December Atlas build changes integration model with server controls

A great read is Nikhil Kothari’s latest blog entry which describes the fundamental changes in the integration of server controls with the client side Atlas framework in the December build. This switch seems to be inspired by the RefreshPanel project, pre-Atlas work of another ASP.NET team member, Bertrand Le Roy. Compare the new Atlas UpdatePanel control described in Nikhil’s blog with the RefreshPanel of Bertrand. The major difference is that in the RefreshPanel xmlhttp communication was encapsulated by the ASP.NET 2.0 ClientCallback mechanism while in the UpdatePanel control this is done by the Atlas framework.

Anyway, this new way of integrating server controls with the Atlas framework will allow developers without JavaScript knowledge to use some Ajax-style functionality like refreshing part of a page, autocomplete textboxes and draggable panels just by using the new server controls. This is very good news for development teams that want to avoid the complexity of writing pure client side JavaScript/Ajax applications and still want to have some of the benefits.