http://daveward.sys-con.com/ Latest News from Dave Ward en Copyright 2009 Ulitzer.com Ulitzer.com Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:26:45 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss 360 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1043431 As jQuery’s popularity in the .NET community has risen over the past year, one recurring theme I’ve seen is the desire to refactor away the details of using it to call ASP.NET AJAX services. Whether through helper function or specialized jQuery plugin, I’ve seen numerous methods proposed and/or in use. Personally, the syntax never bothered me. The contentType parameter is ugly, but I have a Visual Studio code snippet for the $.ajax call and rarely think about it.<p><a href="http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1043431" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EDT http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1043431 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1043431#feedback http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033525 When you’re working with JSON, performance and security are often opposing, yet equally important concerns. One of these areas of contention is handling the JSON strings returned by a server. Most JavaScript libraries do a great job of abstracting away the details, but the underlying process has long been a frustrating exercise in compromise. On one hand, eval() is the fastest widely available method, but it is not safe. On the other hand, textual JSON parsers written in JavaScript may be much safer, but are dramatically slower. In client-side situations, where milliseconds count, such a large performance overhead is typically too prohibitive to accept.<p><a href="http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033525" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:00:00 EDT http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033525 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033525#feedback http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033524 When I recently received this message from a frustrated reader: After hours and hours of slamming my head into the desk it turns out it was the darn &#34;d&#34; in the response. My home computer is on .NET 2.0 and my work computer is on 3.5. Jimminie Christmas! I realized that the “.d” introduced in ASP.NET AJAX [...]<p><p>###</p> <p>Originally posted at <a href="http://encosia.com">Encosia</a>. If you're reading this elsewhere, come on over and see the original.</p></p> <p><a href="http://encosia.com/2009/06/29/never-worry-about-asp-net-ajaxs-d-again/">Never worry about ASP.NET AJAX&#8217;s .d again</a></p><p><a href="http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033524" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:00:48 EDT http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033524 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033524#feedback http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033523 As a longtime listener myself, I was eager when Craig asked me to come on the Polymorphic Podcast to talk about jQuery. I’ve always enjoyed how he doesn’t shy away from talking about HTML and JavaScript, which is still too uncommon in the .NET world. With that in mind, I knew we’d be able to have [...]<p><p>###</p> <p>Originally posted at <a href="http://encosia.com">Encosia</a>. If you're reading this elsewhere, come on over and see the original.</p></p> <p><a href="http://encosia.com/2009/06/20/hear-me-talk-about-jquery-on-the-polymorphic-podcast/">Hear me talk about jQuery on the Polymorphic Podcast</a></p><p><a href="http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033523" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:12:28 EDT http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033523 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033523#feedback http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033522 As an ASP.NET developer working on the client-side, one problem you’ll encounter is how to reference the HTML elements that ASP.NET web controls generate. All too often, you find yourself wasting time trying to reference TextBox1, when the element is actually rendered as ctl00_panel1_wizard1_TextBox1. Much has been written about this, including a post of my own, [...]<p><p>###</p> <p>Originally posted at <a href="http://encosia.com">Encosia</a>. If you're reading this elsewhere, come on over and see the original.</p></p> <p><a href="http://encosia.com/2009/06/09/11-keystrokes-that-made-my-jquery-selector-run-10x-faster/">11 keystrokes that made my jQuery selector run 10x faster</a></p><p><a href="http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033522" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:45:31 EDT http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033522 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033522#feedback http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033521 A new version of Highslide JS .NET is available today. Nothing major has changed in the .NET control, but the newer Highslide JS version includes several bug fixes, compatibility improvements, and performance benefits. To eliminate one common source of confusion, I’ve decided to begin versioning Highslide JS .NET based on the version of Highslide JS embedded [...]<p><p>###</p> <p>Originally posted at <a href="http://encosia.com">Encosia</a>. If you're reading this elsewhere, come on over and see the original.</p></p> <p><a href="http://encosia.com/2009/06/03/highslide-js-net-v414/">Highslide JS .NET v4.1.4</a></p><p><a href="http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033521" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:18:48 EDT http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033521 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033521#feedback http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033520 As you begin developing more complex client-side functionality, managing the size and shape of your JavaScript includes becomes a key concern. It’s all too easy to accidentally end up with hundreds of kilobytes of JavaScript spread across many separate HTTP requests, significantly slowing down your initial page loads. To combat this, it’s important to combine and [...]<p><p>###</p> <p>Originally posted at <a href="http://encosia.com">Encosia</a>. If you're reading this elsewhere, come on over and see the original.</p></p> <p><a href="http://encosia.com/2009/05/20/automatically-minify-and-combine-javascript-in-visual-studio/">Automatically minify and combine JavaScript in Visual Studio</a></p><p><a href="http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033520" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Wed, 20 May 2009 13:42:14 EDT http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033520 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033520#feedback http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033519 As much as I enjoyed attending MIX09 this year, it wasn’t a difficult decision when Karsten asked me to write an article for the MIX Online site. Reading this here, there’s a good chance the article is targeted below the amount of jQuery expertise you already have. However, it’s been brought to my attention that some [...]<p><p>###</p> <p>Originally posted at <a href="http://encosia.com">Encosia</a>. If you're reading this elsewhere, come on over and see the original.</p></p> <p><a href="http://encosia.com/2009/05/13/what-aspnet-developers-should-know-about-jquery/">What ASP.NET developers should know about jQuery</a></p><p><a href="http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033519" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Wed, 13 May 2009 13:10:41 EDT http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033519 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033519#feedback http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033518 The problem of how to handle dates in JSON is one of the more troublesome issues that may arise when directly calling ASP.NET AJAX web services and page methods. Unlike every other data type in the language, JavaScript offers no declarative method for expressing a Date. Consequently, embedding them within JSON requires a bit of fancy [...]