Setting up the environment to use the Toolkit:
- Follow the instructions to download and install Visual Studio 2008 from here.
- Download the AjaxControlToolkit-Framework3.5.zip or AjaxControlToolkit-Framework3.5-NoSource.zip from the Toolkit Releases page.
Features:
JavaScript IntelliSense support: We have added reference tags to all Toolkit JavaScript files that enables you to take advantage of new features in Visual Studio 2008. With the multi-targeting support in this Visual Studio Beta, IntelliSense will be available for the ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 flavor of the Toolkit as well. This article discusses the reference tag feature in detail.
- Extender designer support: Enhanced designer support for Toolkit controls using the new "Add Extender" user interface.
- Animations and PageMethods in design mode: Design mode workarounds that targeted Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 issues when using Animations and "Add PageMethod" support in the Toolkit have removed since the release version of Visual Studio 2008 has fixed the same.
Version 1.0.11119.0 for ASP.NET AJAX version 1.0 and .NET Framework 2.0 (No changes from 1.0.10920)
- Setting up the environment to use the Toolkit
- Download the AjaxControlToolkit.zip or AjaxControlToolkit-NoSource.zip from the Toolkit Releases page.
ASP.NET AJAX included in .NET 3.5
ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 shipped as a separate download that you could install on top of ASP.NET 2.0. Starting with the .NET Framework 3.5 release, all of these features are built-in with ASP.NET, which means you no longer have to download and install a separate ASP.NET AJAX setup when building or deploying applications.
When you create a new ASP.NET application or web-site in VS 2008 that targets the .NET 3.5 Framework, VS will automatically add the appropriate AJAX registrations in your web.config file and the core ASP.NET AJAX server controls will show up in your toolbox.
The version of ASP.NET AJAX that ships with .NET 3.5 has a number of nice improvements to it - including support for using UpdatePanels with WebParts, support for WCF based JSON end-points, support for using the ASP.NET Profile, Role and Login Application Services using JavaScript, and a number of bug fixes and performance improvements.
Using VS 2008 to Build ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 Applications
When you use VS 2008 to open an existing ASP.NET 2.0 application that uses ASP.NET AJAX 1.0, you can alternatively choose not to upgrade it to .NET 3.5, and instead use the new multi-targeting features of VS 2008 to build it using ASP.NET 2.0 and ASP.NET AJAX 1.0.
The VS Web Tools team recently published a Using VS 2008 to Target ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 blog post that describes the step-by-step instructions to accomplish this using VS 2008 Beta2.
