Time's up! Gaia Ajax 3.6 Alpha Released!

by Jan Blomquist 13. September 2009 21:01

Thank you for your patience and continued belief in our product. It is our vision to bring you the finest quality for ajax development on the ASP.NET platform. The 3.6 version comes with practical innovation previously unavailable to ASP.NET developers. Hopefully it will bring "goosebumps" similar to the ones we had the first time Microsoft unveiled ASP.NET almost a decade ago. 

"3.6 is backwards compatible and introduces a paradigm shift called adaptive rendering"

Links and downloads

  • Click here to download Gaia Ajax 3.6 "alpha"
    Exe with Visual Studio Integration 30 day trial

  • Click here to download Gaia Ajax 3.6 "alpha" - Tar.gz binaries + source - for open source projects
  • Click here to download Gaia Ajax 3.6 "alpha" commercial (requires subscription) 

Highlights from the Gaia Ajax 3.6 release

1. Adaptive Rendering
Adaptive Rendering is a mind-blowing concept that enables dynamic insertion, removal, moving and replacement of individual controls. The concept has far reaching implications and is the breakthrough technology that will make you hunger for Gaia as the building blocks for your UI layer

  • Click here for a sample that demonstrates dynamic inserts and removals of controls and compare it to the usage of traditional partial rendering
  • Click here for a sample of the chess game featuring dynamic control moves
  • Click here for a sample of our "PageFlakes" sample that also features dynamic moves
  • Click here to check out a sample that demonstrates all features of adaptive rendering, including control replacements via databinding
Jan Blomquist has written an extensive review of Adaptive Rendering on his personal blog.

2. Ajax GridView
The Gaia Ajax GridView is a premier example of adaptive rendering as it enables the worlds most advanced GridView for ASP.NET without much code at all. The GridView still supports all the operations like ( filtering, sorting, selection, deletions, updates, etc ) and it's all ajaxified thanks to adaptive rendering.  

  • Click here for a sample that demonstrates the Gaia Ajax GridView in action

3. 100++ new Samples!
In the package you will find a total of 128 samples ranging from minimalistic ones to extensive, almost full applications in themselves. This is all packaged into a new samples framework that simplifies navigation, code view, VB.NET code availability, etc. 

Note: The samples are now utilizing the WAP project type

4. Completely new Effect API
Faster and more effect options to choose from. Enjoy parallel and queued effects and add them directly to the Effects collection on the controls. The Effects was also successfully moved out of the core and extensions and that yields JavaScript savings of around 50Kb on the initial payload. 

Code:

   1:  zWindow.Effects.Add(
   2:    new EffectParallel(
   3:      new EffectShake(), 
   4:      Window.ApplyToContent(new EffectHighlight()), 
   5:      new EffectMorph("width: 640px;")));

Another interessting feature is the ability to attach effects to the various client-side events of controls. That means you can effect-ify a control without dispatching an ajax request to do it.

  • Click here for a sample that demonstrates the usage of parallel effects
  • Click here for a sample that demonstrates the usage of purely clientside events
  • Click here for a sample on howto enhance the behavior of the various controls in the Suite. 

5. More Events and Properties
Many of the events and properties that was previously only available through the use of Aspects is now directly available on the controls themselves. We've created a feature called AspectBinding which actually uses the underlying aspects and exposes Properties, events and methods on the underlying Aspects. Want to set your Gaia Window modal? Just add the property Modal="True" and it is done! Subscribe to events like OnClick, OnDoubleClick, OnBlur, OnFocused, OnMouseOver, OnMouseOut, OnSelect ++ in all your controls

Here's a quick example of all the events available declaratively on the TextBox

   1:  <gaia:TextBox 
   2:      ID="zInput" 
   3:      AutoPostBack="true"
   4:      KeyChangeEvents="true"
   5:      KeyChangeEventsInterval="250"
   6:      runat="server"
   7:      OnBlur="zInput_Blur"
   8:      OnFocused="zInput_Focus"
   9:      OnDoubleClick="zInput_DoubleClick"
  10:      OnTextChanged="zInput_TextChanged"
  11:      OnSelect="zInput_TextSelected"></gaia:TextBox>

6. Increased IE6 Compatibility
The imortal browser is still widely used and must be supported. We've increased our compatibility on the gaiax skin and functional level drastically. We will also continue to do investments in supporting the browser. 

7. More skinsIGaia Skin
There will be more skins available in the 3.6 version. This is still work in progress since many of the skins are not production ready yet, but you can see some previews by changing the themes in the samples.

8. New Control: BrowserHistory
Now you can interact with the browser navigation API by setting various checkpoints that get's triggered when the user browses back and forth. We've created many examples on the usage of this control to fix the "dreaded back button issue in ajax applications".

  1. Click here for a sample that demonstrate basic usage of the BrowserHistory Control
  2. Click here for a samples that demonstrates how to enable navigation between dynamically loaded user controls
  3. Click here for a usage scenario in an advanced sample demonstrating asyncronhous search

9. New Control: ImageMap
The ImageMap control really makes sense in Ajax applications as it allows you to mark different regions on an image and capture those regions to dispatch this information back to the server. 

10. New Controls: Validators
Now available in the Gaia Ajax suite is a collection of different validators. Fully ajaxified and ready to use out of the box. 

Why the Alpha release? 

We've decided to mark it as alpha because of the adaptive rendering facilities which is a totally new concept in the ASP.NET world. It will have far reaching implications and that's why we thought it was a good thing to release the bits so you can start to play around with the product before we move the product into the stabilizing phase. Some important bugfixes still remain too. 

Roadmap for Gaia Ajax 3.6

Issue Component Summary Resolution Desc.
GAIA-315 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

AspectKey key listeners case inconsistancy 

Complete
GAIA-313 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

AspectKey event arguments naming issue 

Complete
GAIA-94 Gaia.Ajax.UI.WebControls

Create GridView 

Complete
GAIA-44 Gaia.Ajax.Core

Optimize ForceUpdate and ForceUpdateWithAppending 

Complete
GAIA-129 Button

PostBackUrl property does not work 

Complete
GAIA-130 Button, CheckBox, DropDownList, ExtendedButton, ImageButton, TextBox

Validator Support 

Complete
GAIA-200 Gaia.Ajax.UI.WebControls

Implement RequiredFieldValidators as Gaia components. 

Complete
GAIA-269 ImageButton

ImageButton should not have a Text property 

Complete
GAIA-277 Gaia.Ajax.Core

Control lifecycle issues 

Complete
GAIA-140 Panel

ControlStyle property is not handled 

Won't Fix
GAIA-378 Image, ImageButton

Image.ImageURL isn't handled properly in callbacks. 

Complete
GAIA-368 ListBox

ListBox SelectedIndex = -1 does not work in IE7 

Complete
GAIA-377 CheckBox, RadioButton

CheckBox text issue regression 

Complete
GAIA-160 CheckBoxList, RadioButtonList

TextAlign cannot be changed during callbacks 

Complete
GAIA-295 Panel

Can't set grouping text in a Gaia callback 

Complete
GAIA-393 DateTimePicker

When HasTimePart="true" the timepart show 00:00 until start using + - 

Complete
GAIA-251 DateTimePicker

When changing hours on Datetimepicker, and click Close, the time is not updated 

Complete
GAIA-391 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

AspectResizable reports wrong size when a border is present 

Unresolved
GAIA-387 Accordion

Add event OnToggled 

Complete
GAIA-360 DateTimePicker

Cannot set Text/Date manually in a dynamically created DateTimePicker 

Complete
GAIA-297 AutoCompleter

Add Blur event for lost focus on text box of AutoCompleter 

Complete
GAIA-341 GMap

Google Maps (GMaps) upgraded - richer API 

Complete
GAIA-373 Button, ImageButton, LinkButton

Support cancelling click events 

Unresolved
GAIA-322 Window

Window visibility change performance issue 

Unresolved
GAIA-372 ExtendedButton

Setting ExtendedButton in IE to disabled doesn't work 

Unresolved
GAIA-365 TabControl

InjectPropertyChangesToCallbackResponse is public method on TabControl 

Complete
GAIA-362 Gaia.Ajax.Core

Event management enhancements 

Unresolved
GAIA-361 InPlaceEdit

InPlaceEdit memory leak 

Complete
GAIA-58 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

AspectUpdateControl improvements 

Unresolved
GAIA-359 Gaia.Ajax.Core

Gaia Ajax Machine halts during long callbacks 

Unresolved
GAIA-284 Gaia.Ajax.Core, Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

