ASP.NET AJAX - AJAX Control Toolkit - jQuery - Oh My?

Question

Take a trip with me back in time about three years ago. I remember building web controls that were dynamically inserted into the HTML of a page via AJAX and then rendered in place. We used the Prototype JavaScript library and the XMLHTTP Request object. Microsoft ATLAS has just been released.

After about three years of non web development work in Java, Compact Framework, some iOS etc ... and I find myself in a whole new world. Microsoft AJAX, the AJAX Control Toolkit, and jQuery. I find myself with a new project that has utilized some aspects of ASP.NET AJAX but mostly just the update panel and some client-side UI updates that jQuery now seems to make trivial.

So here is the question .. Is there still value in studying and becoming familiar with ASP.NET AJAX? Is it still used going forward? What about the AJAX Control Toolkit? Has this been abandoned my Microsoft in favor of a jQuery based infrastructure? Is jQuery coupled with JSON and web services the way to retrieve data?

Answer 1

This article gives a pretty good summary of the jQuery/Microsoft AJAX situation. Basically, jQuery is the way forward!

Answer 2

I think, from a career perspective, you'd be better off becoming familiar with jQuery (or a similar client-side JavaScript framework) and having that code interact with web services, WCF services (preferred, IMHO) or, if you're using ASP.NET MVC, JsonResults.

If you go to the Microsoft AJAX site (http://asp.net/ajax), they really don't mention their AJAX framework anymore, and the AJAX Control Toolkit is really there for people who don't want to work with JavaScript.

I started off, like you, using the AJAX Framework and the AJAX Control Toolkit and have made the transition to jQuery, JSON and other, more streamlined, ways of creating web applications. I'd recommend you'd follow the jQuery/JSON/services path instead of Microsoft AJAX.

Just my 2 cents.

Answer 3

It's still used in the WebForms world, however Microsoft has abandoned it in the MVC framework. So unless you're a diehard WebForms guy it doesn't make much sense. Especially considering you can use jQuery in WebForms projects as well.