11.3. Summary

Custom ASP.NET AJAX controls allow you to add specialized functionality to an application that can be reused over and over. In this chapter, you've seen how to create a client-side ASP.NET AJAX control capable of generating custom output. Core steps that should be followed when creating controls were discussed, including making a constructor, using the prototype design pattern, initializing controls, and disposing of control resources. You've also seen how control events can be hooked up to event handlers and how controls can be created and used in an application.

This chapter also discussed how to create custom server-side ASP.NET AJAX controls. Server-side controls can be created to extend existing controls, or new controls can be built from the ground up that add unique features and functionality. You've seen how the System.Web.UI.ScriptControl and AjaxControlToolkit.ExtenderControlBase classes can be used to build custom server-side ASP.NET AJAX classes and how scripts and properties used by a client-side script can be referenced and mapped. Finally, you've seen how a custom server-side control and extender control can be defined and used in a page.