Best reliable approach for implementing AJAX calls with ASP.NET backend

Backend
1

I’m about to start working on an ASP.NET web application that needs AJAX functionality. I’ve been looking into different ways to implement this in the .NET framework and want to pick the most reliable option.

Here are the main approaches I’ve discovered so far:

  1. Using ASP.NET AJAX UpdatePanel controls
  2. Combining ASP.NET AJAX with Web Services and jQuery
  3. jQuery paired with HTTP Handlers

For options 2 and 3, the server side would return data in JSON or XML format to the frontend.

I’m looking for something that has good documentation and proven stability. Has anyone worked with these different methods? Which one would you recommend for a production environment?

// Example of what I'm trying to achieve
public partial class ProductManager : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    protected void LoadProductData(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        string productId = Request["id"];
        // Fetch product details
        Response.Write(GetProductInfo(productId));
    }
}

Any advice on the pros and cons of each approach would be really helpful.

2

I’ve built several production ASP.NET apps with AJAX, and I’d go with jQuery + HTTP Handlers every time for new projects. UpdatePanels look seamless but they’re performance killers - you still get the full page lifecycle on the server even though users don’t see it. HTTP Handlers give you clean separation between AJAX endpoints and page logic. No Web Forms lifecycle overhead, just efficient request processing. They’ve been rock solid for me on high-traffic apps where speed matters. Here’s the thing - if you’ve got existing Web Forms with complex server controls, UpdatePanels might look like the easy route. Don’t fall for it. You’ll hit ViewState bloat issues later. HTTP Handlers scale way better and you get real control over caching and error handling. For your ProductManager setup, I’d create a dedicated handler that returns JSON directly instead of mixing AJAX stuff with your page code.

3

web services + jQuery is ur best bet. I’ve been doing .NET dev for years, and yeah, handlers are faster like swiftcoder said, but web services give u way better structure and they’re easier 2 test. Documentation’s solid and there’s tons of examples out there. UpdatePanels r pretty much dead at this point - even Microsoft ditched them in the newer frameworks.

4

Interesting debate! @SwiftCoder15 @BoldPainter37 what about debugging though? Which approach is easier when production breaks? Also, have you noticed any browser compatibility differences between these methods? I’m stuck supporting legacy IE too…