Beginning ASP NET 1 1 with visual c NET 2003

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Beginning ASP.NET 1.1
with Visual C#® .NET 2003
Chris Ullman
John Kauffman
Chris Hart
Dave Sussman
Daniel Maharry

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

www.it-ebooks.info


www.it-ebooks.info


Beginning ASP.NET 1.1
with Visual C#® .NET 2003

www.it-ebooks.info


www.it-ebooks.info


Beginning ASP.NET 1.1
with Visual C#® .NET 2003
Chris Ullman

John Kauffman
Chris Hart
Dave Sussman
Daniel Maharry

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

www.it-ebooks.info


Beginning ASP.NET 1.1 with Visual C#® .NET 2003
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Boulevard
Indianapolis, IN 46256
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2004 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
Library of Congress Card Number: 2004100135
ISBN: 0-7645-5708-4
Manufactured in the United States of America
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About the Authors
Chris Ullman
Chris Ullman is a freelance Web developer and technical author who has spent many years stewing in
ASP/ASP.NET, like a teabag left too long in the pot. Coming from a Computer Science background, he

started initially as a UNIX/Linux guru, who gravitated towards MS technologies during the summer of
ASP (1997). He cut his teeth on Wrox Press ASP guides, and since then he has written over 20 books,
most notably as lead author for Wrox's bestselling Beginning ASP/ASP.NET series, and has contributed
chapters to books on PHP, ColdFusion, JavaScript, Web Services, C#, XML and other Internet-related
technologies too esoteric to mention, now swallowed up in the quicksands of the dot.com boom.
Quitting Wrox as a full-time employee in August 2001, he branched out into VB6 programming and ASP
development, maintaining a multitude of sites from , his "work" site, to
, a selection of his writings on music and art. He now divides his time
between being a human punchbag for his 29-month-old son Nye, composing electronic sounds on bits
of dilapidated old keyboards for his music project Open E, and tutoring his cats in the art of peaceful
co-existence, and not violently mugging each other on the stairs.
Chris Ullman contributed Chapters 1, 14, 15, 16, 17, and Appendix E to this book.

John Kauffman
John Kauffman was born in Philadelphia, the son of a chemist and a nurse. He received his degrees from
The Pennsylvania State University, the colleges of Science and Agriculture. His early research was for
Hershey foods in the genetics of the chocolate tree and the molecular biology of chocolate production.
Subsequently, he moved to the Rockefeller University, where he cloned and sequenced DNA regions that
control the day and night cycles of plants.
Since 1997, John has written ten books, six of which have been on the Amazon Computer Best Seller
List. His specialty is programming Web front-ends for enterprise-level databases.
In his spare time, John is an avid sailor and youth sailing coach. He represented the USA in the sailing
World Championship of 1985 and assisted the Olympic teams of Belgium and China in 1996. He also
enjoys jazz music and drumming and manages to read the New Yorker from cover-to-cover each week.
My portions of this book are dedicated to the instructors of two drum and bugle corps. These men
taught me about precision, accuracy, and discipline: Ken Green and John Flowers of the Belvederes 1976
and Dennis DeLucia and Bobby Hoffman of the Bayonne Bridgemen 1978.
John Kauffman contributed Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and Appendix B to this book.

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Chris Hart
Chris Hart is a full-time .NET Developer and part-time author who lives in Birmingham (UK) with her
husband James. While she's most at home in the world of the Web, she's recently been working with the
.NET Compact Framework. In her spare time, Chris spends much of her time playing with beta
technologies, and then attempting to write about them.
Chris has contributed many chapters to a variety of books, including Beginning ASP.NET (Wrox Press),
Beginning Dynamic Websites with ASP.NET Web Matrix (Wrox Press), and most recently, A Programmer's
Guide to SQL (Apress).
When she gets away from computers, Chris enjoys travel, especially when it involves driving along
narrow winding roads to get to out-of-the-way parts of Scotland. She dreams of building her own house
somewhere where she can keep a cat.
Chris Hart contributed Chapters 10, 11, 12, 13, and Appendices C and D to this book.

