Reviews for ASP.NET AJAX in Action

1. Not enough detail, and already out of date

   Rated 2 out of 5 stars, February 12th, 2008

   I've been using what's been coined as "AJAX" technologies since 2002, and started using the AJAX.Net extensions last year, progressing to the toolkit back in November.
   
   I bought this book based on a review by Scott Guthrie singing its praises, as I wanted to extend some of the existing pieces of the toolkit, but I'm saddened to say I was tremendously disappointed.
   
   I feel that there is a lack of depth on a lot of the server-side subjects, with the authors concentrating too much on how to perform tasks client-side, when in about 75% of the situations given, any experienced client-side developer would use traditional JavaScript which would far outperform the weightier built-in extension or toolkit methods.
   
   I was also really unhappy when I found that, after putting all the code into a project I was working on, the whole chapter on drag and drop at the end of the book was completely useless as it doesn't work with the latest release of the extensions framework.
   
   All in all, I don't think this book was correctly targeted, and unless you're a beginner in ASP.Net and AJAX I wouldn't bother buying it and would suggest you opt for a WROX alternative. Sorry Alessandro...

2. Great introduction to ASP.NET AJAX

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, August 12th, 2007

   This book hits all the major bases, from the new ASP.NET server controls that expose AJAX functionality like the UpdatePanel, through to the MS AJAX Library.
   
   One of the great things about this book is that it not only covers the basics, e.g. how to implement OO methodologies using the MS AJAX Library, but it also covers some fairly advanced "under the covers" topics like the purpose of PageRequestManager and how that plays with the framework - to date this is the only book I have read on the ASP.NET AJAX framework (aka ATLAS) that has covered this.
   
   Another great point about this book is that it offers a chapter on custom control development with the AJAX Control Toolkit. If you are a custom control developer that wants to take advantage of AJAX then this chapter will give you good guidance on how to do that.
   
   I gave this book 5 stars, as the coverage of the ASP.NET AJAX framework is great and the clarity of the writers examples and explanations is spot on.
   
   A must buy for any ASP.NET developer wanting to utilize ASP.NET AJAX to create richer web applications and sites.