Hello all,

This is for all the novices out there new to the world of ASP.NET.

ASP.net by Microsoft is also known as ASP+ is not reallly a upgraded version of ASP. It is a entirely new technology in terms of server side scripting.

ASP.NET delivers amazing performance when used with the .NET framework allowing you to get a drag and drop coding interface resulting in much less coding

What is Server Side Scripting?

Normally, In case of a web page coded in HTML, the request for the page is sent to the server and the HTML file is sent back to the user.

server side scripting allows you to execute some code, some event before the page is sent back to the user so, here when the user requests a ASP page, the request is sent back to the server from the browser, the ASP engine reads the file line by line executing the script written in the file and afte erading all the lines and executing the code the ASP file is returned to the user in the form of a HTML page.

What is .Net Framework?

the .NET Framework is a IDE for building, deploying, and running Web Services and Applications, with support for over 20 different programming laguages.

Are there any differences between ASP.NET Vs ASP

Here are a few major differences between the two scriptin languages:

The extension for a ASp.net file is '.aspx'.

ASP.net offers full compatibility with languages like Visual Basic, C#, C++ where as ASP does not.

ASP.Net contains a huge set of HTML controls all of which can be defined as ASP.NET control objects which in turn can be controlled by scripts.

There is better event handling, all the objects on a page can be processed by the code written in ASp.net.

Supports custom forms based user authentification & according to the priviliges of the user he has access to information displayed.

At the first requet of a ASP.net page the code is compiled and a copy of it created & cached in the memory, thus allowing for increased performance.

Can I install ASP.net?

You will need a windows compatible PC & a windows O/S, windows 2000 or XP are good options.
You will also need the internet information server installed, this comes bundled with the 2000 & XP & some other versions of the microsoft O/S, you can install it by going to the add/remove programs in your control panel.

A internet connection to downlaod & install the .Net framework from the microsoft website, this is different from the .Net SDK which is bigger, around 130MBs.

Some Information from http://www.w3schools.com

Hello all,

Here is some more information about ASP.Net

Some features of ASP.NET

Crash protection: ASP.NET has been designed to handle your memory leaks efficiently, whenever a memory leak is detected ASP.net creates another copy of itself, all new requests are directed to this new copy, the older copy is deleted along with the memory leak it created when it finishes executing the pending processes.

Memory Leaks - In order for a program to run it needs memory(RAM), after a application is terminated it should normally free up the computer memory it has been using. However it sometimes does not happen which could be due to a result of a bug/design problem in the application.

Lets say that out of 4 applications 3 fail to release all or a significant part of the memory that they were using. This memory is now tied up, now if a new application is started it could be possible that the computer does not have enough memory to provide it to run properly, resulting in a huge system slowdown or sometimes crashes.

Caching: ASP.Net allows you to build web applications that are fast, it does that by caching of compiled code, i.e.
certain pages can be cached into the memory, so that they dont take a longer time to retrieve, now the trick here is that
this code is compiled, this is it is already converted into a machine readable format.

Caching/Cache MemoryIn a computer almost all of your applications and data are stored on your hard disk, whenever you access something the CPU first searches for it in the cache memory, if the data is there it is returned back the user, otherwise the CPU searches for it in the Hard disk, once the data is found it is first transported to the RAM of your system, and then from to the cache memory and then it is returned to the user.

The memory of the cache depends on the PC configuration, as more and more data is stored in the cache the previous data has to be deleted, caching makes data access faster as if the data is already stored in the cache then it cuts out the step of searching in the memory.

Hello all,

Here are a few more things about ASP.NET that every novice should know.

In traditional ASP the executable code was written along with the HTML code i.e. some lines of HTML and then some lines of ASP and then some more lines of HTML & so on, for a beginner this make the code very difficult to understand also it is a tiring task to read or even modify such codes.

ASP.NET adderssed this issue as well with the help of three kinds of server controls.

A. HTML Server Controls.
B. Validation Server Controls.
C. Web Server Controls.

ASP.NET was designed with the issue of scalability in mind. ASP.NET is capable of being scaled over several servers at a time with very little loss of communication.

[B] Scalability[B] - In a broad sense of the term scalability in computing means being able to function properly or even better when there is a change in the environment in terms of volume or size.

