14 DAY TRIAL // Just one month after the naming game that was designed to deliver an official name for "Atlas," Microsoft has made ASP.NET AJAX Beta 1 available for download, adding Asynchronous JavaScript and XML support to ASP.NET. Designed to work on top of ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005, ASP.NET AJAX v1.0 comes in three download options.
The ASP.NET AJAX v1.0 "Core" comprises the nucleus of features with a 10 year Microsoft license via Product Support. "The download includes support for the core AJAX type-system, networking stack, component model, extender base classes, and the server-side functionality to integrate within ASP.NET (including the super-popular ScriptManager, UpdatePanel, and Timer controls)," reveals Scott Guthrie, General Manager, Microsoft Developer Division.
Additionally, Microsoft delivers the ASP.NET AJAX "Value-Add" CTP containing features of previous Atlas CTPs for which the Redmond Company will not deliver support, leaving this aspect to the community, but promising to transition the feature into the core over time. Finally the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit delivers no less than 28 AJAX-enabled controls constructed on top of the ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 "Core."
Being a step further from the previous ASP.NET AJAX CTPs, ASP.NET AJAX Beta 1 comes with an array of improvements marking the evolution. It delivers support of the Safari browser, and Opera support is in the works. Also, the performance and download capabilities have suffered optimizations, the Beta 1 breaking the features into multiple files downloading separately instead of a single JavaScript file.
ASP.NET AJAX Beta 1 offers superior debugging support, UpdatePanel and Client Script Library Stack improvements, and expanded compatibility with other AJAX Libraries.