Using Ajax Professional.

NET Library
Library Creator: Michael Schwarz (Michael.schwarz@gmail.com)
Author: Joseph Guadagno (jguadagno@hotmail.com)
Using Ajax Professional Library

USING AJAX PROFESSIONAL.NET LIBRARY.....................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................................4
AJAX PROFESSIONAL.NET LIBRARY...........................................................................................................4
WHAT IS AJAX.............................................................................................................................................4
XMLHTTPRequest..................................................................................................................................4
QUICK START..............................................................................................................................................4
ENABLING THE WEBSITE..............................................................................................................................4
Web.Config.............................................................................................................................................4
Solution...................................................................................................................................................4
ENABLING THE PAGE...................................................................................................................................5
C# Sample...............................................................................................................................................5
Visual Basic Sample...............................................................................................................................5
ENABLING A METHOD..................................................................................................................................5
CS File....................................................................................................................................................5
VB File....................................................................................................................................................5
ASPX File...............................................................................................................................................5
JS File.....................................................................................................................................................5
THE LIBRARY..............................................................................................................................................6
DATATYPES..................................................................................................................................................6
Class.......................................................................................................................................................6
DataType................................................................................................................................................6
DataSets..................................................................................................................................................6
HtmlControls..........................................................................................................................................6
Collections..............................................................................................................................................6
Special....................................................................................................................................................6
OnLoading..............................................................................................................................................6
KeyPress.................................................................................................................................................6
UserControls..........................................................................................................................................6
JavaScriptObject....................................................................................................................................6
Response Object.....................................................................................................................................6
Error Object...........................................................................................................................................6
AJAXPRO.UTILITIES.....................................................................................................................................7
GetClientMethod....................................................................................................................................7
GetScripts(Page)....................................................................................................................................7
GetScripts(Page, bool)...........................................................................................................................7
GetSessionUri.........................................................................................................................................7
RegisterClientScriptBlock......................................................................................................................7
RegisterCommonAjax.............................................................................................................................7
RegisterCommonAjax(Page)..................................................................................................................7
RegisterConverterForAjax.....................................................................................................................7
RegisterEnumForAjax(Type)..................................................................................................................7
RegisterEnumForAjax(Type, Page).......................................................................................................7
RegisterTypeForAjax(Type)...................................................................................................................7
RegisterTypeForAjax(Type, Page).........................................................................................................7
ATTRIBUTES.................................................................................................................................................7
__AjaxClass............................................................................................................................................7
__AjaxEnum...........................................................................................................................................7
AjaxCache...............................................................................................................................................7
AjaxMethod.............................................................................................................................................8
AjaxNamespace......................................................................................................................................8
AjaxNonSerializable...............................................................................................................................8
AjaxProperty...........................................................................................................................................8
Using Ajax Professional Library

HttpSessionState.....................................................................................................................................8
JavaScriptConverter...............................................................................................................................8
CALLING ASP.NET METHOD......................................................................................................................9
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................................9
SAMPLES.....................................................................................................................................................10
POPULATING A DROP DOWN LIST, SELECT ELEMENT.............................................................................10
Sending a DataSet to the Server................................................................................................................10
Using Ajax Professional Library

Introduction
Ajax Professional.NET Library
The Ajax Professional .NET library allows you the developer to create more interactive
web pages, commonly referred to as Web 2.0, without the need for post backs.

URLs
Ajax Professional .NET library
Ajax Professional Examples
Sample Code Site (Joseph Guadagno)
Support for the library
http://www.ajaxpro.info
http://www.codeplex.com
http://josephguadagno.net/ajax.aspx
http://groups.google.com/group/ajaxpro

What is Ajax
Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) is not a technology in itself, but is a term
that describes a "new" approach to using a number of existing technologies together,
including: HTML or XHTML, Cascading Style Sheets, JavaScript, The Document Object
Model, XML, XSLT, and the XMLHTTPRequest object. When these technologies are
combined in the AJAX model, web applications are able to make quick, incremental
updates to the user interface without reloading the entire browser page. This makes the
application faster and more responsive to user actions.

XMLHTTPRequest
XMLHTTPRequest is a HTTP Response that returns an XML document.

Quick Start
Enabling the Website
Web.Config
Add into the web configuration file (web.config) the required httpHandlers within the
<system.web> section.

