Load ASP.Net User Controls via jQuery AJAX

Question

I have mini modules(think iGoogle) that are currently loaded via the page calling LoadUserControl method and loading that control into PlaceHolders. I need to switch that implementation to loading the controls through a jQuery AJAX request. The problem currently lies in the fact that when I perform an AJAX Get, I can load the modules by appending them to the content but none of the functionality that would otherwise be working on a normal loaded control is there. For example, when I select a different option on the a DDL the page refreshes and nothing changes. I suspect because it is because the methods aren't being tied in when I perform a load through AJAX. Additionally when I use this method my flash content is not being loaded.

Am I doing something wrong here, or is there a better solution ?

 $.ajax({
   url: '/modules/UserModules.aspx?CID=12345',
    type: "GET",
    dataType: "html",
    success: function(data) {
        $('#column1').append($(data).find('div#lm li'));
        $('#column2').append($(data).find('div#cm li'));
        $('#column3').append($(data).find('div#rm li'));
        alert('Load was performed.');
    }

});

Answer 1

When you post back to the server, the server doesn't know about your user control because it was added to the page dynamically. Actually, you render the UC HTML, then add part of the rendered HTML to your page.

I would recommend steering clear of posting back to the server and using jQuery to retrieve any data using a Page Method or web method when you make a selection using your DDL.

Answer 2

I'm not sure I see the utility in using a UC for this. There are a number of ways to do this sort of thing. Like Jamie said, you can have a plain .aspx page that uses web methods. An asmx page. You can also not use web methods and just do as you would with php or classic ASP by writing your string results directly and processing them (shouldn't be your first choice though!).

But the most important thing you can take from this is debugging. Put a break point in your UC code to track server side. Use Firebug: open it, choose console and watch to see if your GET requests are actually doing what they need to. These days, you rarely need an alert to debug.