"Atlas" Control Toolkit for AJAX Developers

JavaScriptSearch
Friday, April 14, 2006; 02:21 AM

Microsoft released a Control Toolkit for its AJAX development platform "Atlas".  The toolkit contains a vast set of reusable "Atlas" controls that enable users to easily add rich client-side functionality to Web sites, such as cascading dropdown, hover menu, drag panel, and more. Also inside is a powerful Software Development Kit, intended to simplify the creation of "Atlas" custom controls and behaviors.  Documentation and samples are included.

The toolkit is freely available for download at http://atlas.asp.net . According to Microsoft, this is an early preview of the software, and it is not intended to address every development scenario.  Users are also warned of possible other "issues".

Here is a list of controls and extenders, included in the "Atlas" Control Toolkit (as described on the official site):

• CascadingDropDown: Easily link drop downs, complete with asynchronous population and no postbacks.
• CollaspiblePanel:  This extender allows panels on your page to collapse and expand with no code.
• ConfirmButton: This extender adds a confirm dialog to any Button, LinkButton, or ImageButton control.
• DragPanel: Makes any panel into an object that you can drag around the page.
• HoverMenu: Allows UI to pop up next to a control when the user hovers over it. 
• PopupControl: This extender turns any panel into a popup. 
• ReorderList: This control is a full-featured data-bound control that allows its elements to be reordered on the client via drag and drop.
• TextBoxWatermark:  This extender adds "watermark" prompt text to TextBoxes on the page.
• ToggleButton:  This extender turns an ASP.NET CheckBox into an image checkbox.

• Helper Classes:  This library of helper classes eliminates many of the steps needed to create "Atlas" controls or extenders so you can quickly produce the code that will make your website shine.
• Project and Item Templates:  With just a few clicks of the mouse, you'll be writing your first "Atlas" component.  The toolkit contains Visual Studio 2005 Templates for Visual Basic and Visual C# users to create their own controls and extenders.

Earlier this month Microsoft released a Community Technology Preview of "Atlas" - an early build, intended for public testing. 

Microsoft announced "Atlas" at the MIX06 conference in March.  It was described as "a free, AJAX-style framework for building a new generation of richer, more interactive, highly personalized standards based Web applications."