asbx support in AJAX ASP.NET

I 've just download the new AJAX ASP.NET beta, and I'm trying to figure out where is the Microsoft.Web.Services.BridgeBuildProvider . Does this beta still support the asbx files and bridges? Where is the documentation?

somebody? bridge and asbx files ... what's going here?

Unfortunately asbx and Bridge support are not in the current release.

will they be available in the final release? I found them very very very useful ... please

thanks

I'm waiting for them too. Especially after googling for answers and seeing and trying all related samples... which of course are working with the older previous release... but not with the beta one... If I wouldn't had found this post maybe I would still been trying to get it running...

Will this feature be available in the next versions? I need to take decisions based on your answer.

Thanks

Does something else take the place of the bridge (asbx) capability? Is there another way to use Javascript to call my remote web services?

You can always have your Web application make the Web Service calls and then hook up those calls with front end methods with local Web Service or PageMethods methods.

I would argue that this is a more reliable mechanism anyway although it does require an extra layer of abstraction.

The extra layer of abstraction requires more time. I also think that the bridging support is an excellent feature.

I need to build an application that calls in an asynchronuos way multiple web services from different domains...

Well the good news is due to customer feedback, it looks like the bridge feature will be brought back as part of the Value Add, so you'll be able to use bridges again...

Hope that helps,
-Hao

For sure it helps. Thanks HaoK, these are really excellent news ( I was thrilled by the bridging part, it matched like a glove my needs ) .

Any ideea about the next date release which will support this feature? Or I should simply try to continue/start working on Atlas July CTP(I remember this is the before the last one release) and update what I have when the new version will be available?

By Value Add you mean AJAX CTP? Or?...

Thanks again

I do not think that there is something else in place of bridging ...

As far as I know: you can still call web services using JS. Have a look at the following threads:

http://forums.asp.net/thread/1449674.aspx

http://forums.asp.net/thread/1172624.aspx

Hope this helps.

One thing I remember is that if you call a web service method using javascript, and the web service method is located under the same share as the web application, the method has to be defined in the .aspx file using <script language="C#">...</scipt>, and this is because of an issue present in the Beta version only(someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

Hao,

Great news that it is being brought back. I have a couple questions: 1) I was told it would be in beta 2, but have seen no documentation or mention of it with today's release? 2) Why was it removed? It seems like a very useful feature. Or, as Rick mentions above, is it considered a better practice to have a local webservice call to an external service? Seems like a lot of hassle...

Thanks,

Brian

It was added very late, so the docs didn't have time to be updated, but all the old Microsoft.Web.Services.Bridge* classes now live under Microsoft.Web.Preview.Services.*

Hope that helps,
-Hao

Thanks Hao,

We are trying to get our old bridge code working, and running into some confusing errors. It seems that the calls are working, the generated BridgeHandler is being hit, and the parameters are coming in correctly (we can see them in the debugger) but when it tries to convert the first item in the parameter Dictionary, it fails with a null reference error, even though that item (obj) can be seen in the debugger as having a value of "1"

if (args.TryGetValue("businessPurposeTypeID", out obj)) {
// Not sure why there are so many empty if statements
}
else {
throw new System.ArgumentException("Argument not found: businessPurposeTypeID");
}
arg0 = ((int)(this.ConvertToType(obj, typeof(int))));

The line with "ConvertToType" is the line that's failing. See the following stack trace returned in the javascript result:

"@._Error(false,"Object reference not set to an instance of an object."," at Microsoft.Web.Preview.Services.BridgeHandler.ConvertToType(Object argValue, Type paramType)\r\n at MLDB.Website.WebServices.MLDBSearchBridge.CallServiceClassMethod(String method, Dictionary`2 args, ICredentials creds, String url) in c:\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.50727\\Temporary ASP.NET Files\\mldb.website\\3254fa88\\e4e20f8b\\App_Web_-q50ig-3.0.cs:line 104\r\n at Microsoft.Web.Preview.Services.BridgeHandler.ProcessRequest()\r\n at Microsoft.Web.Preview.Services.BridgeHandler.ExecuteBridgePipeline()\r\n at Microsoft.Web.Preview.Services.BridgeHandler.Invoke(BridgeRequest request)\r\n at MLDB.Website.WebServices.MLDBSearchBridge.LoadListingResults(IDictionary args) in c:\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.50727\\Temporary ASP.NET Files\\mldb.website\\3254fa88\\e4e20f8b\\App_Web_-q50ig-3.0.cs:line 70","System.NullReferenceException")Error_@."

Any suggestions?

I have a simpler question. I've downloaded and installed theASP.NET AJAX 1.0 beta 2 release, and now I'm trying to simply get themashup examples from the videos to work. Specifically the Amazonand Flickr example:http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/9/c/f9c970a0-0401-4863-9f03-981e513a2f1c/HDI-AtlasMashUp.wmv

Usingbridging for mashups is a central focus for me, so if someone has thisworking on the current release if they could post the code it would begreat. I've tried to hack my way through with the migration guideand so forth, but when I load the page and click the button it can'tfind "Samples", which is the namespace used by the two .asbxfiles. I have a feeling that it's a web.config problem or maybean IIS config problem, but I'm working in the dark ...

thanks,

Robert