Don't take me wrong. I love Visual Studio, I love ASP.NET - I even make my living of it - but there are certain things about the framework that make me wonder which way to go in the future. I have already talked (in my previous post) about the "no coding needed" goal that seems to be so important for MS these days.
I try to avoid using the most bloated web controls in the framework - such as the datagrid (example here)- cause those controls gives you no or little control of the html it spits out - and also you have little control over program flow in such components - programming soon becomes reading docs trying to find the right event (and time for it) to add a specific feature.
Now - last month I have gotten into some Ajax. I must say I like it - and here's the big question: Should one really go the Atlas way when it comes to incorporating Ajax into your ASP.NET app. Without having looked to much into it so far I can say:
+ seems really nice. Cool components! Check out the samples at Atlas Toolkit
+ the best ever integration with the rest of the framework
So, based on raw facts, yes - Atlas is the way to go if you are a ASP.NET programmer. Still, lets look at the other side - it actually comes down to one single question:
- do I really want that tight integration with the framework?
I certainly loose "control" over how it's done when viewing code it's like "WebResource.axd?d=cCvonavza7NGh4PxQfj5rw2&t=632885331211075021" etc.
However, I still havn't decided - there is a risk I am overreacting against changes - again - as I tend to do, but I will keep on working on this and update this blog with my findings.
In the meanwhile - for the simplest possible Ajax/ASP.NET sample - read this newly published article - Your first ASP.NET script with Ajax .