<httpHandlers>
<add verb="POST,GET" path="ajaxpro/*.ashx" type="AjaxPro.AjaxHandlerFactory, AjaxPro"/>
</httpHandlers>

Solution
Add a reference to the AjaxPro library within your solution.

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Enabling the Page

Register the page for use with the AjaxPro library. This creates the JavaScript files on the
server for the class and methods.

C# Sample
private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
// Put user code to initialize the page here
AjaxPro.Utility.RegisterTypeForAjax(typeof(AjaxVB.WebForm1));
}

Visual Basic Sample.

Private Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles
MyBase.Load
'Put user code to initialize the page here
AjaxPro.Utility.RegisterTypeForAjax(GetType(AjaxVB.WebForm1))
End Sub

Enabling a Method
Once you have Ajax-enabled the page and website, Ajax-enabling a method is quite
simple. The only item that is required is to add the AjaxMethod attribute to the class.

CS File
[AjaxPro.AjaxMethod()]
public string GetServerTime()
{
return DateTime.Now.ToString();
}

VB File
<AjaxPro.AjaxMethod()> _
Public Function GetServerTime() As String
Return DateTime.Now.ToString()
End Function

ASPX File
Within the HTML designer, add the following line to include the JavaScript library to the
page. It is recommended to name the JavaScript file, the same as the web page name.
<script language="javascript" src="WebForm1.js"></script>

JS File
The JavaScript file contains the calls to the server. In order to call the ASP.NET method,
you follow the following syntax:
namespace.classname.methodname (params, callback_function)

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The params can be any number of parameters but should match the signature of the
ASP.NET method. Please note the current version of AjaxPro.Net library does not
support overloaded methods.
The callback_function is optional but stronger recommended.

function GetServerTime()
{
AjaxVB.WebForm1.GetServerTime(GetServerTime_Callback)
}
function GetServerTime_Callback(response)
{
Label1.innerHTML = response.value;
}

The Library
DataTypes
Class
TODO: Document

DataType
TODO: Document

DataSets
TODO: Document

HtmlControls
TODO: Document

Collections
TODO: Document

Special
TODO: Document

OnLoading
TODO: Document

KeyPress
TODO: Document

UserControls
TODO: Document

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JavaScriptObject
TODO: Document

Response Object
When a callback function is used, which is strongly recommended, a response object will
be passed as the only parameter. The response object contained two (2) objects

Value The returned value from the ASP.NET method

Error If not null, an object containing error information

Error Object
The error object contains four properties that describe the error.
Message The message text, Err.ToString()
Type The type of Exception
Stack A full stack trace
Source The page source that generated the error.

AjaxPro.Utilities
GetClientMethod
TODO: Document

GetScripts(Page)
TODO: Document

GetScripts(Page, bool)
TODO: Document

GetSessionUri
TODO: Document

RegisterClientScriptBlock
TODO: Document

RegisterCommonAjax
TODO: Document

RegisterCommonAjax(Page)
TODO: Document

RegisterConverterForAjax
TODO: Document

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RegisterEnumForAjax(Type)
TODO: Document

RegisterEnumForAjax(Type, Page)
TODO: Document

RegisterTypeForAjax(Type)
TODO: Document

RegisterTypeForAjax(Type, Page)
TODO: Document

Attributes
Attributes are applied to your page methods that you want to make available to the
browser.
__AjaxClass
(Obsolete)

__AjaxEnum
(Obsolete)

AjaxCache
This attribute instructs the Ajax library to cache the response on the server for the
duration specified in the second’s parameter. The library will cache results for the same
parameters.

Attribute
Seconds (int) The number of seconds to cache the response

AjaxMethod
This attribute instructs the Ajax library to make this method available to the browser.
Attribute Overloads
HttpSessionStateRequirement see HttpSessionState, Marks the method to be exported
as an Ajax.NET Javascript function with the ability to
access the SessionState.)
Bool Marks the method to be exported as an Ajax.NET
Javascript function with the ability to be processed as an
async request on the server.)
HttpSessionStateRequirement, Marks the method to be exported as an Ajax.NET
Bool Javascript function with the ability to be processed as an
async request on the server and to access the
SessionState.

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AjaxNamespace
This attribute can be used to specify a different namespace for the client-side
representation

Attribute
String The namespace to use

AjaxNonSerializable
TODO: Document

AjaxProperty
TODO: Document

HttpSessionState
An enumeration which indicates how the method can interact with the ASP.NET
SessionState (used by the AjaxMethod attribute)

Enumeration
ReadWrite Enabled read/write access to the SessionState
Read Enables read access to the SessionState
None No SessionState available.