Dave Sussman
Dave Sussman is a writer, trainer, and consultant, living in the wilds of the Oxfordshire countryside.
He's been working with ASP.NET since before it was first released and still isn't bored with it. You can
contact him at
Dave Sussman contributed Chapters 7, 8, and 9 to this book.

Daniel Maharry
Dan Maharry is a freelance writer, reviewer, speaker, and editor who has, in no particular order, taught
English, Math, and Guitar, directed, crewed, acted in, and produced several plays and short films, been a
film and music columnist for four years, co-founded ASPToday.com, rewritten his own at HMobius.com
several times, opened an office in India, variously edited, reviewed, and written pieces of over 40
programming books, qualified as a sound engineer, and consumed enough caffeine in his lifetime to
keep most of China awake for a week. Occasionally, he sleeps. Sometimes. Contact him at

"With deep-felt love to Jane, and in memoriam to John Kauffman's father."

Dan Maharry contributed Chapters 5 and 6 to this book.

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Credits
Authors

Executive Editorial Director

Chris Ullman
John Kauffman
Chris Hart
Dave Sussman
Daniel Maharry

Mary Bednarek

Project Coordinator
Mary Richards

Project Manager
Senior Acquisitions Editor

Ami Frank Sullivan

Jim Minatel

Senior Production Manager
Vice President & Executive Group

Publisher

Fred Bernardi

Richard Swadley

Editorial Manager
Mary Beth Wakefield

Vice President and Executive Publisher
Bob Ipsen

Book Producer
Peer Technical Services Pvt. Ltd.

Vice President and Publisher
Joseph B. Wikert

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Contents
Introduction

xxi

Chapter 1: Getting Started with ASP.NET

What Is a Static Web Page?
How Are Static Web Pages Served?

1
2
3

Limitations of Static Web Pages
What Is a Web Server?

4
5

How Are Dynamic Web Pages Served?

6

Client-Side Dynamic Web Pages
Server-Side Dynamic Web Pages

6
7

What Is ASP.NET?

9

How Does ASP.NET Differ from ASP?
Using C# with ASP.NET
I'm Still Confused about ASP, ASP.NET, and C#

The Installation Process

9
10
11

11

Which Operating System Do You Have?
Prerequisites for Installing ASP.NET
Try It Out Installing MDAC 2.8

Installing ASP.NET and the .NET Framework
Try It Out Installing the .NET Framework Redistributable

Installing Web Matrix

11
12
13

13
14

15

Try It Out Installing Web Matrix

Configuring Web Matrix to Run with .NET Framework 1.1

Try It Out Configuring Web Matrix

Running Web Matrix and Setting Up the Web Server
Try It Out Starting the Web Server

ASP.NET Test Example

16

18
18

19
19

25

Try It Out Your First ASP.NET Web Page

ASP.NET Troubleshooting

25

28

Page Cannot Be Displayed: HTTP Error 403
Page Cannot Be Found: HTTP Error 404
Web Page Unavailable While Offline
I Just Get a Blank Page
The Page Displays the Message But Not the Time

I Get an Error Statement Citing a Server Error
I Have a Different Problem

Summary

29
30
31
31
31
32
33

33

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Contents
Chapter 2: Anatomy of an ASP.NET Page
What Is .NET?

