[How Do I:] Choose Between Methods of AJAX Page Updates?
by Joe Stagner
In this video Joe Stagner compares the two primary methods of performing AJAX-style page updates in an ASP.NET application. The first method is to use an UpdatePanel, where no additional code needs to be written on either the client side or the server side. The benefit of using the UpdatePanel is that everything works automatically. The penalty is that at the client it requires a lot of data to be included in the AJAX request and response, and at the server it requires a full page lifecycle to be executed. The second method is to use network callbacks, where additional code needs to be written on both the client side and the server side. The benefit of using network callbacks is that at the client it requires very little data to be included in the AJAX request and response, and at the server it requires only the called service method to be executed. The penality is the time and effort it takes to write the necessary code. Joe concludes the video by discussing what you should consider when choosing between the two primary methods of AJAX-style page updates. (This video uses the code from the How Do I Get Started with ASP.NET AJAX video and the How Do I Make Client-Side Network Callbacks with ASP.NET AJAX video.)