Atlas is Microsoft's codename for their new Ajax-enabling developer tool. Wrox author Wally McClure, who is an MVP and ASP.NET, ADO.NET, and MSFT programming expert, was a featured speaker at Atlanta Code Camp on May 13, 2006, and presented a 43-minute, on-screen demo of building an Atlas application, that is now available for viewing. The video is a little choppy, but gives a good introduction of what is possible with Atlas. It also shows, although doesn’t really talk about it, how important web services is going to be to help create the rich client interface. The examples are done with the April CTP although he hints that the June CTP is imminent. Which means Atlas is still beta code but looking now will help in designing applications that will be atlas-enabled later.
One of the interesting controls provided is the Mash-up control or the Atlas Bridge control. This control allows you to route a 3rd party web service through your web server to ensure that there are not security issues with JavaScript calling another domains server. This alone will allow a secure way of using these services without the client browser having to open up the security to implicitly trust a web site.
One of the interesting controls provided is the Mash-up control or the Atlas Bridge control. This control allows you to route a 3rd party web service through your web server to ensure that there are not security issues with JavaScript calling another domains server. This alone will allow a secure way of using these services without the client browser having to open up the security to implicitly trust a web site.