Last week, Microsoft updated the Ajax Control Toolkit for use with Visual Studio 2008 and .net 3.5. As usual, the project is posted on CodePlex here.

Some more info can be found on Scott's blog here.

My article on ASP.net Ajax is published in the Dutch version of the .net magazine this month (and my head is on page 3... Page 3 head ;-) )

In case you do not know the .net magazine, it's a free magazine that is published every 3 months in Belgium and the Netherlands. It's a real shame if you do not subscribe: every 3 months, you get articles on what's new, but also in depth coverage of already existing technologies.
Convinced? You can subscribe here.

In a few days, the articles will be published online too, and you can read them here.

On 6th June, Microsoft Belgium organises an event on Ajax security.

Event outline:
AJAX is changing the way Web applications look and how they are developed, but Web developers are not aware of the security risks they are introducing into their applications with these emerging technologies. While most developers are aware of the importance of designing and testing for security in their applications, few of them are aware of the unique security implications of AJAX technologies. AJAX fundamentally changes the user experience and server interactions in Web applications, so developers may be taking otherwise secure applications and opening up new angles of attack for hackers by hastily adopting these new approaches without understanding their vulnerabilities.

This talk will discuss and demonstrate the security pitfalls common in ASP.NET AJAX development and is based on experiences while analyzing real world ASP.NET AJAX applications.

Speaker: Erwin Geirnaert, ZION Security ( http://www.zionsecurity.com/ )

Level: 300 (advanced)

Prerequisites: knowledge about ASP.NET development and ASP.NET AJAX concepts

Register here.

According to Scott Guthrie's blog, there has been an update to the documentation of ASP.net Ajax. The following changes were made:

• An interesting article on CSLA.net, ADO.net Entity framework and LINQ. More here
• WinDevPowerTools on The MicroISV Show: more here
• Continuous Integration the Microsoft way!!! - level 200: here
• New ASP.net Ajax book coming up: http://www.manning.com/gallo/
• “WPF/E” (codename) Community Technology Preview Sample Pack (Feb 2007): here

Enjoy!

Snowball.be has a first for you!

As webmaster of Visug.be, I just finished the work on the the registration page for this groundbreaking event: Scott Guthrie is coming to Belgium, and moreover, he's coming to Visug, the Belgian Visual Studio User Group.

Scott Guthrie, co-creator of ASP.NET at Microsoft, will be in Belgium for the first time onFebruary 1st 2007. VISUG is very proud that it can host - in collaboration with MSDN Belux - 2 presentations of this renowned speaker. In the first presentation, Scott will talk about the next version of ASP.NET, code named ASP.NET “Orcas”; during the second presentation Scott will give practical tips and tricks on ASP.NET 2.0 and ASP.NET AJAX. Want to join this unique oppurtunity? Register here!

While I'm blogging this a few days too late, I still want to mention the release of the beta 1 of the Microsoft AJAX library, formerly Atlas.

From Scott:
You can download it now from the http://ajax.asp.net site. Available on the site are three download options:

1) The ASP.NET AJAX v1.0 “Core” download . This redist contains the features that will be fully supported by Microsoft Product Support, and which will have a standard 10 year Microsoft support license (24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year). 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).

2) The ASP.NET AJAX “Value-Add” CTP download . This redist contains the additional higher-level features that were in previous CTPs of “Atlas,” but which won’t be in the fully-supported 1.0 “core” redist. These features will continue to be community supported as we refine them further and incorporate more feedback. Over time we’ll continue to move features into the “core” download as we finalize features in this value-add package more.

3) The ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit . This project contains 28 free, really cool, AJAX-enabled controls that are built on top of the ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 “Core” download. The project is collaborative shared source and built by a combination of Microsoft and non-Microsoft developers, and you can join the community or just download it on CodePlex today .

I'm testing AJAX a lot at the moment, since I'll be using it for a new project at my company. Since this new application requires a lot of database calls, and works with large table, AJAX should provide me with a nice and responsive user interface combined with minimal load on the DB server.

Oh, and while I'm on it... I recently became the webmaster of www.Visug.be , the belgian Visual Studio User Group, backed by Microsoft. So in the next few weeks, you'll be able to register over there for upcoming events (which will be announced very very soon!).

From the site:

Web.UI for ASP.NET AJAX is deeply integrated into the AJAX Library client-side type system:

All controls inherit from the Sys.UI.Control client-side base class;
All controls implement AJAX Library type descriptors, providing type information at runtime;
The namespace and all types are registered with the AJAX Library type system;

Web.UI for ASP.NET AJAX exposes comprehensive client-side APIs:

An industry first, the same level of programmatic control is available on the client as on the server;
The new APIs fully comply with the AJAX Library client-side syntax and semantics;
State of the art client-side API reference documentation is included with the product;

Web.UI for ASP.NET AJAX is optimized to work with the ASP.NET AJAX UpdatePanel control:

All client-side programmatic changes are persisted to the server upon callbacks or postbacks;
Proper client-side dispose mechanisms are used to optimize browser's memory consumption;
Control footprint is highly optimized in order to provide the fastest callback response time.

More here: http://atlas.componentart.com/

A new update of the Atlas Control is released, with a few nice new controls. It can be downloaded here.

Shawn Burke has some nice information on this latest build. More here. ScottGu also made a nice article here with very useful demo code.

After a naming game, Atlas finally got its final name!

-Microsoft AJAX Library:  The client-side JavaScript library that works with any browser and also supports any server-side framework, not just ASP.NET.

-ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions: The server-side functionality that seamlessly integrates with ASP.NET and uses the same programming model familiar to existing ASP.NET developers.

Atlas will also ship in version 1.0 (final) before the end of the year!!!

Scott Guthrie has an entire article devoted to the Atlas roadmap. You can read it here.

It is confirmed that the Atlas framework will not be named Atlas when it is released in a few (6?) months...

So, Steven Smith has organised a small game: Name that Microsoft product. In this game, he is in search of the name Microsoft should give its new framework.

He already has some good (and some less good) proposals:

• Rich Web Programming Foundation - RWPF
• Web Technology Framework - WTF (!)
• AJAXX (aka let's just add an 'X' to the existing name to make it sound cooler)
• Rich Language ASP Framework
• Big ASP Rich Foundation - BARF
• Active Client Pages - ACP

So head over to his blog and post your suggestions! Who knows, you might be the inspiration MS needs!

A new version of the Atlas Control Toolkit has been released.

For the first time, there are some components that are not developed by Microsoft themselves included in the release: PasswordStrengthExtender by Paul Glavich, and the FilteredTextBox by Christian Wenz.

Apart from some bugs being resolved, some new controls are introduced too: RatingControl, NumericUpDown, and PagingBulletedList.

You can download this new version from Codeplex. Have fun Atlas'in ;-)