I was installing the latest Microsoft Office update at work and I was watching the completion bar and the amount I downloaded change on the fly without posting back to the screen. How do you do something like this? How do you have something update in the webpage without updating the entire page? Are they using frames?

They are prob. using asyncronous scripting. You prob. heard of this technology as the buzzword AJAX.

Basically, asyncronous scripting allows you to make server-side requests via javascript ... the server-side (which could be an aspx page) accepts a request, processes some stuff and sends a response. The javascript then can parse this response. This all happens w/out a page refresh.

If you wanna get involved in the craze, then try ...

http://ajaxpatterns.org/

Also, the .NET Framework 2.0 built a library / sdk on top of the AJAX technology and called it Atlas.

http://atlas.asp.net/default.aspx?tabid=47





: I was installing the latest Microsoft Office update at work and I was watching the completion bar and the amount I downloaded change on the fly without posting back to the screen. How do you do something like this? How do you have something update in the webpage without updating the entire page? Are they using frames?
:

WOW, this stuff is awesome. Man, I can't wait to use this. I had heard of Ajax, but didn't even realize that it was something I could use. I never looked into it. I thought it was some other programming language. Man, thanks alot. This stuff is cool. Using things like Microsoft's Live Beta site and Wikipedia etc... and I never even thought about how things were changing with no postback. Now I know.

: They are prob. using asyncronous scripting. You prob. heard of this technology as the buzzword AJAX.
:
: Basically, asyncronous scripting allows you to make server-side requests via javascript ... the server-side (which could be an aspx page) accepts a request, processes some stuff and sends a response. The javascript then can parse this response. This all happens w/out a page refresh.
:
: If you wanna get involved in the craze, then try ...
:
: http://ajaxpatterns.org/
:
: Also, the .NET Framework 2.0 built a library / sdk on top of the AJAX technology and called it Atlas.
:
: http://atlas.asp.net/default.aspx?tabid=47
:

Yes it is some fun stuff. I have done some things and it has improved my client scripting two-fold.

: WOW, this stuff is awesome. Man, I can't wait to use this. I had heard of Ajax, but didn't even realize that it was something I could use. I never looked into it. I thought it was some other programming language. Man, thanks alot. This stuff is cool. Using things like Microsoft's Live Beta site and Wikipedia etc... and I never even thought about how things were changing with no postback. Now I know.
:
: : They are prob. using asyncronous scripting. You prob. heard of this technology as the buzzword AJAX.
: :
: : Basically, asyncronous scripting allows you to make server-side requests via javascript ... the server-side (which could be an aspx page) accepts a request, processes some stuff and sends a response. The javascript then can parse this response. This all happens w/out a page refresh.
: :
: : If you wanna get involved in the craze, then try ...
: :
: : http://ajaxpatterns.org/
: :
: : Also, the .NET Framework 2.0 built a library / sdk on top of the AJAX technology and called it Atlas.
: :
: : http://atlas.asp.net/default.aspx?tabid=47
: :
: