ASP.NET Overview
As the programming world moves toward the Internet these days, it's becoming important for developers to be able to create Web application and Web services. Microsoft.NET Framework enables you to develop, maintain, and deploy reliable and high-performance Web applications and Web services.
I'll start this blog by giving you an overview of ASP.NET showing how to install ASP.NET, and then developing a simple Web application development using Visual Studio (VS) .net. After that I'll discussed Web Forms controls and how to use them. Specifically, the Web Forms DataGrid control is useful to develop Web-based database applications. You can bind datasets to the DataGrid control as you did for Windows Forms DataGrid control. I'll also discuss how to enable paging in a data grid control. I'll then show you how to develop a guest book for your Web site using ASP.NET.
Introduction ASP .NET
Writing database Web application using ADO.NET in VS.NET is similar to writing Windows applications. The Microsoft.NET class library provides a set of server-side controls, which you can treat as Windows controls. To create a Web application, all you have to do is create a simple project, drag server-side controls onto a Web form, set their properties, and write event handlers. In this blog, first I'll develop a simple Web application and show you how the ASP.NET model works with C# and other .NET languages. After that I'll concentrate on ASP.NET and show you how to write some real-world database Web applications using ADO.NET and C#.
ASP .NET Platform Requirements
The following operating systems support ASP.NET: Windows XP, Windows 2000 server, and Windows NT 4(running service pack 6a) with Internet Information services (IIS) 4 or later. Also you must have the .NET Software Development Kit (SDK) installed on the server.
ASP.NET Language Support
You can use any .NET-supported language to write ASP.NET applications, including C#, Visual Basic.NET and Jscript. Because this book is about C#, the other languages are beyond the scope of this book.
Installing ASP.NET
You can develop and run ASP.NET applications on Windows 2000 or windows XP operating systems. ASP.NET ships with VS.NET. if you don't have Visual Studio .NET, you can install it separately from VS.NET. The ASP.NET download is available on the on the Microsoft Web site (http://www.microsoft.com). If you want to develop ASP .NET mobile-enabled applications for pocket PC or cellular phones, you need to install the ASP.NET mobile Internet ToolKit, which you can also download from Microsoft's Web site. You can also find links to these downloads in the Downloads section of C#Corner (http://www.c-sharpcorner.com).
ASP .NET Editor
I'll be using VS.NET to develop the applications in this blog. However, you can develop ASP.NET applications using any text editor and command-line compiler. After compiling, you copy your file manually to IIS to develop the application. The advantage of using VS.NET is that it provides you with a visual Integrated Development Environment (IDE) to drag and drop controls onto a page and view the HTML code. Other features are Intelligence and syntax checking. In sum, you can also use VS.NET to compile, debug, and deploy your application.
Note: ASP.NET editors, including Visual studio.NET, provide what-you-see- is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) support for developing applications by enabling you to drop controls on the Web forms pages.
ASP .NET: An Evolution of ASP
ASP .NET previously called ASP+ is not just the next version of ASP. It's a new programming model based on Microsoft's.NET Framework for developing Web applications. Although ASP.NET syntaxes are taken from ASP.NET model takes full advantage of Microsoft's Common Language Runtime (CLR) and its services. Therefore, developers have the flexibility to choose any .NET-supported language to write ASP.NET applications.
The main advantages on the ASP .NET Model are the following:
ASP .NET is simple and flexible. Developing ASP .NET applications using VS .NET is similar to developing Windows application. VS .NET offers you a set of controls to use with ASP.NET. You just need to drag and drop the controls onto a Web form, write events corresponding to the controls, and compile and run the program. Other feature includes simple client authentication, security, deployment, and site configuration.
ASP .NET is language independent. You can choose any language that supports .NET, including C#, visual Basic, VBScript, and Jscript.
ASP .NET supports data binding. ASP .NET offers you a set of data- binding controls such as the DataGrid, DataList, and others. You can bind data with these controls in a similar fashion as you do in do any window Forms application.
ASP .NET has enhanced performance and scalability. ASP.NET code is not interpreted like traditional ASP pages. ASP.NET pages compile on the server in a .NET class. It takes advantage of early binding, just-in-time compilation, native optimization, and caching services. ASP.NET also works in clustered and multiprocessor environments.
ASP .NET is browser independent. If you've programmed in previous versions of ASP, you're probably had problems running ASP pages in other browsers other than Internet Explorer. ASP.NET is browser independent. It automatically checks what browser you're using and produces HTML at run –time accordingly.