35
35

From Your Code to Machine Code
Introducing Two Intermediate Languages
Objects
The .NET Base Classes
The Class Browser

37
37
38
39
40

How ASP.NET Works

41

Saving Your ASP.NET Files with an ASPX Suffix
Inserting ASP.NET Code into Our Web Pages
Try It Out Inserting Server-Side (ASP.NET) Code
Try It Out Interweaving ASP.NET Output with HTML

ASP.NET in Action

42
42
44
49

51

Binding to a Database

51

Try It Out Binding to a Database

51

Binding to a Simple XML File

54

Try It Out Binding to a Simple XML Document

Summary
Exercises

54

57
58

Chapter 3: Server Controls and Variables

59

Forms
Web Pages, HTML Forms, and Web Forms
Request and Response in Non-ASP.NET Pages

60
60
61

Where ASP.NET Fits in with the .NET Framework

The <form> Tag in ASP.NET

63
64

Using ASP.NET Server Controls

64

<asp:Label>

65

Try It Out Using the <asp:Label> Control

Modifying ASP.NET Controls
<asp:DropDownList>

67

68
69

Try It Out Using the <asp:DropDownList> Control

<asp:ListBox>

69

73

Try It Out Using the <asp:ListBox> Control

<asp:TextBox>

73

75

Try It Out Using the <asp:TextBox> Control

<asp:RadioButtonList> and <asp:RadioButton>
Try It Out Using the <asp:RadioButtonList> Control

<asp:CheckBox> and <asp:CheckBoxList>
Try It Out Using the <asp:CheckBox> Control

75

77
78

79
80

Storing Information in C# Variables

82

Declaring Value Type Variables

82

Try It Out Using Variables

83

Datatypes

86

Numeric
Text Datatypes
Other Datatypes
Naming Variables

86
88
89
90

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Contents
Variable Scope

91

Try It Out Creating Block and Function-Level Variables

Constants
Conversion Functions
Arrays

92

97
97
98

Try It Out Using Arrays

99

Data Collections

103

ArrayList

103

Try It Out Using an ArrayList

Hashtables

105

106

Try It Out Using Hashtables

SortedList

108

110

Summary
Exercises

111
112

Chapter 4: Control Structures and Procedural Programming
Operators

113
113

Assignment Operator
Arithmetic Operators

114
114

Try It Out Tax Calculator Using Arithmetic Operators

String Concatenation
Numeric Comparison Operators
Logical Operators
Try It Out Tax Calculator Using Logical Operators

Control Structures

115

118
119
120
122

125

Overview of Branching Structures
Overview of Looping Structures
Overview of Jumping Structures
Uses of Control Structures

125
126
126
127

Branching Structures

128

The if Structure

129

Try It Out Using the if Structure

The switch Structure

134

138

Try It Out Using the switch Structure

Looping Structures

141

144

The for Loop Structure

144

Try It Out Using the for Loop

The while Loop

146

148

Try It Out Using the while Loop

The do...while Structure

150

151

Try It Out Using do...while

The foreach...in Loop

152

155

Summary
Exercises

156
157

Chapter 5: Functions

159

Overview
Modularization

159
160

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Contents
Defining and Using Functions

161

Try It Out Defining and Using a Simple Function

Passing Parameters to Functions

161

164

Try It Out Functions with Parameters

Web Controls as Parameters

165

169

Try It Out Using Web Controls as Parameters

Return Values

170

173

Using Return Values in Your Code

173

Try It Out Handling Function Return Types

Value, Reference, and Out Parameters

175

181

Try It Out Using Value, Reference, and Out Parameters

Modularization Best Practices
Summary
Exercises

183

188
189
190

Chapter 6: Event-Driven Programming and Postback
What Is an Event?
What Is Event-Driven Programming?
HTML Events
ASP.NET's Trace Feature
ASP.NET Page Events
ASP.NET Web Control Events

191
192
192
193
195
197
199

Try It Out Creating Event Handlers with Web Matrix

Event-Driven Programming and Postback
Try It Out Reacting to Events in HTML and ASP.NET

The IsPostBack Test

201

202
203

205

Try It Out Calculator

206

Summary
Exercises

211
212

Chapter 7: Objects

215

Classes and Instances
Properties, Methods, and Events
Objects in .NET
Why Use Objects?
Defining Classes

