Last night I talked about Service Oriented AJAX in Denver at the .NET User Group to a packed house of 121 people. An AJAX architecture based on a service-oriented API is new to most .NET developers, although it's something that's on the radar for a lot of developers. And it fits very nicely with all types of rich internet application technologies other than pure AJAX, such as Flash, Flex, Silverlight and more-- but AJAX is the most powerful user interface technology out there today, and is 100% compatible with all platforms and browsers.

(Well written) AJAX is all about the architecture... write an API based on Web Services, and never throw those web services away. The UI is then a lightweight layer written in JavaScript, HTML and XSLT which acts as a client to the Web Services. UIs come and UIs go, but the Web Services you write will last for the lifetime of your product, much longer than the release lifetime that user interface components will last. You might rev the UI many times, but if it's based on Web Services you don't need to rev much of the back-end architecture.

To compare the service-oriented AJAX architecture to a traditional ASP.NET server application architecture, here are 2 slides that compare the designs. The major benefit of the service based approach is that the services are reusable for various things like rich client applications (Mac, PC, Linux), RIA technologies including Flash, Flex and Silverlight, remote server applications, and of course multiple AJAX controls and mash-ups.

Here are some photos from the event-- we had a great turn-out, a fabulous crowd, and door prizes for at least half of the attendees, including 45 copies of Developing Service Oriented AJAX Applications on the Microsoft Platform. If you haven't gotten it yet-- it's 30% off at SoftPro with this coupon, or use the Amazon link from my blog.

Big thanks to Microsoft Press/ Microsoft Learning for providing door prizes! We also gave away a few copies of Dino's new book, Architecting Applications for the Enterprise that I'm looking forward to reading. 

Thanks to the Denver Microsoft developer community for coming out and showing your support! Denver *ROCKS* .NET!

Tonight I'm speaking at the Denver Visual Studio User Group on Service-Oriented AJAX (5:30 at Microsoft's Denver Office). This is my second talk on SO-AJAX since the book release, and my hometown book release event. We've got tons of giveaways-- 60+ books from Microsoft Press, and other software goodies-- and Microsoft Learning and I are co-sponsoring the event.

Service Oriented AJAX is summed up like this: "write web services, then write your UI against those web services." We'll be looking at WCF as the Web Service platform, as well as the Microsoft AJAX Library to consume those services. Hopefully I'll see you tonight! If not-- you can pick up my book from Amazon or SoftPro, it should provide excellent guidance on writing a Web Service API using WCF, and then how to create reusable components and controls using object oriented JavaScript and the Microsoft AJAX Library.

San Diego Update

Thanks to all who came out to the San Diego ASP.NET User Group last week. We were able to send everyone home with a free copy-- big thanks to Microsoft Press and Joanne Lin in Microsoft Platform Evangelism for providing copies! If you were a CodeSmith winner and have not yet received your license, please folluw up with myself or Dan Mathson.

Last December, I started writing "Developing Service Oriented AJAX Applications on the Microsoft Framework". It's finally done, and available at your favorite local neighborhood bookstore. If you're local to Denver, I have a 30% off coupon for Service Oriented AJAX from SoftPro books (Yosemite, just south of Arapahoe). Email "me at dan larson dot com" and I'll gladly send you a coupon.

In Visual Studio 2008, Control-shift-J interprets the current JavaScript file in order to update the intellisense, and will also expose any errors in the Errors window.

I'll be speaking in San Diego at the ASP.NET SIG on November 18 on "Developing a Service Oriented AJAX Application". This is the first event I'm speaking at since my book release, and I'll have 30 copies to give away at the event. What is a service-oriented AJAX application? A service-oriented AJAX application is built on a web service architecture that focuses on the application as web services-- and AJAX is just one client of the application. This is an architecture we've used successfully at NewsGator, and is all about decoupling the application from the user interface. It's a great way to mash up multiple data points into an application... and it provides amazing architectural benefits as well, which is the focus of my work.

Here's some info on the event: San Diego ASP.NET SIG - Meeting Tues. Nov 18th, 2008

6pm pizza and drinks, the meeting starts at 6:30, I'm speaking at 7pm.

Creating a Service-Oriented AJAX Application, with Daniel Larson
an INETA Event at the San Diego ASP.NET Group
Microsoft SoCal Office- Tuesday, Nov 18 6pm
9255 Towne Centre Drive, 4th Floor,
San Diego, CA 92121

Service-oriented AJAX is a purist AJAX approach that starts by developing a Web service API, and then implements the application as a JavaScript AJAX Application. Simply stated, "write your application as Web services, and then write a JavaScript user interface". This approach is the best practice architecture with the Microsoft .NET 3.5 framework which includes rich support for AJAX in the WCF Web programming model, the Microsoft AJAX Library and ASP.NET AJAX.

In this talk, you’ll discover how to:

• Incorporate an architecture pattern that highlights the Web services API and uses AJAX to implement the client runtime
• Tap the Microsoft AJAX library framework, extensions, core namespaces, and runtime controls
• Enable authentication, profiles, and authorization using AJAX application services
• Implement object-oriented JavaScript control libraries and applications
• Employ JavaScript models for object-oriented development
• Use the AJAX Library event-based programming model
• Use the AJAX Library component-based JavaScript architecture

Service-Oriented AJAX in Denver

If you can't make San Diego-- I'll be doing this talk again in Denver on Monday, November 24 at the Denver Visual Studio User Group. In Denver, I'll have at least 30 copies to give away, and SoftPro is providing a 30% off coupon for my book at the meeting if you'd like to get a copy locally (Denver only).

A few questions I've received about this:

• We're stuck on the 2.0 framework. Is this only a 3.5 thing?
  My book, as well as a lot of code I'll use in the talk, is based on the 3.5 framework. However, the core architectural principal is agnostic to the framework. Simply stated: "write XML Web services, and then write an AJAX client using JavaScript." It's pretty simple-- but can yield some powerful results. the technology in 3.5 that I'll use is WCF-- but you can accomplish the same thing with HTTP Handlers in the 2.0 framework, although it's not as elegant from a code and maintenance perspective. (Also note that the 3.5 framework runs on top of 2.0-- it's not a "replacement" framework.)
• Will you be using the update panel? 
  No. And neither should you. :)

I'll also say-- after getting started with service-based AJAX-- I haven't written one line of postback code in the last 2 years. AJAX has a significant architectural benefit in that you're not writing code that's tied to a page, or even a specific use. It's all about the architecture. Feel free to drop me a note if you're coming, and I hope to see you there!