<p><p>###</p> <p>Originally posted at <a href="http://encosia.com">Encosia</a>. If you're reading this elsewhere, come on over and see the original.</p></p> <p><a href="http://encosia.com/2009/04/27/how-i-handle-json-dates-returned-by-aspnet-ajax/">How I handle JSON dates returned by ASP.NET AJAX</a></p><p><a href="http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033518" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:22:44 EDT http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033518 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033518#feedback http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033517 A detailed examination of how jQuery can call ASP.NET AJAX web services (or page methods) with complex types as parameters, to simplify the process of serializing and sending several fields of data at a time.<p><p>###</p> <p>Originally posted at <a href="http://encosia.com">Encosia</a>. If you're reading this elsewhere, come on over and see the original.</p></p> <p><a href="http://encosia.com/2009/04/07/using-complex-types-to-make-calling-services-less-complex/">Using complex types to make calling services less&#8230; complex</a></p><p><a href="http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033517" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Tue, 07 Apr 2009 04:33:22 EDT http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033517 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033517#feedback http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033516 Thanks to all of your excellent feedback during the months since the last release of PostBack Ritalin, an improved version is ready for release today. With the addition of “disable all elements”, I believe the control is now feature complete, worthy of a version 1.0 release. Notable changes in v1.0 include: Added disable all elements functionality to [...]<p><p>###</p> <p>Originally posted at <a href="http://encosia.com">Encosia</a>. If you're reading this elsewhere, come on over and see the original.</p></p> <p><a href="http://encosia.com/2009/04/06/postback-ritalin-v1-0/">PostBack Ritalin v1.0</a></p><p><a href="http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033516" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 02:46:29 EDT http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033516 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033516#feedback http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033515 Recently, I’ve attended several presentations in which ASP.NET AJAX’s pageLoad() shortcut is demonstrated as interchangeable with jQuery’s $(document).ready() event. The suggestion that both methods are equivalent actually appears to be true in simple demos, but is not the case and is certain to lead to later confusion. While they seem similar on the surface, $(document).ready() and [...]<p><p>###</p> <p>Originally posted at <a href="http://encosia.com">Encosia</a>. If you're reading this elsewhere, come on over and see the original.</p></p> <p><a href="http://encosia.com/2009/03/25/document-ready-and-pageload-are-not-the-same/">$(document).ready() and pageLoad() are not the same!</a></p><p><a href="http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033515" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:00:36 EDT http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033515 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033515#feedback http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033514 An example of how to detect errors that occur when requesting ASP.NET AJAX web services and page methods with jQuery, how to handle them, and how to more attractively present errors to the user.<p><p>###</p> <p>Originally posted at <a href="http://encosia.com">Encosia</a>. If you're reading this elsewhere, come on over and see the original.</p></p> <p><a href="http://encosia.com/2009/03/04/use-jquery-to-catch-and-display-aspnet-ajax-service-errors/">Use jQuery to catch and display ASP.NET AJAX service errors</a></p><p><a href="http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033514" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:51:06 EST http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033514 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033514#feedback http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033513 Having used JavaScript for over a decade, I’ve read many books covering the language. Some focused primarily on syntax. Others recounted and solved specific real-world problems. Learning a language as a set of tasks is one way to get up to speed quickly, but it’s not a very good way to thoroughly learn a language’s [...]<p><p>###</p> <p>Originally posted at <a href="http://encosia.com">Encosia</a>. If you're reading this elsewhere, come on over and see the original.</p></p> <p><a href="http://encosia.com/2009/02/16/review-the-best-javascript-book-i%e2%80%99ve-read/">Review: The best JavaScript book I’ve read</a></p><p><a href="http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033513" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:44:44 EST http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033513 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033513#feedback http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033512 An examination and explanation of one undocumented change between ASP.NET 2.0 and 3.5's System.Web.Extensions that will break code making direct calls to JSON serialized ASMX services.<p><p>###</p> <p>Originally posted at <a href="http://encosia.com">Encosia</a>. If you're reading this elsewhere, come on over and see the original.</p></p> <p><a href="http://encosia.com/2009/02/10/a-breaking-change-between-versions-of-aspnet-ajax/">A breaking change between versions of ASP.NET AJAX</a></p><p><a href="http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033512" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:28:08 EST http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033512 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033512#feedback http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033511 The time for this is long past due. The current logo does not make the sort of first impression that it needs to. It’s a good reminder that we should usually stick to our core competencies (i.e. I shouldn’t pretend to be a graphic designer). I know at least a handful of you are design focused. [...]<p><p>###</p> <p>Originally posted at <a href="http://encosia.com">Encosia</a>. If you're reading this elsewhere, come on over and see the original.</p></p> <p><a href="http://encosia.com/2009/01/28/design-the-new-encosia-logo-win-350/">Design the new Encosia logo. Win $350.</a></p><p><a href="http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033511" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:54:39 EST http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033511 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/1033511#feedback http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/650049 Hot on the heels of the recent ASP.NET AJAX roadmap, Bertrand and team have released a limited preview of the new AJAX functionality coming in ASP.NET 4.0. To see how the new functionality stacks up, I decided to recreate my recent jTemplates example, using only ASP.NET AJAX and its new templating features. Eventually, I settled on using the DataView class, which offers more advanced, repeater-like functionality.<p><a href="http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/650049" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:00:00 EDT http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/650049 http://daveward.sys-con.com/node/650049#feedback