ASP.net is not cross platform compatible though i.e. you cant play mix and match with it, as its been made by microsoft it can only run on microsoft IIS servers.

ASP.NET is not totally compatible with ASP i.e. it is not fully backwards compatible.

Some information from http://www.w3schools.com

Hello all,

Here are a few more things about ASP.NET

HTML server controls - Normally, all HTMl elements in ASP.NET files are treated as text. HTML server controls are basically HTML tags that are processed by the web server and not the browser i.e. these are HTML tags understood by the web server.

To make a HTML server control we use the runat = "server" attribute in the <form> tag, HTML server controls can only be placed within a <form> tag. We can use the 'id' attribute in order to give the HTML server control a custom defined name.

Some very common HTML server controls are HtmlImage, HtmlButton, HtmlAnchor etc. etc.

Hello all,

Here is some information on Web Server Controls in ASP.NET

Web Server Controls - Just like HTML server controls, web server controls are also created on the server once again requiring the 'runat' attribute in the <form> tag. However these controls are different from the HTML server controls as these are controls that are special ASP.NET tags that are recognised by the server.

im a ("just surpassed the begainner phase") asp programmer., still learning.. and trying to get into asp.net..
its a different world with some great advantages, but still have not taken the plunge, as many stuff are much easier done with asp, as know it for 2 yrs...

Wish there was a book about asp.net for asp programmers..

im a ("just surpassed the begainner phase") asp programmer., still learning.. and trying to get into asp.net..
its a different world with some great advantages, but still have not taken the plunge, as many stuff are much easier done with asp, as know it for 2 yrs...

Wish there was a book about asp.net for asp programmers..

Hmm,

I think i know what you mean :)

Hello Everyone,

Here is some more 411 on ASP.NET

The Third and last control in ASP.NET is the

Validation Server control: As the name suggests, these are controls that perform some kind of validation on data entered by the user.

What is Validation: It is a way of checking that the data entered by the user is correct and relevant before a action is performed otherwise a error message is generated to the user. There can be many different kinds of validations.

For Example you might want to validate the age of a person, i.e. in a member registration form you might want the user to be of a specific age before S/he is allowed to register, you can do that by validating the age of the person and informing them if they are below the age.

Validations can also be used to make sure that a particular data is filled by the user for example the password field in some registration forms.

Another kind of validation that you can make is that a field should hold only a certain type of data, like the 'Name' Field in a form should only accept characters and if there are any other characters present then the user should be informed of the error.

ASP.NET comes bundled with a good amount of validation controls, like most languages it allows you to make your own validation criteria as well :)

Again these controls must be coded in the <form> tag with the runat "server" attribute and a id.

for more information you can visit:
www.411asp.net
www.w3schools.com
www.codewanker.com

Hiya,

Thought I should mention the validation server controls in ASP.NET coz they are pretty important.

ASP.NET has got some 6 validation controls

CompareValidator - Is used to compare two different values, returns a Boolean expression.

RequiredFieldValidator - Is used to make sure that there is a value entered in a particular input control i.e. there has been a change of value in the input field, by default the value of such a field is set to "" and if there is no change in this value, it returns a error.

RegularExpressionValidator - You can use this to make sure that the data entered in a particular field is in a pattern defined by you, for example, there might be a field where you want the user to enter the phone number along with country and area code, you can check that the user enters the data in that pattern other wise show an error to the user.

ValidationSummary - This control returns a list of error messages generated by the various validation controls used on a web page.

RangeValidator - Used to check that the data entered by the user is in between a certain range, i.e. the data entered by the user must be between a certain upper & lower limit. You can use it for numbers, character & dates.
For ex: You might want the user to enter a month and so that implies that it should be between 1-12, anything else should normally generate an error. You specify the ranges by using the 'MaximumValue' & 'MinimumValue' property.

CustomValidator - Sometimes you want to perform a validation that is not provided in ASP.NET validation controls, so ASP.NET allows you to code a user defined validation and call it in the CustomValidator. Take the case of a registration form where you want the user to have at least 8 characters, so you write the code to check that and then use it through CustomValidator.

some information from www.w3schools.com & www.asp411.net

Hello all,

Back with some more information on ASP.NET, lets talk in detail about web server controls :P

AdRotator - This control is erally useful if you want to display advertisements on your site, by using this control, you can just giev the paths of the ad images you want to show along with their URL's & then every time the page is loaded it cycles through these ads and picks one.