JavaScriptConverter
This attribute marks a class to be converted by a specified IJavaScriptConverter

Type The type (class)

Calling ASP.NET Method

The Ajax Professional .NET library creates a JavaScript method for each method that is
attributed with the AjaxMethod attribute. The signature of the method is as follows:

Namespace.Classname.Method(arg1, arg2, arg3, ... callback, context,

onLoading, onError, onTimeout, onStateChanged);

Parameter Used For

Arg1, arg2, arg3 The arguments used in the .NET method
Callback The function that will be called when the request is finished
Context Every JavaScript value that can be accessed in the callback with
the response.context
onLoading A function that will be called twice, once with a true argument
once the request has been started, once with a false argument when

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the request is finished.

onError A function that will be called in the event of an error like http
status of 404 or 500.
onTimeout A function that will be called in the event that the request timeouts
(default of 10 seconds, which can be changed by calling
AjaxPro.timeoutPeriod within JavaScript)
onStateChanged A function that is called if the internal XMLHTTPRequest is
switching status.

Recommendations
Use a JavaScript file. This will enable you to debug any problems within the Visual
Studio IDE.

Use the callback function

function GetServerTime_Callback(response)
{

if (response.error != null)
{
// Display the error
return;
}

var saveResults = response.value;

if (saveResults != "")
{
// Nothing was return
}

// Work with the response

Label1.innerHTML = saveResults;
}

Samples
Populating a Drop Down List, SELECT element
function GetTeamList(response)
{

var teamsList = document.getElementById("ctrlContent__ctl0_ucProfile_dropTeam");

//if the server side code threw an exception

if (response.error != null)
{
alert("A problem occurred in Profile:LoadTeams\n" + response.error.Message); //we
should probably do better than this
return;
}

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var teams = response.value;

//if the response wasn't what we expected
if (teams == null || typeof(teams) != "object")
{
alert('A problem occurred in Profile:LoadTeams');
return;
}

teamsList.options.length = 0; //reset the teams dropdown

//note that this is JavaScript casing and the L in length is lowercase for arrays
teamsList.options[teamsList.options.length] = new Option("", "");
for (var i = 0; i < teams.Rows.length; ++i)
{
teamsList.options[teamsList.options.length] = new Option(teams.Rows[i].team_name,
teams.Rows[i].team);
//teamsList.options[teamsList.options.length] = new Option(teams[i].team_name,
teams[i].team);
}
}

The example above assumes that the ASP.NET method returns a DataTable. If a DataSet
is returned, preface the .Rows with .Tables[0].

Sending a DataSet to the Server

// Create the DataSet

var ds = new Ajax.Web.DataSet();

// Create a DataTable
Var dt = new Ajax.Web.DataTable();

// Add the columns

dt.addColumn("NodeId", "System.Int");
dt.addColumn("ParentId", "System.Int");
dt.addColumn("MenuText", "System.String");
dt.addColumn("StatusText", "System.String");
dt.addColumn("NavigateUrl", "System.String");
dt.addColumn("LookId", "System.String");
dt.addColumn("LeftImage", "System.String");
dt.addColumn("LeftHoverImage", "System.String");
dt.addColumn("RightImage", "System.String");
dt.addColumn("RightHoverImage", "System.String");

// Create an populate the row

var drToAdd = new Object();
drToAdd.NodeId = document.getElementById("txtNodeId").value;
drToAdd.ParentId = document.getElementById("txtParentId").value;
drToAdd.MenuText = document.getElementById("txtMenuText").value;
drToAdd.StatusText = document.getElementById("txtStatusText").value;
drToAdd.NavigateUrl = document.getElementById("txtNavigateUrl").value;
drToAdd.LookId = document.getElementById("txtLookId").value;
drToAdd.LeftImage = document.getElementById("txtLeftImage").value;
drToAdd.LeftHoverImage = document.getElementById("txtLeftHoverImage").value;

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drToAdd.RightImage = document.getElementById("txtRightImage").value;
drToAdd.RightHoverImage = document.getElementById("txtRightHoverImage").value;

// Add the rows

dt.addRow(drToAdd);

// Add the table to the DataTable

ds.addTable(dt);

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