216
216
216
217
218

Try It Out Creating a Class

218

Property Variables
Property Types

223
224

Try It Out Read-Only Properties

224

Initializing Objects

226

Try It Out Overloading a Constructor

Implementing Methods

226

227

Try It Out Adding Methods to a Class

Consolidating Overloaded Methods

227

230

Advanced Classes

231

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Contents
Shared or Static Properties and Methods
Inheritance
Try It Out Inheritance

231
232
233

Interfaces

237

Try It Out Creating an Interface

.NET Objects

238

243

Namespaces
The Class Browser

243
243

Summary
Exercises

245
245

Chapter 8: Reading from Databases
Understanding Databases

247
247

Tables
Normalization
SQL and Stored Procedures

248
249
251

The Web Matrix Data Explorer

251

Try It Out Connecting to a Database

Creating Data Pages

251

253

Displaying Data Using the Data Explorer
Try It Out Creating a Grid

Displaying Data Using the Web Matrix Template Pages
Try It Out Creating a Data Page

Displaying Data Using the Code Wizards
Try It Out Creating a Data Page

ADO.NET

253
253

256
257

262
262

269

The OleDbConnection Object
The OleDbCommand Object

271
271

Try It Out Using Parameters

The OleDataAdapter Object
The DataSet Object
The DataReader Object

273

278
278
278

Try It Out Using a DataReader

Summary
Exercises

279

281
281

Chapter 9: Advanced Data Handling
More Data Objects

283
283

The DataTable Object
The DataRow Object

284
285

Try It Out The DataTable and DataRow Objects

Updating Databases

286

288

ADO.NET versus ADO
Updating Data in a DataSet

289
289

Try It Out Adding, Editing, and Deleting Rows

Updating the Original Data Source
Try It Out Auto-Generated Commands

Updating the Database

289

297
298

301

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Contents
Try It Out Updating the Database

302

Updating Databases Using a Command

307

Try It Out Executing Commands Directly

Summary
Exercises

307

310
311

Chapter 10: ASP.NET Server Controls

313

The Wrox United Application
ASP.NET Web Controls
HTML Server Controls
HTML Server Controls versus Web Controls
Web Controls
Rich Object Model
Automatic Browser Detection
Properties

314
315
316
318
319
320
320
320

Events

322
Try It Out Creating an Event Handler

Page Lifecycle

322

324

Page_Load()
Event Handling
Page_Unload()

325
326
326

Understanding Web Controls: The Wrox United Application
Try It Out Wrox United Main Page – Default.aspx

Intrinsic Controls

327
328

331

Try It Out Wrox United – Teams.aspx

Data Rendering Controls

332

340

Try It Out Wrox United – Teams.aspx, Part 2

Rich Controls

343

352

Try It Out Wrox United – Default.aspx, Part 2, the Event Calendar
Try It Out Wrox United – Displaying Fixture Details

Web Matrix Controls

354
360

366

Try It Out Wrox United – Players.aspx and the Web Matrix MX DataGrid

Validation Controls

367

372

Try It Out Wrox United – Registering for Email Updates (Default.aspx)

Summary
Exercises

373

378
378

Chapter 11: Users and Applications

381

Remembering Information in a Web Application
Cookies

382
383

Try It Out Using Cookies

386

Sessions

393

Try It Out Using Session State

395

Applications

404

How Do Applications Work?

405

Try It Out Using Application State

405

Reacting to Application and Session Events
Global.asax

410
410

xiv
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Contents
Try it Out Global.asax – Global Settings

Caching

411

413
Try It Out Wrox United – Caching Objects

State Management Recommendations
When to Use Cookies
When to Use Sessions
When to Use Applications
When to Use Caching
Other State Management Techniques
Using Multiple State Management Techniques on a Page
Try it Out Wrox United – Adding Some Style!