You can also set the priority of which ad should be shown more often by using the <impressions> tag.

Button - Used to create a clickable button, you can use this to perform a action when clicked by the user, by default it submits the information on the page backto the web server, but it can also be programmed to perfrom some other action.

Calender - Displays a calender in a very pretty graphical format, you can also move back and forth between in this calender, add notes & events for a particular day.

CheckBox - Used for displaying a Checkbox :). You can set its property to be checked by default.

Data Grid - The data grid control can display data in the form of a table, also it provides functioanlity to modify the data.

Data List - Similar to Data Grid in the sense that it also displays data, but here you can specify how it will be displayed through the use of templates & styles.

Drop Down List - This allows you to create a drop-down list, from which the user can chose a particular option. Once a option has been selected it can also be automatically sent back to the server without the user having to click on any 'submit' or 'go' button.

HyperLink - Allows you to create a link.

Image - Allows you to display a image on the page.

Any comments/suggestions/corrections are welcome :)

Some info from: www.asp411.com

This is all cool, i'm just wondering what some of the advantages would be to switching from asp to asp.net. I'm considering it, but i'm gonna need a lot of training.

This is all cool, i'm just wondering what some of the advantages would be to switching from asp to asp.net. I'm considering it, but i'm gonna need a lot of training.

HI,

Well, for starters it is much faster then ASP, code exectuion i.e.
Better support and integration.
Yuo can find out a lot more at 411asp.net & microsoft MSDN :)

Hey all,

Just continuing where I left off from about web server controls. J

Image Button - Very similar to the button control, however in place of a clickable button, there is a image. When the image is clicked with the mouse it executes a certain function which is defined in the 'onClick' property of the image control.

Link Button - Use this to create buttons that open a new link, it has the functionality of the button control but the looks of a hyperlink control.

Label - This control is used to specify some text that will be displayed on the web page, it is normally used for displaying dynamic text on the web page, i.e. show some text after a certain event has taken place.

List Box - Creates a list box that shows the user many choices or options, you can change the property of this box to make it a single or multiple selection box.

Any comments/suggestions/corrections are welcome :)

You can find more details about web sever controls at www.411asp.net & www.w3schools.com

I am just getting into .net, both asp and vb. My initial thoughts are that it is so different to VB6 and .asp that experience with those is almost a handicap.

I've managed to get a few things working in both. I'm usinng Brinkster to host the .aspx pages as I have XP Home Edition on my PC. (Nice of Microsoft to cripple that operating system so that it won'r run IIS.)

Frankly I'm disappointed in .net both for ease of use and speed. I've seen no performance gains so far and as for RAD development .net just isn't in it at all.

I think MS may just have given a boost to open source software (.php is relatively friendly and stable), but not Delphi whoe pricing structure has become a bit hostile lately. I wouldn't recommend any VB6 programmer migrating to .net - it just isn't worth the hassle!

I am just getting into .net, both asp and vb. My initial thoughts are that it is so different to VB6 and .asp that experience with those is almost a handicap.

I've managed to get a few things working in both. I'm usinng Brinkster to host the .aspx pages as I have XP Home Edition on my PC. (Nice of Microsoft to cripple that operating system so that it won'r run IIS.)

Frankly I'm disappointed in .net both for ease of use and speed. I've seen no performance gains so far and as for RAD development .net just isn't in it at all.

I think MS may just have given a boost to open source software (.php is relatively friendly and stable), but not Delphi whoe pricing structure has become a bit hostile lately. I wouldn't recommend any VB6 programmer migrating to .net - it just isn't worth the hassle!
You're right that ASPX shows a lot of influences from the "outside" besides "the same, tired old Visual Basic." It definitely shows the influence of C#, which of course was designed by the same team that did Delphi. (Ain't it amazing who a few million bucks will buy you.) And I say, "it's about time."

Too bad, it only works on Microsoft IIS, and too bad, it only works well with the latest, IE-only, browser. Those are severe limitations for Internet deployment although they might be great in a company Intranet. That being just my opinion and not one whit more...

