8.3. Summary

ASP.NET AJAX makes the important application services available to JavaScript code running in the browser. It is no longer necessary to think of Forms Authentication, Roles, and Profile as server-only features. The application services simply leverage server resources for checking user credentials and for storing profile data.

You can now more easily enhance applications to gather and store data about the user, even if he or she is not authenticated, by enabling profile properties for anonymous use. And when the user returns to the site, the profile information will still be available. In addition, when a user chooses to authenticate, he can do so directly from the browser without a series of redirects to a login page and back.

Enabling the application services for AJAX is an important step in being able to write rich browser-based applications that take full advantage of the server and provide an enhanced user experience. You can make you application more dynamic and responsive for the user by reducing the need for full postbacks and content refreshes of entire pages.