Ajax History - a how to - Part 4 - final notes

Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Basic Example
Part 3 - Complex Example
Part 4 - Final Notes
Bonus - Ajax History and the Memento Pattern

There is some clean up I need to do in regards to my posts for Ajax History.

Where can I see an example?

You can download the zipped files here -> AjaxExamples.zip or go to http://www.myfriedmind.com/AjaxExamples and poke around

What version of .net do I need?

I want to reiterate that you must be using .net 3.5 (or higher) for this to function. The methods and properties that are used are packaged into .net 3.5 (as is Ajax itself).

How long does my history last (ie going back/forward)?

Your history lasts only as long as you are on that particular page. You can go forward and backward over your Ajax history all you want, but once you got to a different page, either preceding or following, you lose your pathway. This does not mean that if you get one of the intermediate URIs either through bookmarks, links, manually typing, etc that it will not return that particular page. It will. But the tracking of the entries in your browser history will be lost.

This also means that if the user modifies the URI manuallyto change what is in the has, it will lose that history since it considers you having gone to a new page.

What if I need to keep a perfect snapshot of the page itself?

If that is the case then you are going to need to look at a different way to store/retrieve the data. You will probably need to store each page, as it appears, into the database and then recall it from there. Do NOT store it in the History Points Remember, what is stored in the History Points must be tiny!

Why does Opera NOT WORK???

http://www.myfriedmind.com/techBlog/2009/09/21/Opera9x10xFailingOnAjaxHistoryAndTheHackToFixIt.aspx (thanks to Tomi for discovering this issue)