Summary
Exercises

415

418
419
419
419
419
420
421
421

429
430

Chapter 12: Reusable Code for ASP.NET
Encapsulation
Components

431
431
432

Why Use Components?
Applying Component Theory to Applications

User Controls

434
434

435

Try It Out Our First User Control
Try It Out Wrox United – Header Control
Try It Out Wrox United – Navigation User Control

Code-Behind

437
440
446

451

Try It Out Our First Code-Behind File
Try It Out Using Code-Behind in Wrox United

Summary

Exercises

452
457

459
459

Chapter 13: .NET Assemblies and Custom Controls
Three-Tier Application Design
ASP.NET Application Design
.NET Assemblies

463
464
465
466

Try It Out Our First ASP.NET Component

What Is Compilation?

467

470

Try It Out Compiling Our First ASP.NET Component

Accessing a Component from within an ASP.NET Page
Try It Out Using a Compiled Component

XCopy Deployment
Accessing Assemblies in Other Locations
Writing Code in Other Languages
Try It Out Writing a Component in VB.NET

Data Access Components

470

474
474

476
477
477
478

482

Try It Out Encapsulating Data Access Code in a Component

Custom Server Controls

482

489

What Are Custom Controls?

490

Try It Out Our First ASP.NET Custom Control

Composite Custom Controls

491

499

xv
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Contents
Try It Out Wrox United – Custom Composite Control

Summary
Exercises

499

506
507

Chapter 14: Debugging and Error Handling
A Few Good Habits
Tips on Coding

509

510
510

Indent Your Code
Structure Your Code
Comment Your Code
Convert Variables to the Correct Data Types (Validation)
Try to Break Your Code

Sources of Errors

511
511
512
512
513

514

Syntax Errors

514

Try It Out Syntax Error
Try It Out Generate a Compiler Error

Logical (Runtime) Errors

515
516

518

Try It Out Generate a Runtime Error
Try It Out Catching Illegal Values
Try It Out Using RequiredFieldValidator

System Errors

519
521
524

525

Finding Errors

525

Try It Out Viewing the Call-Stack

526

Debug Mode

527

Try It Out Disable the Debug Mode

Tracing

527

529

Try It Out Enabling Trace at the Page Level
Try It Out Writing to the Trace Log

Handling Errors

529
532

535

Try It Out Using try...catch...finally
Try It Out Using Page_Error()

Error Notification and Logging

542
548

550

Try It Out Creating Error Pages

551

Writing to the Event Log

553

Try It Out Writing to the Windows Error Log

Mailing the Site Administrator

554

557

Summary
Exercises

559
559

Chapter 15: Configuration and Optimization
Configuration Overview

561
562

Browsing .config Files
The Configuration Files
The Structure of the Configuration Files

562
564
567

Performance Optimization

574

Caching

574

Try It Out Output Caching

576

The Cache Object

578

xvi
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Contents
Expiring Information in the Cache
Try It Out Creating a File Dependency
Try It Out Creating a Key Dependency

Tips and Tricks
Summary
Exercises

581
582
586

590
591
591

Chapter 16: Web Services

593

What Is a Web Service?

594

Try It Out Creating Our First Web Service

HTTP, XML, and Web Services

595

598

HTTP GET
HTTP POST

599
600

Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
Building an ASP.NET Web Service
Processing Directive
Namespaces
Public Class
Web Methods

601
603
603
603
604
604

Try It Out Creating a Web Service with Multiple Web Methods

Testing Your Web Service

605

607

Try It Out Conversions Test Page

Using Your Web Service

607

608

Try It Out Viewing the WSDL Contract
Try It Out ISBN Search Web Service

609
610

Consuming a Web Service

613

How Does a Proxy Work?
Creating a Proxy

613
615

Try It Out Accessing the ISBN Web Service from an ASP.NET Page

Creating a Web Service for the Wrox United Application
Try It Out Adding a Results Page
Try It Out Creating the Web Service

