Atlas is dead: long live ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions...

happygeek 0 730 Views

...and the Microsoft AJAX Library, err, and the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit. Yep, Microsoft has not only finally come up with an official name for the AJAX technologies which until now have been known collectively as ‘Atlas’ but has also split it into three individual products. All are expected to ship by year-end.

ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions cover the server-side functionality, while the Microsoft AJAX Library handles the client-side stuff and integrates with the server-based extensions, naturally. The final part of this triumvirate is the self-explanatory ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit.

Together, the intention is to simplify ASP 2.0 web development where advanced JavaScript and XML functionality is required. Now I am no such developer myself, but I know a man who is and he tells me that the whole Atlas concept is actually rather good in real world use. In particular, that it does away with the need to bother writing JavaScript code.

But you know what, nobody seems to care about that online. The big fuss seems to be on the naming convention: what was wrong with Atlas? Why not call it iAjax? Why is Microsoft so boring these days? It is branding that counts, that’s why the x-box is a success.

Doh!

Is it just me, or does what a technology can do matter more than what it is called? Especially in the corporate domain where something like ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions is destined to live? Personally, I rather like the name, it pretty much says what it does on the tin.

Perhaps the problem is that the Atlas stuff is competing with true open-source toolkits, a world where obscure naming is key. Hey, you’ve got to have some badge to wear that shows you are a member of the IT in-crowd, you are in ‘in-the-know’ after all. I suspect we will see it being referred to collectively as MAJAX 1.0 before too long.

Anyway, back to the real business: Microsoft also announced that its AJAX tools will be fully supported within Visual Studio 2005 (and should ship with the next version of Visual Studio, codename Orcas, when that finally arrives.) Another small, but rather important fact that got lost in the what’s it called again argument. As was the fact that it should ship in Beta form real soon now, and be shipping properly by the end of the year.

You can read more at , the official Microsoft site.

Dani AI

Generated

A short, up-to-date context and practical notes for this thread (thanks to for the original rundown and to for the link update).

Microsoft’s “Atlas” was the codename that Scott Guthrie officially retired on September 11, 2006; the pieces were shipped as the ASP.NET AJAX family and the first supported ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 release went live in January 2007. Many client-side parts were later folded into the .NET Framework 3.5 / Visual Studio 2008 era. ()

Where things stand today: the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit lived on outside Microsoft (CodePlex → GitHub) and is now an archived repository; the toolkit and other legacy artifacts are still available via NuGet for maintenance of Web Forms apps, but they are effectively legacy. Importantly, ASP.NET Web Forms (and UpdatePanel-style partial-postback patterns) are not part of ASP.NET Core; Microsoft’s guidance for long-term projects is to consider Blazor or modern client/server patterns. (github.com)

Practical advice for maintainers and for anyone deciding what to do next:

  • If you must keep a Web Forms app, use the NuGet releases and treat UpdatePanel/large ViewState as technical debt — measure and reduce ViewState and server work where possible. ()

  • For incremental replacements, swap UpdatePanel regions for small server endpoints and client fetch calls (lighter, clearer, easier to debug). Example:

    async function loadData() {
  const resp = await fetch('/api/data');
  if (!resp.ok) throw new Error(resp.status);
  const json = await resp.json();
  document.getElementById('out').textContent = json.value;
}

    Use the Fetch API for simple async calls and SignalR for real-time push scenarios. Consider Blazor when you want a C#-centric replacement path that aligns with ASP.NET Core. (developer.mozilla.org)

Bottom line: the naming kerfuffle was entertaining, but the lasting lesson is practical — Atlas → ASP.NET AJAX is now a legacy WebForms-era stack; maintain it with NuGet and GitHub artifacts if needed, but plan new work on modern stacks (Fetch/Fetch+Web API, SignalR, or Blazor) for better long-term support. (github.com)

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You can read more at Atlas ASP.Net Web, the official Microsoft site.

This is the update link for Atlas ASP.Net Web:

http://www.asp.net/ajax

This is where you download the package:

http://www.asp.net/ajaxlibrary/Download.ashx

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