HYDERABAD, INDIA: Following its roadmap to woo and retain developer loyalty, especially on the ASP.NET front, Microsoft has incorporated Ajax on the client side.

This would practically mean that the server is relieved of its responsibility to process changes every time a modification is made in the software code.

In multi-developer environment, this would also mean that separate development teams can perform their maintenance tests while the routine development can happen using the computation power of the server.

Taking this a step forward with Microsoft’s open initiative, the declarative client side capabilities will support HTML and PHP equally. Also offered is compatibility across browsers, giving developers the choice to operate in their favourite space and integrate it seamlessly by invoking the Ajax components.

At the Microsoft TechEd India, Hyderabad, three new editions to the Ajax Control toolkit were released, HTMLEditor, ComboBox Control and Color Picks. The HTMLEditor control allows you to easily create and edit HTML content. You can edit in design mode, as a rich text editor, or in source view to edit the HTML markup directly.

The ComboBox and Color Picks have to do more with the design aspect. The ComboBox control provides a DropDownList of items, combined with TextBox. Different modes determine the interplay between the text entry and the list of items.

The ColorPicker Control Extender is intended to be attached to any ASP.NET TextBox control. It provides client-side color-picking functionality with UI in a popup control, giving you an entire palette of colors to choose from, and integrate even into the ComboBox components.

Microsoft also claims that more than twenty important bug fixes have been made in this release, across many controls, corresponding to some of the most requested fixes by the community.

(Vishnu Anand, at the Microsoft TechEd India, Hyderabad)