Feb 15, 2006 / TargetProcess 2.0 In Progress: NHibermate, MagicAjax and Design Concept

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We are working hard on TargetProcess 2.0. Prototype is ready and it proves that NHibernate is really good O/R mapping framework. And with our custom code generation it is completely rocks ;)

We tried to use MagicAjax early in prototype (rel. 0.2.2), but there were several major problems with javascripts, so we turned it off. However, latest release is much more better. We tried to implement drag and drop feature and it works fine. So it seems MagicAjax will be our choice till Atlas. Ajax.NET is good as well, but you should create too much custom javascript functions and literally build all HTML with javascript. For example, take drag and drop iteration planning feature. Page should have three areas: list of user stories and two iterations panels. You may drag user story from the list and drop it on the iteration, thus assigning the story on the iteration. With Ajax.NET you should build user stories list using javascript as well as iterations panels. With MagicAjax you can use usual GridViews and have almost no javascript for UI manipulation.

MagicAjax has one minor problem, you can't just invoke C# method from javascript. All you can is make a postback. Workaround exists - you can handle the postback in OnLoad, for example, but this is not beautiful solution. Anyway, we think MagicAjax is a faster way for development of complex AJAX controls.

Also you may check design concept of TP 2.0. We think it is much more usable than current version. Especially fancy tables. Don't worry if you can't find iteration status bar and some other things. This dashboard is default for developer and it will be possible to customize all elements with help of Web Parts. So your feedback is greatly appreciated!

posted by Michael Dubakov @ 7:04 AM