But I think that it's definitely erroneous to say "I wouldn't recommend any VB6 programmer ..." There is no such animal. Just as "no one tool fits all," no one programmer can ever afford to embrace only older technology (or for that matter, only newer) at the exclusion of others. The reality is that ASPX will now be added to what's out there and become yet another thing you need to know at-least something about, in addition to ASP, Unix, PHP, Perl, and deity-knows what else...

It's always been that way in this business ... since the 1950's ... and it always, always will be. Furthermore, you can't limit yourself to just one technology-provider's technology. Even if that provider is currently the top dog. You can't "just be a Unix guy." Or, "I only do Win32." "I know how to use Visual C++ but what's Borland C++Builder." Not good. Bad dog. Applications will always outlive their vendors. You just have to be prepared for that and accept it. There's a strong and vibrant demand for COBOL, RPG-II, and more. Generalists always make more money.

"I wouldn't recommend any VB6 programmer ..." There is no such animal.

Fair point. I should have made my meaning a lot clearer. I know people who have written systems in VB6 and are resisiting rewriting the lot in .net which their customers see as a new "cool" technology etc.

As I'm writing one of my web sites in .net using c# as the programming language I feel I'm being pushed along on the tide.

I would still argue that it doesn't have any significant advantages in many areas over VB6 and programmers familiar with that language should think very carefully about undertaking any large projects in .net just because it's a newer language.

I am rewriting am axisitng system using .net's vb7 and it's an absolute pain. I really do not like the way Microsoft has tried to make it a Delphi clone. If wanted to write code in Delphi I'd buy the b***y thing, but vb5 and vb6 were both superior to their Delphi counterparts.

Microsoft has spent millions buying in experts to being their product down a level. A bit like Man United buying the Southamptom football squad in order to guarantee failure if you ask me.

Hi all,

Here Some more Web Serve Controls.

Literal - Just like the Label control, lets you display text on web pages, only does not allow you to apply styles.

Panel - This is a container control, you can group other controls within this control and then use them together.

Place Holder - There may be some controls that you want to appear dynamically i.e. after a certain event takes place, and you want them to appear at a particular place on your page, it is at that time that place holder control is really useful, you can reserve a place for such kind of controls on your page and then when that event occurs the control will appear on the position where the place holder control has been placed.

Radio Button - Displays a Radio Button on the page, you can use radio buttons to help the user make a choice from a list of choices.

Radio Button List - The radio button list is much ore useful if you have got a lot of choices and you want the user to make only one choice, it binds radio buttons together and allows the user to make only one choice.

Any Suggestions/Comments/Corrections welcome :)

Some information from www.411asp.net & www.aspalliance.com

any VB6 programmer ..." There is no such animal

I'm sorry to say you're wrong there. In the contractual world, or even in lprivate industry there probably shouldn't be, but I work in the government world, and yes there are "just VB" programmers, and even "just MS Access developers".

I've found vb6 programmers who seriously believe that they cannot write code for Access because that's not their area, and vice versa. I even showed a colleague how to write a database using vb6 as the front end instead of Access. He was not only surprised that I could do it, but even after seeing the code reckoned he wouldn't be able to do it - not his skill. As for my manager, she absolutely refused to let us develop .asp applications, despite the intranet being the ideal tool to put up a database to be used over multiple sites!

When I say that I'm sorry to say you're wrong I mean it. I might not have left my last job if I could have been allowed to develop in other languages than vba!!

As for me, as much as I hate .net I am currently working on a windows based application using vb and a net application using c#. In that respect I totally agree with you .

some very fair points ryker :), but its a somewhat necessary evil :D

Hi all,

This is a wrap up of the rest of the web server controls.

Repeater - It displays the items from a source defined by you in a certain template way, It does not have a predefined way/template for displaying data by itself, you have to define one yourself before using it.

Table - Use this to create a table, used along with the next two controls to make a proper table. You can insert HTML elements like 'text' and/ or controls into a table.

Table Cell - Creates in a cell in a table created with the Table Control.

Table Row - Inserts a row in a table that has been created with the use of Table Control.

Text Box - Inserts a text box, you can define it to be multi-line text box or single line by changing its 'TextMode' property.

Xml - Reads from an XML file and then puts the output from the resultant code onto the web page at the specified position.

