Announcing the Aikido™ Framework June CTP

NetAdvantage for ASP.NET 2008 Vol. 2 continues our long-term commitment to the new and evolving lightweight controls built upon the Aikido Framework. In this latest Community Technology Preview (CTP) we are sharing with the development community the latest, enhanced builds of several Aikido controls and a new generic API we're very excited about for drag-and-drop functionality!  Experience the latest Aikido Framework samples online at labs.infragistics.com/aikido.

 

What are the goals of the Aikido Framework?

If this is your first time reading about the Aikido Framework, let me tell you about the design goals we're delivering through this framework in our next generation of NetAdvantage for ASP.NET controls that empower your user interface development:

  • High-Performance - Lightweight markup and optimized code improve performance.
  • Standards Conformance - CSS 2 and XHTML 1.0 compliance.
  • Major Browser Support - IE, Firefox, Opera and Safari.
  • Simplified Object Model - Reductions in the object model to make these controls easier to understand and employ.
  • AJAX-Enabled - Microsoft® ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions 1.0 foundation, leveraging native AJAX capabilities.

The growing list of controls that have graduated from previous Aikido Framework CTPs include:

More are on their way!

 

What can I expect to find in this Community Technology Preview?

We are releasing the NetAdvantage for ASP.NET Aikido Framework June 2008 CTP with early access releases of the following ASP.NET controls:

 

WebDataGridClick to see the new AJAX data grid for ASP.NET styled with a new Electric Blue style set and displaying paged data.™

We have updated the WebDataGrid adding complete CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) data editing support, add new row behavior, row deletion behavior, cell and column templating, plus inline and popup template editing capabilities. Most importantly, we have kept the WebDataGrid lightweight and high performance with deeply ingrained AJAX capabilities even with all of this new functionality.

WebDataTree™Click to see our new AJAX tree control for ASP.NET 2.0 in action.

This is an update of the no-touch AJAX WebDataTree control that allows users to navigate through hierarchical tree nodes.  Enhancements included in this preview release includes new drag and drop nodes support, so users can re-order nodes within a single WebDataTree or across different WebDataTrees.

Drag-and-Drop Functionality

This Aikido Framework CTP release introduces developers to an exciting, new framework providing generic drag-and-drop that is simple to use and operates in a completely cross-browser fashion. The drag-and-drop framework is an excellent way to add drag-and-drop capabilities to any part of your Web 2.0 application.

 

How do I get the CTP?

You can download the NetAdvantage for ASP.NET Aikido Framework June 2008 CTP by clicking the download button below. The .zip download contains one installer (.exe) package that includes the updated framework assemblies, local help (.chm format) and a special samples browser focusing on the new ASP.NET functionality included with this prerelease of the Aikido Framework controls.  As this is an early release of our newest controls, documentation is limited.  Once installed, please read the Quick Start for additional information on using this release.

This version of the Aikido Framework June 2008 CTP requires you to have installed a licensed copy of NetAdvantage for ASP.NET 2008 Vol. 2 CLR 2.0 on your machine.  At this time, the Aikido Framework June 2008 CTP will not install or run on a machine that has only the ASP.NET 3.5 builds of NetAdvantage for ASP.NET 2008 Vol. 2. 

Download the Aikido Framework CTP Installer

Where can I get support for the CTP?

This community technical preview is not supported by Developer Support. If you have any questions or feedback, please visit the new peer-to-peer Aikido forum that we have set-up for you.