Visual Studio to Include jQuery Library -- Visual Studio Magazine

Visual Studio to Include jQuery Library

Microsoft to integrate jQuery library into Visual Studio and ASP.NET.

By Kurt Mackie
10/15/2008

In its latest outreach to the open source development community, Microsoft plans to incorporate the jQuery JavaScript library into its Visual Studio and ASP.NET, the company said late last month.

The jQuery JavaScript library doesn't replace ASP.NET AJAX. Instead, it adds a quick way to perform "selection and animation operations," wrote Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of Microsoft's .NET Developer Division, in a blog posting. The two components can work together to make the developer's job a little easier.

"jQuery is a fantastic JavaScript library that focuses on DOM querying and manipulation, whereas the Microsoft AJAX Library focuses on building reusable components and interacting with ASP.NET Web services," wrote Bertrand Le Roy, a Redmond, Wash.-based software-design engineer, in a blog post.

Microsoft says it's embracing jQuery wholeheartedly. It plans to contribute code and bug fixes back to the open source project's development team, which will have control on whether or not to incorporate the changes. Users trying to get assistance using jQuery in Microsoft's products will be able find it at Microsoft product support. Additionally, the company will abide by jQuery's licensing terms.

"We'll distribute the jQuery JavaScript library as-is, and won't be forking or changing the source from the main jQuery branch," Guthrie stated. "The files will continue to use and ship under the existing jQuery MIT license." The MIT license is permissive and allows code modification and redistribution, similar to the open source General Public License.

Microsoft will enable the use of its IntelliSense code-annotation capabilities in Visual Studio for the jQuery JavaScript library. It will offer that capability as a free download this month, according to Guthrie. jQuery will be part of the ASP.NET Model-View-Controller distribution, and included in future new projects.

"Folks have said Microsoft would never include Open Source in the platform. I'm hoping this move is representative of a bright future," wrote Scott Hanselman, a Microsoft senior program manager, in a blog post. Hanselman provided a number of code samples that take advantage of the jQuery JavaScript library on his blog here.

About the Author

Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.

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