Build an AJAX Contact Us form in ASP.NET

Intro | Part 1 | Part 2

When it comes to building a Contact Us page in ASP.NET, then a page with a form tag, some text boxes, and a submit button is the classic and straightforward way to go. If this isn’t what you want to hear, then you’ve come to the right place.

Sure, a simple form may be the easiest, and arguably a more secure way of collecting user feedback, but it just doesn’t have that AJAX sparkle...and what’s the fun in that?!! Over the next two blogs, I’m going to be building an AJAX Contact Us form in ASP.NET using two different methods:

1. Using Visual Studio’s built in ASP.NET AJAX controls to do dynamic partial-page updates.
2. Using client-side network callbacks through a web service.

Just a couple of disclaimers before we start: I’m going to keep this as simple as possible, so let’s just say that the UI design is basic, the database/email hookup will be incompete, and we won’t be dealing with any major security concerns. So you’ll obviously want to bolster things before you drop this into a production environment. The point of this is not to provide an enterprise-class solution, but to give you a step-off point to building a great system.

Having said that, let’s get going with Partial Page Updates.
James Fielding