Using Modal Dialog Boxes in ASP.NET Applications

If you know that your end users are running Windows, it can be very useful to give your web applications a familiar Win32 app behavior. Using modal dialog boxes can in some cases provide your users with an intuitive interface and make site navigation easier. In this article, author Carlos Walzer demonstrates two techniques using Internet Explorer 5.0 and ASP.NET to implement this. The first technique uses the XMLHTTPRequest object included in the Microsoft XML 3.0 parser component, which provides client-side protocol support for communication with HTTP servers. The second technique enables Smart Navigation for your modal web forms. Walzer explores the details of both techniques and compares the advantages and disadvantages of each.