Web Service Discovery
Securing a Web Service

615

618
619
621

626
627

Username-Password Combination or Registration Keys
Try It Out Securing a Web Service with Username and Password

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
IP Address Restriction
Web Services Enhancements (WSE)

627
627

630
630
631

Other Web Services Considerations

631

Network Connectivity
Asynchronous Method Calls
Service Hijacking (or Piggybacking)
Provider Solvency
The Interdependency Scenario

631
631

632
633
633

Summary
Exercises

633
634

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Contents
Chapter 17: ASP.NET Security

635

What Is Security?
The ASP.NET Security Model
Authentication

636
636
637

Implementing Forms-Based Authentication
Try It Out Forms-Based Authentication

Forms-Based Authentication Using a Database
Try It Out Authenticating against a Database

Authorization

638
639

646
646

650

Try It Out Authorization for

Authentication in Wrox United

651

653

Try It Out Adding a Login Page to WroxUnited

Encryption Using SSL

653

664

Try It Out Enabling SSL

665

Summary
Exercises

666
666

Appendix A: Exercise Solutions

667

Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17

667
669
672
675
678
681
684
686
688
693
697
702
708
713
715
720

Appendix B: Web Matrix Quick Start

725

What Is Web Matrix?
Starting ASP.NET Web Matrix

725
727

The Screen
How to Enter Code

727
730

Try It Out Code Entry

731

Saving and Viewing Pages

731

Try It Out Formatting Modes, Views, and Serving Pages

Reusing Code

733

735

Try It Out Saving and Using Snippets

xviii
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735


Contents
Class Browser

735

Try It Out Class Browser Property Look-Up

What to Study Next
Summary

736

738
738

Appendix C: The Wrox United Database

741

The Database Design

741

Players
Status
Teams
PlayerTeams
Positions
Games
GameTypes
Locations
Opponents
Fans

742
742
743
743
744
744
745
745
746
746

Installing the Database

747

Installing the Access Database
Installing the MSDE Database

Appendix D: Web Application Development Using Visual Studio .NET
Creating a Web Application Project
Features of the Visual Studio .NET Environment
Visual Studio .NET Solutions and Projects
Files in a Web Application Project

Working with Web Pages
Compiling and Running Pages
Adding Code to the Code-Behind Class
Features of Code View
Adding Code to Methods

Styling Controls and Pages in Visual Studio .NET
Working in HTML View
Creating User Controls
Formatting Blocks of Code
Developing the User Control
Creating an XML File
Adding a User Control to a Page

Adding Custom Classes
Working with Databases Using the Server Explorer
Debugging in Visual Studio .NET
Using Breakpoints
Fixing Design-Time Errors

747
747

753
754
755
756
757

757
761
762
763
763

769
776
777
782
784
786
789

791
794
797
798
799

Suggested Exercises and Further Reading

801

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Contents
Appendix E: Installing and Configuring IIS
Try It Out Locating and Installing IIS on Your Web Server Machine

Working with IIS

803
803

806

The Microsoft Management Console (MMC)
Testing Your Installation
Identifying Your Web Server's Name
Managing Directories on Your Web Server
Try It Out Creating a Virtual Directory and Setting Up Permissions