Any suggestions/corrections/additions welcome :)

Some information from http://www.411asp.net

Hi all,

Just wanted to tell something to all the newbies about the various HTML server controls

Normally, all HTML elements in a ASP.NET file are treated as normal text, however, in order to process a HTML element at the server, you need to add a runat = "server" property in the form and the Html tags.

Once you do that you can programmatically control a Html element, in fact all the HTML controls allow you to control some or the other Html tag at the server.

Here is a list of the various HTML server controls along with the Html tag that they control.

HtmlAnchor - Used for controlling the <a> tag, which is associated with hyper linking.

HtmlButton - Controls the <button> tag.

HtmlForm - Controls forms.

HtmlGeneric - All those Html controls for which there is no specific Html server control are handled by this control, for ex: <body>, <div>, <span>, etc.

HtmlImage - Controls the image tags.

HtmlInputButton - Controls the submit, reset & button HTML elements.

HtmlInputCheckBox - Controls the checkbox element.

HtmlInputFile - Controls the file element.

HtmlInputHidden - Controls the hidden element.

Any suggestion/Corrections/Additions welcome :)

Some info from www.411asp.net & www.aspalliance.com

Hi all,

Some more HTML Server Controls.

HtmlInputImage - Use this when the browser does not support DHTML and/or the HtmlButton, this control is used for the <input type="image"> HTML element allowing you to Create a graphical button, i.e. you can create a button using a image, instead of a regular button.

HtmlInputRadioButton - Controls the <input type="radio">, use this to create & control radio buttons on a web page, you can group multiple radio buttons together using the 'name' property, just provide the same value, once radio buttons are grouped together, you can only select one button from that group, i.e. you are allowed to make only one choice.

HtmlInputText - Controls <input type="text"> and <input type="password"> HTML elements, text boxes are created on the page with the use of this control. When the input type is set to 'password' the values entered in the text field are masked i.e. instead of numbers and word '*' are displayed. These controls are normally used to accept inputs from the user.

HtmlSelect - Controls a <select> HTML element i.e. a drop down list box, you can also specify this drop down box to be either just a list box using the 'size property' or a multiple selection list box by using the 'multiple' property, in which case it ceases to be a drop-down box and just becomes a list box.

Any suggestions/corrections/comment welcome :)

Some information from www.411asp.net

Ashish - you seem to be really enjoyimg your .net coding. Thanks for sharing that with us - it's good to see someone doing well!

How about posting a bit of code that you've tried and giving your insights into how it works?

Happy coding ...

:)

well i have been working on this shopping cart thingy.. its very basic... a project for my uni... as soon as i get throguh with it.. i am gonna put it up.

Hey everyone,

Just finishing off the rest of the HTML server controls.

HtmlTable - Controls the <table> HTML element, allows you to customise a HTML table on a page by giving access to various table properties like background colour, border colour, visibility, inner html etc. etc. this control is normally used in conjunction with the table row and table cell control.

HtmlTableRow - Controls the <tr> HTML element, after creating the table, you need to put rows into it and then you place the data in a cell of that row, the HtmlTableRow is used after the HtmlTable control and allows you to manipulate the rows in a table by giving access to various properties like the background colour of the table row, its height etc.

HtmlTableCell - Controls the <td>and <th> HTML tags. This is the last of the table controls in HTML controls, this control is normally used after the HtmlTableRow control has been used i.e. this one manipulates the actual data inside a cell, this too gives access to cell properties like background colour, alignment etc.

HtmlTextArea - Controls a <textarea> HTML tag. Manipulates the multi line textbox crated using the <textarea> tag. you can adjust the height and width of the textarea etc.

Any suggestions/corrections/comment welcome :)

Some information from www.411asp.net & www.w3schools.com

I would have much rather preferred that Ashish had put his thoughts onto a web-page and pointed us all to it. Or that he would do it now. The material is interesting but if published to the Web it would be indexed and found by a lot more people over time.

