ASP.Net’s Client Side Template Tool

Since 2005, Ajax has been in the forefront in building applications and websites with Rich Internet Applications (RIA). This type of programming language has been used extensively in building different websites whether they are used for fun or for business.

Although the security of Ajax has been questioned continuously, businesses have found the efficiency of Ajax in providing user-friendly and highly interactive websites. Because of Ajax’s popularity, different frameworks have been developed to cater the need of professionals who are unable to deal with JavaScript.

One of those frameworks that have gained popularity over the years is ASP.Net. Its latest version has been the favorite of developers since this version now comes with support for Ajax. Already in its 4.0 version, ASP.Net for Ajax comes with a wide away of tools and has impressed a lot of developers.

Since it’s a framework, developers have the ability to build an Ajax based application using the tools provided by ASP.Net. If you have been working with ASP.Net before the 4.0 is released, there is a greater chance that you should have no problem in building an Ajax based application.

Client Side Template Tool

Among the tools offered by the latest version of ASP.Net is the client side template tool. This type of tool helps the developers build an interface wherein Ajax based functions could be easily loaded. By creating a client side template, developers will increase interactivity with the user since the initial load will be the template which will help reduce the bandwidth requirement of other functions. Although the initial load will need a strong connectivity, other functions will work seamlessly since they will be loaded in the template. The client side template tool ensures that data streaming and other functions will work as planned.

More importantly, developing an Ajax based template for the client side is very easy since the tool is already there. Coding is minimized which will also increase the development of the Ajax based application.

Limitations of the Client Side Template Tool

Although the client side template tool is very impressive, there are things that could have been added which will ensure its leadership among Ajax frameworks.

The reception of external templates for ASP.Net for Ajax is a little bit limited. We may have a lot of tools that could help build a template, not every tool or preferences could be provided by this framework. But developers should have a problem in building their own template, and importing them is difficult but not impossible. The reason for this limitation is probably to enforce a template that could handle different functions. Imported templates may not work as expected.

Another limitation is the lacking of CSS specified for tables. Most functions already have SS, but apparently, CSS that will focus on tables doesn’t exist. As of now, the CSS for tables are dependent on other functions which mean control of data depends on other functions and not on tables. Developers still have to tweak some functions before CSS for table could receive updates as soon as the function is loaded.