Permissions

806
807
807
808
810

814

Browsing to a Page on Your Web Server

818

Index

825

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Introduction
ASP.NET is a radical update of Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP). ASP.NET is a powerful server based
technology designed to create dynamic and interactive HTML pages on demand for your Web site or
corporate intranet. Its design improves upon nearly every feature of classic ASP, from reducing the
amount of code you need to write to giving you more power and flexibility.
ASP.NET is a key element in Microsoft's .NET Framework, providing Web-based access to the
immensely powerful .NET development environment. It allows us to create Web applications in a new,
flexible way by placing commonly used code into reusable controls of various kinds that can fire events
initiated by the users of a site.
ASP.NET branches out into many other technologies, such as Web services, ADO.NET, custom controls,
and security. We will briefly touch upon its relationship with these fields throughout the book to provide
a solid, comprehensive understanding of how ASP.NET can benefit your work in a practical way.
ASP.NET 1.1 itself is a fairly light update to the complete wholesale changes that occurred in ASP.NET
1.0. This book by and large covers features that are available in both 1.0 and 1.1, but it covers the
pertinent new features of 1.1 in additional depth, which will be of interest to both the novice and
experienced users. So if you are already running ASP.NET 1.0, you will be expected to upgrade to 1.1.
By the end of this book you will be familiar with the anatomy of ASP.NET 1.1 and be able to create
powerful, secure, and robust Web sites that can collect and work with information in a multitude of
ways to the benefit of both you and your users.

Who Is This Book For?
The purpose of this book is to teach you from scratch how to use ASP.NET to write Web pages and Web
applications in which content can be programmatically tailored each time an individual client browser
calls them up. This not only saves you a lot of effort in presenting and updating your Web pages, but
also offers tremendous scope for adding sophisticated functionality to your site. As ASP.NET is not a
programming language in its own right, but rather a technology (as we shall explain in the book), we
will be teaching some basic programming principles in Chapters 2 to 7 in C#, our chosen language for
implementing ASP.NET.
This book is therefore ideal for somebody who knows some basic HTML but has never programmed

before, or somebody who is familiar with the basics of old style ASP, but hasn't investigated ASP.NET in
any detail. If you are an experienced programmer looking for a quick crash course on ASP.NET, or
somebody who's worked extensively with ASP, we suggest that you refer to Professional ASP.NET 1.1
Special Edition, Wiley ISBN: 0-7645-58900 instead, as you'll most likely find that the early chapters here
just reiterate things you already know. If are not familiar with HTML, then we suggest that you master
the basics of building Web pages before moving on to learning ASP.NET.

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Introduction

What Does This Book Cover?
This book teaches everything the novice user needs to know, from installing ASP.NET and the relevant
bits and pieces to creating pages and putting together the concepts to create a whole application using
ASP.NET 1.1.
Although ASP.NET 1.1 isn't a huge update on version 1.0, this book has been considerably overhauled
since edition 1.0. Plenty of the old chapters have been removed and many new ones introduced. We've
removed three chapters because we wanted to simplify the experience of learning ASP.NET. We've
created a brand new case study – an amateur sports league Web site – which is then used throughout
the latter chapters in the book to provide a more practical guide on how to implement ASP.NET
applications.
If you see the previous edition, you will find this one to be more cohesive, aimed towards the complete
novice and the developer with some ASP experience, and written with the benefit of hindsight from
experienced developers who have have been employed in creating ASP.NET applications. We trust that
you will find it a great improvement over the last, just as every new edition should be.
In the course of this book you will learn:
❑

What is ASP.NET

❑

How to install ASP.NET and get it up and running

❑

The structure of ASP.NET and how it sits on the .NET Framework

❑

How to use ASP.NET to produce dynamic, flexible, interactive Web pages

❑

Basic programming principles such as variables, controls structures, procedural programming,
and objects

❑

How to use ASP.NET to interface with different data sources, from databases to XML
documents

❑

What ready-made controls ASP.NET offers for common situations

❑

How to create your own controls

❑

How to debug your ASP.NET pages

❑

How to deal with unexpected events and inputs

❑

How to create your own Web application

❑

How to integrate your applications with Web services and how to create your own

❑

Some simple security features and how to create a login for an application

How This Book Is Structured
Here is a quick breakdown of what you will find in this book:
❑

Chapter 1 – Getting Started with ASP.NET: In the first chapter, we introduce ASP.NET and look
at some of the reasons that you'd want to use server-side code for creating Web pages as well as
the technologies that are available to do so. This done, we spend the bulk of the chapter

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