Add delay property on update control 

Unresolved
GAIA-255 Calendar, DateTimePicker, Slider, Timer

Visibility change issues 

Unresolved
GAIA-296 DateTimePicker

When HasTimePart=True, DateTimePicker should not close when selecting a date 

Unresolved
GAIA-290 TextBox

TextBox KeyChangedEvents and AutoPostBack dependency 

Unresolved
GAIA-289 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

Animation support to AspectUpdateControl 

Unresolved
GAIA-18 Calendar, DateTimePicker

Add A Way to Clear the Date in DateTimePicker and Calendar 

Complete
GAIA-116 TextBox

Focus behaviour 

Won't Fix
GAIA-117 TreeView

TreeViewItem expand not possible 

Complete
GAIA-337 DateTimePicker

TimePart is not working 

Complete
GAIA-244 Calendar, DateTimePicker

Expose the "Enabled" property so the DateTimePicker could be disabled to pevent user entry 

Complete
GAIA-358 Gaia.Ajax.Core

Create Ajax BrowserHistory Control 

Complete
GAIA-357 InPlaceEdit

InPlaceEdit text change issue in edit mode 

Unresolved
GAIA-317 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

AspectResizable element dimensions issue 

Complete
GAIA-356 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

AspectResizable maximum dimensions issue 

Complete
GAIA-355 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

AspectResizable minimum dimensions issue 

Complete
GAIA-353 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

AspectResizable server event dispatching issue 

Complete
GAIA-354 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Effects

Optimize reflection logic in the old effect.cs file to keep backwards compatibility 

Unresolved
GAIA-350 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

AspectResizable issue with statically positioned elements 

Complete
GAIA-351 Gaia.Ajax.Core, Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

Remove sortable functionality from dragdrop.js 

Complete
GAIA-349 Accordion, Effect, Gaia.Ajax.UI.Effects, InPlaceEdit, TabControl, Toolbar, TreeView, Window

Remove JavaScript dependency on scriptaculous effects 

Complete
GAIA-348 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Effects

Implement Effects Collection on the Gaia Controls 

Complete
GAIA-347 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Effects

Move Scriptaculous effects into separate Assembly 

Complete
GAIA-150 Gaia.Ajax.Core

Write article about howto handle Session expiration in Gaia. 

Complete
GAIA-91 Gaia.Ajax.UI.WebControls

Offer a wider selection of themes to pick from 

Unresolved
GAIA-294 Toolbar

ToolbarItems are positioned wrong in IE8 

Unresolved
GAIA-288 Window

Window is hiding other controls 

Unresolved
GAIA-346 Gaia.Ajax.Core

Ajax Request Queue issue in Internet Explorer 

Complete
GAIA-342 Gaia.Ajax.CommunityExtensions, Gaia.Ajax.Core, Gaia.Ajax.UI.WebControls

Designer references in GPL build 

Unresolved
GAIA-330 Calendar, DateTimePicker

Added easier navigation for year in Calendar/DateTimepicker 

Complete
GAIA-335 DateTimePicker

VisibleDate property on DateTimePicker 

Complete
GAIA-278 Calendar

Format property is not in use at Calendar 

Won't Fix
GAIA-312 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

Enhancements of mouse event properties in Aspect 

Complete
GAIA-331 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

AspectHoverable doesn't track MouseOut if the event is not subscribed to 

Complete
GAIA-307 AutoCompleter

Autocompleteritems looks messed up in ie6 

Won't Fix
GAIA-324 Gaia.Ajax.Core

Aspect Binding event handler sender issue 

Complete
GAIA-329 Calendar

Changing the VisibleDate area in the Calendar 

Complete
GAIA-328 Calendar, DateTimePicker

Calendar Css Enhancements and improved look (UI) 

