ASP.Net Server Controls

In January of this year I wrote a post about creating a virtual earth web part (You can read about it here). I had done this by adding JavaScript to the page.

When I was talking to one of my colleges (blog) a week ago after a team meeting he told me that there is also an ASP.Net Server Control made available by Microsoft. I was curious and I went looking on the internet and found the site where you can download the control and some other great server controls (here).

The controls that Microsoft made available is a package called “Windows Live Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio”. This package contains the following controls:

• Contacts: Provides Windows Live Contacts functionality on a Web page.
• IDLoginStatus: Provides Windows Live ID authentication on a Web page.
• IDLoginView: Provides Windows Live ID authentication, including support for associating a Windows Live ID with an ASP.NET membership profile, on a Web page.
• Map: Provides Virtual Earth Map functionality on a Web page.
• MessengerChat: Provides Windows Live Messenger access on a Web page.
• SilverlightStreamingMediaPlayer: Provides Silverlight™ Streaming media content on a Web page.

So take a look at the tools site (http://dev.live.com/tools/) from Microsoft and use the controls in your web application when they come in handy.