Categorizing AJAX Frameworks

As you can witness yourself, each AJAX-oriented framework falls into one of the following
three main categories:

■ RPC-style frameworks
■ A suite of rich controls
■ AJAX frameworks

RPC-style frameworks are ASP.NET libraries that simply provide the capability of calling back
server code from the client via JavaScript. ASP.NET Script Callbacks and AjaxPro certainly
have this capability.

Commercial products from popular vendors such as Telerik, ComponentArt, and Infragistics
offer a suite of controls with AJAX capabilities. Currently, they don’t provide the same level of
integration with the ASP.NET AJAX platform; however, in the short term they will be aligned
at the same level and differentiate their product offerings by extending differing levels of features
and capabilities, some solidly Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX compliant (Component Art) and
others to a lesser degree.

Finally, there will be pure AJAX frameworks—that is, a code library that enables pages and
applications to do AJAX. Of course, ASP.NET AJAX Extensions is the most rich and powerful
option, and it’s certainly the standard to follow for the largest share of developers. However, a
number of good frameworks (often, open-source frameworks) exist—such as Anthem.NET
and ComfortASP.NET—that simply help you build AJAX pages quickly and effectively. They
have anticipated most of the features you find today in ASP.NET AJAX Extensions.