP or Vista. For important information: http://www.microsoft.com/express/support/ Optional - A web host that supports ASP.NET AJAX (i.e. GoDaddy has a $4.99 a month plan). There may be Zip files provided to complete many of the weekly exercises. WinZip, PKZip, Windows Compression or a similar program is required to unzip these files. Here are a couple free tutorials available at LVS which may be helpful to you: Winzip Tutorial Here Windows Compression Students must have a working knowledge of their operating system, especially: How to create and name new folders How to locate files How to open and save files Here are a few free tutorials available at LVS which may be helpful to you: PC Users: Free Vista Class Free Windows Class Directory Structure Tutorial Mac Users: Basic Computer File Systems Tutorial (Mac) Certificate Students: Homework must be reviewed by the instructor in order to earn a certificate. See #2 above.If you do not have any web host, a free web host can be provided to FTP your .zip files and details will be provided in the classroom. All lessons are available in PDF format. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view/print the lessons. Plan to devote 3 - 4 hours per week on the lesson and assignment.

Course Prerequisites

Class Level- Intermediate I will assume you have taken my Beginning Web Development with ASP.NET and Intermediate Web Development with ASP.NET which will give you a very good understanding of how to use ASP.NET and C# or have existing knowledge and experience. Even though, I will be covering ASP.NET with Ajax, Ajax is dependant on JavaScript on the client so having an understanding of JavaScript would be helpful as well. You should be able to grasp the JavaScript that is covered in this class even if you have no experience in JavaScript, but if you wish to learn more JavaScript you can take one of my JavaScript classes (depending on your skill level): JavaScript Basics and JavaScript Intermediate: Unobtrusive JavaScript Programming.

Course Syllabus

Lesson 1 What is Ajax? The limitation of regular ASP.NET server controls Partial Rendering AJAX controls The Script Manager control Lesson 2 The Update Panel: Nesting, Triggers and Conditional Updates Client-Side Page Execution Lifecycle Page Request Manager Handling Update Panel Errors The Update Progress control Lesson 3 ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit Lesson 4 JavaScript Libraries: jQuery Lesson 5 Timer control Chatroom example app An Introduction to Web Services and JSON. Lesson 6 AJAX Server Controls: Telerik

Course Excerpt

Beyond ASP.NET ASP.NET is a server-side technology for building web applications. Almost all the work happens on the web server and not the web browser. Whenever you perform an action in an ASP.NET page-such as clicking a button or sorting a GridView-the entire page must be posted back to the web server. Any significant action on a page results in a postback. If you think about it, this is incredibly inefficient. When you perform a postback in an ASP.NET page, the entire page must be transported across the Internet from browser to server. Next, the .NET class that corresponds to the page must re-render the entire page again from scratch. Finally, the finished page must be sent back across the Internet to the browser. This whole long, slow, agonizing process must occur even if you are updating a tiny section of the page. Using a server-side technology such as ASP.NET usually results in a bad user experience. Every time a user performs some action on a page, the universe temporarily freezes. Whenever you perform a postback, the browser locks, the page jumps, and the user must wait patiently, twiddling his thumbs, while the page gets reconstructed. All of us have grown accustomed to this awful user experience. However, we would never design our desktop applications in the same way. When the members of the ASP.NET team invented ASP.NET in the late 1990s, there was good reason to embrace the server-side. Getting a page that was written in JavaScript to work consistently across different browsers, and even across different versions of the same browser was very difficult. The server side was safe and reliable. Web developers are discovering that if they want to build truly great applications, they need to leave the safety of the server side and enter the wilds of the client side. Google has hacked out a path for us by creating several proof-of-concept web applications that demonstrate that you can build reliable, user-friendly, web applications that execute entirely in the browser without the need for postbacks. [See: Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Suggest and Google Gmail] What is Ajax? Ajax is a blanket term. The term Ajax was coined by Jesse James Garrett back in 2005, primarily as a cool way to sell a set of technologies and a new approach to web development. Ajax refers to using a set of specific browser technologies to build web pages. None of these technologies are new and consist of three main components: XMLHttpRequest, DOM and JavaScript. Especially with the advent of ASP.NET, the world of web programming has been simplified. Frameworks offer a think layer of abstraction over basic HTML and HTTP interaction, and the ASP.NET development environment makes it easy with automated code generation and remote debugging. Continued... Please note: Lessons provide step-by-step instructions with detailed screen captures.

Course Goals

After taking this class, the student will have a great understanding of how the .NET framework and ASP.NET uses the AJAX technologies to create more interactive and user-friendly ASP.NET websites.

Course Reviews

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