New DevNugget: Using jQuery UI in ASP.NET

I’ve published a new DevNugget screencast on Channel 9, and linked below. In it, I demonstrate how you can easily add pizzazz and a consistent, themeable look and feel to your ASP.NET-based website using the widgets provided as part of the jQuery UI library.

In the next installment, I’ll demonstrate the next step of generating the markup required by jQuery UI using a databound repeater control, allowing you to take advantage of the cool UI widgets, without having to hand-write all your markup.

Enjoy!

Comments

• Anonymous
  May 31, 2009
  Have you played with the dialog widget? When i post back .net controls that are inside the dialog they don't hold there values.

• Anonymous
  June 02, 2009
  I have used the dialog widget, but not with server controls. Generally, when using concepts that are client-side (i.e. - jQuery stuff), particularly interactive, I'd tend to lean towards straight HTML controls. Server controls rely heavily on their own javascript stuff for postbacks, so it's understandable that you might find it tricky to maintain the state when posting back from within a client-side container that also has a lot of javascript functionality, particularly since the jQueryUI dialog wasn't really written with the postback model in mind. Take a look at using an asyncronous callback via AJAX rather than a postback when using the dialog widget. That might be a better course for that widget. Server controls are very useful, but they're just one way to solve a particular problem...sometimes plain HTML controls may be a more optimal choice.