--

Reading the other posts, it really points out the disconnect between how governments think vs. what competitive businesses think. Specifically this 'not my area' stuff. (If you enjoy working at the Post Office, then the Post Office is waiting for YOU! :D ) (Hmm, didn't Men In Black II have something to say about those kind of people? ;) )

Also, it may well be that there are clients out there who are wealthy enough or disinterested enough to have you re-write a working ASP or VB6 application in .NET "because it's sexy." If you have a client like that, by all means hang on to it because they are few and hard to come by. Hoping to base the next 30 years of your career on that is, well, like working for the Post Office. Even now, someone on the eleventh floor may think she has discovered a way to save $2 million off the next year's budget. "Times are tough, you know..."

Far more common are the old-timers who figure that, having paid $50,000 for a system once, they would like to keep that system in-service for more than just one or two years. There are those who remember when IBM took all of its old technologies and bundled it up into a "silver bullet for the year 2000" (or somesuch) called "CUA." And, whatcha gonna do if some yokel in Manhattan completes a leveraged-buyout and the new parent company has standardized .. on Unix?

The trick is to be adaptable. Take a run-of-the-mill x86 box, rip everything Windows off it, yank the license-sticker off of whereever-they-stuck-it, load Linux onto it, and ... is it a computer that you know how to use anymore? It should be. I'll tell you, after all the MS-only lemmings have jumped into the water after such a change, if you're the one who's left you can usually ask for a big raise and get it.

.NET is a fine architecture; but don't limit your knowledge to it. In three years MS will have changed shirts again. The principles of the problem will be the same, but MS will be decrying "that old solution" in favor of something, yet again, "New! Improved!" :rolleyes: Have you learned, taught yourself, about the technologies comparable to .NET (in purpose, that is, not implementation) on Unix/Linux? If the business requirement (not negotiable...) is to retrofit an existing system to scale well onto multiple servers, without rewriting anything or introducing .NET itself, could you fill the contract? Could you adapt and generalize your knowledge, gleaned from .NET, to do such a thing .. or are you merely content to buy another vendor certificate? Yes, I mean my words to sting a little, but I'm not being snide. It beats swimming in cold water.

Have you ever heard of CICS? MPE? JCL? You may never use them but do you know what they're used for and by whom? You should strive to get the biggest picture of what's going on in the industry around you that you can. The Internet makes that very easy.

"Always be awake."

well.. i agree with you on tht... in a few years..a newer technology is going to come out and then again there will be a huge fanfare about it.. but i guess that is how it is... you have to move on as time goes on and adapt to the change in technologies....

just a small example.. a few years ago i learned HTML... now almost everyone knows about it and there have been so many additions and improvements to it and i sometimes feel very outdated.

regarding your point that i should put it on a page... i started this thread just like tht.. without giving it much thought... and didnt plan to make it this big or post a lot of info in it... but then i decided that i should go ahead a talk a bit more about it....

Hi all,

Just wanted to talk a bit about ASP.Net Event Handlers:

An event handler is basically a action that takes place after a event is triggered i.e. a piece of code of executed following some action triggered by the user.

For example: After clicking on the Submit button on a web page, all the information in the various fields on that page are submitted back to the server. So, the event here is the clicking of the Submit button and the action to that is submission of the information back to the user.

Another example could be, that a piece of code is executed every time a page is loaded.

As piece of code here could be to display the current time and date every time a page is loaded, you can easily do this by using the Page_Load event handler of ASP.NET and then writing the relevant code in it :)

Any comments/suggestions/corrections welcome :)

Some information from www.411asp.net

Hello Everyone,

For sometime now, I have been posting various things in this thread about ASP.NET.

However now I feel the time is ripe to stop talking about it, as already much has been said.

For those who are interested in learning more about ASP.NET, here is a list of sites in no particular order that I have found extremely useful myself.

www.w3schools.com
www.aspalliance.com
www.411asp.net
www.codewanker.com
www.msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net
www.4guysfromrolla.com
www.asp101.com
www.asp.net

Hope you all have a great time learning ASP.NET, Good Luck & Have fun :)

P.S. - will post the shopping cart code later :)

ashish - Thanks for posting all the information on ASP.NET. It really helps promote .NET technology.

I would also recommend downloading and fooling around with the free Web Matrix IDE off of http://www.asp.net It will help get you started in learning this .NET stuff.

Happy .NET Everyone!!

DiscountASP.NET
http://www.DiscountASP.NET
Experience the Power of ASP.NET for Less