Complete
GAIA-309 Calendar, DateTimePicker

Datetimepicker month/year selector doesn't fill container in IE6 

Complete
GAIA-279 Calendar

Make the calendar initial date be DateTime.Min like the ASP.NET calendar 

Complete
GAIA-327 DateTimePicker

Added OpacityWhenMoved to the DateTimePicker 

Complete
GAIA-280 Calendar

VisibleDate property on calendar which specifies the month to display 

Complete
GAIA-31 Calendar

Calendar Problem After Setting SelectedDate 

Complete
GAIA-32 Calendar

Calendar Issue With Today Button and Selecting Month/Year 

Complete
GAIA-325 ListBox

ListBox.Rows property change issue 

Unresolved
GAIA-323 Gaia.Ajax.Core

Errors while modifying some styles during callbacks 

Complete
GAIA-321 Button

Regression: OnClientClick does not work during callbacks 

Complete
GAIA-301 AutoCompleter

AutoCompleter doesn't allow mouse selection 

Complete
GAIA-316 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

AspectResizable element position issue 

Unresolved
GAIA-26 Window

Window Width Problem in IE7 

Complete
GAIA-308 DynamicImage

DynamicImage doesn't show the image the first time in IE6 

Unresolved
GAIA-306 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

AspectKey and AspectGeneric reinitialization 

Complete
GAIA-304 Gaia.Ajax.Core

ImageMap Control 

Complete
GAIA-303 Image

Issue with DescriptionUrl and ImageAlign 

Complete
GAIA-302 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

Add Control Keys to AspectClickable 

Complete
GAIA-293 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

AspectClickable relative coordinates issue 

Complete
GAIA-292 CheckBox, RadioButton

CheckBox/RadioButton design-time error 

Complete
GAIA-291 Gaia.Ajax.Core

Attribute name handling issue 

Complete
GAIA-17 Accordion, ExtendedPanel

Contents of ExtendedPanel Flicker when Expanded in IE7 

Complete
GAIA-38 ExtendedPanel

Animation on IE in ExtendedPanel hides content 

Complete
GAIA-109 TabControl

TabControl renders wrong in IE6 

Complete
GAIA-221 Window

Window show effect 

Complete
GAIA-208 Window

When window is maxmized, track the browser window resize/change events 

Unresolved
GAIA-47 Gaia.Ajax.Core

Disable Gaia Control when request is queued 

Unresolved
GAIA-61 Timer

clearTimeout support 

Unresolved
GAIA-132 Button

Known colors are serialized by their hex represnetation 

Unresolved
GAIA-177 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

Get PointerX and PointerY coordinates on AspectDroppable Dropped Event 

Unresolved
GAIA-178 Timer

ResetTimer() method 

Unresolved
GAIA-193 Window

Window server-side methods support 

Unresolved
GAIA-194 ExtendedPanel, Window

Height handling for container controls 

Unresolved
GAIA-180 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

Modality with IE6 

Unresolved
GAIA-253 Window

Window Height and Width issue 

Unresolved
GAIA-260 ImageButton

ImageButton does not work with some Aspects 

Unresolved
GAIA-272 TabControl

Cannot set TabView to be Visible False 

Unresolved
GAIA-273 Gaia.Ajax.CommunityExtensions, Gaia.Ajax.Core, Gaia.Ajax.UI.WebControls

Localization support 

Unresolved
GAIA-275 Calendar, DateTimePicker, ExtendedButton

ExtendedButton event problems in SharePoint 

Unresolved
GAIA-276 Gaia.Ajax.Core

Enable support for adding Aspects in the markup 

Unresolved
GAIA-281 Toolbar

Menu icons clicking issue 

Unresolved
GAIA-46 Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

Make Aspects Collection Smater. 

Complete
GAIA-283 Gaia.Ajax.Core

Optimize JavaScript Class creation 

Complete
GAIA-268 Gaia.Ajax.Core

Global UpdateControl related issue 

Unresolved
GAIA-161 RadioButton

GroupName cannot be changed during callbacks 

Unresolved
GAIA-103 Gaia.Ajax.Core

Gaia fails when compression is enabled. 

Unresolved
GAIA-176 LinkButton

LinkButton enabled="false" doesn't show in IE6 

Unresolved
GAIA-179 DateTimePicker

DateTimePicker popup calendar appears behind the controls that surround it (in IE, only!) 

Unresolved
GAIA-185 ExtendedPanel

Impossible to have scrollbars on ExtendedPanel 

Unresolved
GAIA-186 Gaia.Ajax.Core, Gaia.Ajax.UI.Aspects

AspectScrollable doesn't work properly on HybridControls 

Unresolved
GAIA-141 Gaia.Ajax.Core

FormsAuthentication.Authenticate(username, password) is not working without having a new page refresh 

Unresolved
GAIA-124 TreeView

TreeViewItem Double Click problem 

Unresolved
GAIA-222 Window

Modality issue 

Unresolved
GAIA-30 Calendar, DateTimePicker

Calendar Localization Problems 

Unresolved
GAIA-8 Window

Modality problem with Window 

Unresolved
GAIA-270 Effect

Remove Effect from toolbox 

Complete
GAIA-274 DateTimePicker

DateTimePicker. Clicking the Close MonthYear Picker doesn't work 

Complete
GAIA-217 Calendar, DateTimePicker

Possible to set the FirstDayOfWeek at Calendar and DateTimePicker 

Complete
GAIA-271 DateTimePicker

DateTimePicker is missing the oncalendardayclicking and ondayrender events 

Complete

Comments

9/16/2009 10:28:06 AM #

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Gaia Ajax 3.6 Alpha Released: New Ajax GridView for ASP.NET

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9/16/2009 3:16:23 PM #

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Time's up! Gaia Ajax 3.6 Alpha Released!

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