Is it possible to use asp.net ajax controls as pure client-side controls?

Question

So my question is: can any ASP.NET Ajax control from the Control Toolkit be used without their server controls and without ASP.NET Ajax ScriptManager.

For reference, I am asking in the context of an ASP.NET MVC application.

Obviously, some controls do not make sense in this model because they perform a postback to the server to do their job (e.g. Autocomplete, CascadingDropDown, etc.).

However, some controls will be of interest for use in nonASP.NET Web Forms applications. For example, I would really like to use the Calendar control in one of my projects *. But my curiosity is wider than just managing the calendar, so I would be wondering if there is a general way to use them in the "pure client" mode.

If possible, can you point me to any examples or resources on how to do this?

* Yes, I know that there are alternatives in JQuery UI, such as calendar management, but for consistency with other existing non-MVC projects, I would prefer to use the Microsoft calendar control.

Answer 1

I believe that they will reorganize the Ajax Control Toolkit to allow more client side (especially for use in ASP.NET MVC). The script is just the toolkit version here (only the script file is required).

Stephen Walter has some great blog posts about using it, especially where there is one to manage the calendar and one to automatically fill in the text box (there may be others if you are looking for them).