NetAdvantage ASP.NET Controls – The Next Generation

It’s a time of change here at Infragistics.  We’re way past the half way point on our “Aikido” (Now officially just AJAX) framework, and with the 9.1 release many of the remaining classic Infragistics controls are being re-born as Web 2.0 loving replacements.  I’ve got some mixed emotions, since I’ve been here long enough to have worked on these classics, but it’s an exciting time to see what the dev team has produced.

I was just checking out the WebDataMenu for example, which replaces the WebMenu (part of UltraWebNavigator for those of you who have been with us from the start).  The WebDataMenu is databindable, and supports IEnumerable, XML, BindingList and ICollection.  Basically, if you’ve got data, the WebDataMenu can handle it.  DataBinding support is just the beginning though.  It’s also built with Web 2.0 ideals embedded in its core.  What do I mean?  Well, a quick look at the HTML source and you’ll see the WebDataMenu is composed of <ul></ul> elements.  Each Menu Item is a list item, meaning you can easily control the display of the WebDataMenu with CSS.

Add keyboard navigation (IE, FireFox AND Safari) and you’ve got a killer menu.  Take it one step further and allow Menu Items to be templated and you’ve got the menu to rule them all!  Seriously though, this menu is uber cool.  The release is right around the corner, so you should be able to download and try it out very soon.  Like before you do your income taxes soon..

Stay tuned for more about the 9.1 release.  You can also follow along on Twitter as I push out information over the next couple of weeks.