Building Interactive User Interfaces with Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX: Retrieving Server-Side Data Using Web Services

Microsoft’s ASP.NET AJAX framework offers two models for developing interactive web applications: client-centric and server-centric. With the server-centric model, developers use the standard ASP.NET controls – the GridView, Buttons, TextBoxes, and so forth – but place them within an UpdatePanel control. The UpdatePanel control automatically converts normal postbacks to partial page postbacks and seamlessly updates the page’s display with any modifications made by server-side code. On the other hand, with the client-centric model the developer is responsible for writing the JavaScript that performs any asynchronous requests to the server, as well as the script that updates the page on response.

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