Any programmer today knows how crucial .NET technologies are to their development careers. In particular, ASP.NET has caught the eyes of so many development companies that applications are being coded with this language every week. The ASP.NET Control Toolkit is another open source project and allows coders to develop controls and rich applications.
This particular open source kit is backed by Microsoft as this kit is a joint achievement between Microsoft and the growing ASP.NET AJAX community. The kit has various functions that allow speedy development of various applications. If you go to the main site at http://www.asp.net/ajax/AjaxControlToolkit/Samples/, you will notice a foray of user created samples.
Let’s look at some outstanding points on the toolkit:
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Simple and easy to use following the Getting Started quick tutorials.
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Free library that offers Ajax enabled controls.
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Developers can add JavaScript if required.
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The kit is compatible with all the latest browser versions for Firefox and Internet Explorer.
Today’s web sites are focused on presenting an interactive web experience. The kit has more than 30 very unique controls to allow developers to create interactive applications. Once you get used to the main controls, it’s a good idea to keep checking the page above for any new controls that have been added. One of the new controls added is an HTML editor for direct edits to the code markup. It’s rather like a visual editor so it can be suitable for most levels of experience.
Us e the tutorials wisely, best to start with the Getting Started section if you are new to .NET and this kit. The kit is backed by a large community like most successful open source projects and they are willing to answer questions on the use of the product.
There are advantages to using a kit that is built on the ASP language. Developers can be immediately familiar with the functions especially if they have used Net AJAX or the jQuery library. Developers have the advantage of expanding on the open source kit by adding new classes if desired.
Developers whom prefer jQuery’s style can use the jQuery UI if desired and combine with the kit where appropriate. Though, it’s entirely possible to just use the toolkit as it offers a high quality control set and ease of use. The developers working on the open source controls are fixing bugs when they crop up. The new releases always have a set of updates referencing new fixes. This is the essence of an open source community that brings together likeminded programmers.
If you are using AJAX and ASP.NET each day of your project cycle, you should consider this enterprising toolkit to be part of your programming software library.
