ASP.NET AJAX
In
ASP.NET 2.0, ASP.NET AJAX was used as an extension to it. You had to
download the extensions and install it. However in ASP.NET 3.5, ASP.NET
AJAX is integrated into the .NET Framework, thereby making the process
of building cool user interfaces easier and intuitive.
The
integration between webparts and the update panel is much smoother.
Another noticeable feature is that you can now add ASP.NET AJAX Control
Extenders to the toolbox in VS2008. Even though this is an IDE specific
feature, however I feel it deserves a mention over here for developers,
who had to add extenders using source view earlier. It is also worth
noting that Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) now supports JSON
along with other standard protocols like SOAP, RSS and POX.
New Controls
The ListView and DataPager are new controls added along with a new datasource control called the LinqDataSource.
ListView
The
ListView control is quiet flexible and contains features of the
Gridview, Datagrid, Repeater and similar list controls available in
ASP.NET 2.0. It provides the ability to insert, delete, page (using Data
Pager), sort and edit data. However one feature of the ListView control
that stands apart, is that it gives you a great amount of flexibility
over the markup generated. So you have a complete control on how the
data is to be displayed. You can now render your data without using the
tag. You also get a rich set of templates with the
ListView control.
DataPager
DataPager
provides paging support to the ListView control. The best advantage is
that you need not have to keep it ‘tied’ with the control on which the
paging is being done. You can keep it anywhere on the page.
DataPager
gives you a consistent way of paging with the controls that support it.
Currently only ListView supports it as it implements the
IPageableItemContainer. However support is likely to be added to other
List controls as well.
LINQ
LINQ
(Language Integrated Query) adds native data querying capability to C#
and VB.NET along with the compiler and Intellisense support. LINQ is a
component of .NET 3.5. LINQ defines operators that allow you to code
your query in a consistent manner over databases, objects and XML. The
ASP.NET LinqDataSource control allows you to use LINQ to filter, order
and group data before binding to the List controls.
ASP.NET Merge Tool
ASP.NET
3.5 includes a new merge tool (aspnet_merge.exe). This tool lets you
combine and manage assemblies created by aspnet_compiler.exe. This tool
was available earlier as an add-on.
New Assemblies
The new assemblies that would be of use to ASP.NET 3.5 developers are as follows:
· System.Core.dll - Includes the implementation for LINQ to Objects
· System.Data.Linq.dll - Includes the implementation for LINQ to SQL
· System.Xml.Linq.dll - Includes the implementation for LINQ to XML
· System.Data.DataSetExtensions.dll - Includes the implementation for LINQ to DataSet
· System.Web.Extensions.dll:
Includes the implementation for ASP.NET AJAX (new enhancements added)
and new web controls as explained earlier.
Some Other Important Points
1. ASP.NET 3.5 provides better support to IIS7. IIS7 and ASP.NET 3.5 modules and handlers support unified configuration.
2. You can have multiple versions of ASP.NET on the same machine.
3. For those who are wondering what happened to ASP.NET 3.0, well there isn’t anything called ASP.NET 3.0.
4. VS
2002 worked with ASP.NET 1.0, VS 2003 worked with ASP.NET 1.1, and VS
2005 worked with ASP.NET 2.0. However VS 2008 supports multi-targeting,
i.e it works with ASP.NET 2.0, and ASP.NET 3.5.
