abombss

MVC Contrib is going to want to give people the option to use whatever library they want

This is good idea, but there is always something "by default". Everybody can write bunch of helpers, even separate projects for any client-side library.

But it would be nice to decrease such a need providing a good "default".

abombss

Every library, ext, prototype, jquery, can all do pretty much the same stuff just a little differently

Yes. But you also understand that they do it different ways. I don't believe it's possible to write GridHelper that would produce the grid with the same functionality for ExtJS, jQuery, Prototype.

abombss

Anything that isn't common you probably want to be writing custom JS for by hand anyway.

Probably yes. But Helpers could just make it easier, like FormHelper does.

abombss

My question is, what type of helpers are you thinking of that are so tied to a particular library.

All is because of losing WebForms controls. So I think about having UI helpers that would allow doing things like these:

• Grids. Filtering, grouping, sorting, paging etc. Very good in ExtJS.
• Inputs. Calendars, date picker, formated text, time picker, currency etc.
• User interaction. Modal windows, tooltips, feedback messages, progress bars etc.
• Validation.
• Consistent style.
• etc

Generally the idea is to "replace" existing suites as much as possible. ExtJS seems for me to be the closest one to large components suites, like Telerik's.

Maybe it is not about Helpers, but rather user controls... 

Regards,
Dmitriy.