With the release of the ASP.NET AJAX framework developers have a new way to emulate AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) programming concepts while using familiar ASP.NET server control style programming. ASP.NET AJAX allows Web applications to make asynchronous calls to back-end systems from multiple browsers (Netscape, IE, Firefox, Safari, etc.) without postbacks. This provides an enhanced user interface for end users that is more friendly, more responsive and more efficient.

This application demonstrates different ASP.NET AJAX features including AJAX server controls with autocomplete enabled, JavaScript integration, asynchronous calls to multiple Web Services and Virtual Earth maps. The sample allows end users to search for Northwind Customers by Country or by customer ID. As customers are found their country is dynamically displayed using the Atlas Virtual Earth control. An image showing the application is shown below:

The sample application requires that ASP.NET AJAX be installed and that you have Visual Web Developer Express or Visual Studio .NET 2005. You can download ASP.NET AJAX core and futures CTP here.