In this very short and straight-on post I'll just mention how you can configure your SharePoint installation to enable support for ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 since a lot of people have been asking me about it.

Before we make any changes in the web.config we need the following:

• A backup of the web.config file (important, because if something goes wrong you might need to revert to the old one)
• SharePoint (WSS 3.0 or MOSS 2007)
• ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX 1.0 Extensions
• Be in the mood for some copy/pasting the following 5 minutes

Copy/Paste time

Locate your default web.config file (usually here: "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\web.config").
Edit the web.config file according to this scenario:

1. Locate the <configSections> element and add the following code inside it:
   

     <sectionGroup name="system.web.extensions"
     type="System.Web.Configuration.SystemWebExtensionsSectionGroup,
     System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,
     PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35">

     <sectionGroup name="scripting"
     type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingSectionGroup,
     System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,
     PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35">

     <section name="scriptResourceHandler"
     type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingScriptResourceHandlerSection,
     System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,
     PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" requirePermission="false"
     allowDefinition="MachineToApplication"/>

     <sectionGroup name="webServices"
     type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingWebServicesSectionGroup,
     System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,
     PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35">

   <section name="jsonSerialization"
     type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingJsonSerializationSection,
     System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,
     PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" requirePermission="false"
     allowDefinition="Everywhere" />

     <section name="profileService"
     type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingProfileServiceSection,
     System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,
     PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" requirePermission="false"
     allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" />

     <section name="authenticationService"
     type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingAuthenticationServiceSection,
     System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,
     PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" requirePermission="false"
     allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" />

     </sectionGroup>
     </sectionGroup>
     </sectionGroup>
   

2. Within the <system.web> element, locate the <pages> element and insert the following snippet:

   <controls>
     <add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI"
     assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0,
     Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
   </controls>
   
   EDIT: Thanks to Hardik Bhilota for pointing out that I was missing a comma after the version number. Cheers
   
   

3. Within the <assemblies> element, insert the following snippet:

   <add assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0,
   Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
   
   

4. Within the <httpHandlers> element, insert the following snippet:

   <add verb="*" path="*.asmx" validate="false"
   type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory,
   System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,
   PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

   <add verb="*" path="*_AppService.axd" validate="false"
   type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory,
   System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,
   PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

   <add verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd"
   type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler,
   System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,
   PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" validate="false"/>
   
   

5. Within the <httpModules> element, add the following snippet:

   <add name="ScriptModule"
   type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions,
   Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,
   PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
   
   

6. And since we need to ensure that the assembly is trusted, locate the <SafeControls> element ad add the following snippet:

   <SafeControl Assembly="System.Web.Extensions,
   Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,
   PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" Namespace="System.Web.UI"
   TypeName="*" Safe="True" />
   
   

7. Within the <configuration> element, add the following snippet:

   <system.web.extensions>
     <scripting>
       <webServices>
       <!-- Uncomment this line to enable the authentication
       service. Include requireSSL="true" if appropriate. -->
       <!--
         <authenticationService enabled="true"
         requireSSL = "true|false"/>
       -->
       <!-- Uncomment these lines to enable the profile service.
       To allow profile properties to be retrieved and modified in
       ASP.NET AJAX applications, you need to add each property
       name to the readAccessProperties and writeAccessProperties
       attributes. -->
       <!--
         <profileService enabled="true"
         readAccessProperties="propertyname1,propertyname2"
         writeAccessProperties="propertyname1,propertyname2" />
       -->
       </webServices>
       <!--
       <scriptResourceHandler enableCompression="true"
       enableCaching="true" />
       -->
     </scripting>
   </system.web.extensions>
   <system.webServer>
     <validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false"/>
     <modules>
       <add name="ScriptModule" preCondition="integratedMode"
       type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule,
       System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0,
       Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
     </modules>
     <handlers>
       <remove name="WebServiceHandlerFactory-Integrated" />
       <add name="ScriptHandlerFactory" verb="*" path="*.asmx"
       preCondition="integratedMode"
       type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory,
       System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0,
       Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

       <add name="ScriptHandlerFactoryAppServices" verb="*"
       path="*_AppService.axd" preCondition="integratedMode"
       type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory,
       System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0,
       Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>

       <add name="ScriptResource" preCondition="integratedMode"
       verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd"
       type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler,
       System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0,
       Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
     </handlers>
   </system.webServer>

You're all set

Save your web.config file, restart IIS (iisreset.exe for convenience) and enjoy your ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX 1.0 support in SharePoint.
This isn't a big deal to accomplish, so that's all you get from this blogpost.

In the next blogpost I'll talk about how you can easily create a UserControl, hosted with the SmartPart, with support for AJAX.