ASP .NET Kick Start

Stephen Walther —through his training company Superexpert AspWorkshops ( www.AspWorkshops.com )—has taught workshops on building Web applications using Visual Studio .NET at NASA, Lockheed Martin, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. House of Representatives, Verizon, and others.

He is the author of the book ASP.NET Unleashed and a contributing author to ASP.NET Tips, Tutorials, and Code.

He got his start working with Active Server Pages by developing two large commercial Web sites. First, he created the Collegescape Web site, a Web site used by more than 200 colleges—including Harvard, Stanford, and M.I.T.—to accept online college applications (Collegescape was bought out by Petersons). Next, he created the CityAuction Web site, an auction site used by both Snap! and CitySearch (CityAuction was acquired by CitySearch).

He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Berkeley. He was a Ph.D. candidate in Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when he became involved with the World Wide Web.

(NOTE: Each chapter concludes with a Summary.)
Introduction.

I. BUILDING WEB FORM PAGES.

1. Getting Familiar with the Development Environment.
Creating a Simple Web Forms Page. Working with Solutions and Projects. Overview of Visual Studio .NET Windows. Using the Visual Studio .NET Designer. Using the Visual Studio .NET Code and Text Editor. Automatically Documenting Your Code.

2. Using the Visual Studio .NET Designer.
Creating a New HTML Page. Working with HTML Pages in Design View. Working with HTML Pages in HTML View. Using the Document Outline. Adding Client-Side Scripts. Adding Style Sheets.

3. Creating Basic Web Form Pages.
Overview of Web Form Pages. Adding Server Controls. Handling Events.

4. Validating Web Form Pages.
Overview of the Validation Controls. Using Validation Controls. Performing Data Type Checks. Performing Custom Validation.

5. Creating Web User Controls.
Creating a Simple Web User Control. Handling Events in a Web User Control. Building Form Elements with Web User Controls. Dynamically Loading Web User Controls.

6. Debugging Your Web Form Pages.
Building Your Project. Using the Visual Studio .NET Debugger. Page and Application Tracing.

II. WORKING WITH DATABASE DATA.

7. Using the Visual Database Tools.
Visual Database Tools Support in Different Editions of Visual Studio .NET. Working with Database Objects in Server Explorer. Designing Databases with Database Diagrams. Working with Database Projects.

8. Overview of ADO.NET.
The Three Dualities of ADO.NET. Creating Database Connections. Using DataSets, DataAdapters, and DataViews. Using DataReaders and Commands. Caching Data for Better Performance.

9. Saving Form Data.
Overview of the Command Object. Executing Commands with Parameters. Executing Commands with Stored Procedures. Creating a Pizza Order Form.

10. Using List Controls.
Overview of the List Controls. Displaying Database Data in a List Control. Working with Multi-Select List Controls. Advanced List Control Topics.

11. Displaying Data with the Repeater Control.
Binding the Repeater Control to Database Data. Using Templates with the Repeater Control. Formatting the Output of a Databinding Expression. Loading Templates from an External File. Adding Child Controls to the Repeater Control.

12. Displaying Data with the DataList Control.
Binding the DataList Control to Database Data. Using Templates with the DataList Control. Formatting the Appearance of a DataList. Formatting the Borders in a DataList Control. Using Auto Formatting with the DataList Control. Creating a Multicolumn DataList. Creating a Menu with a DataList. Using the DataKeys Collection. Creating a Single-Page Master/Detail Form.

13. Displaying Data with the DataGrid Control.
Automatically Displaying the Contents of a Database Table. Customizing the Appearance of the DataGrid Control. Applying Auto Formatting to a DataGrid. Specifying Columns in a DataGrid. Displaying HyperLink Columns in a DataGrid. Sorting Data in a DataGrid. Using Caching with Sorting. Performing Ascending and Descending Sorts. Paging Through Records in a DataGrid. Customizing the Paging User Interface. Using Caching with Paging. Editing Database Records in a DataGrid. Editing with Bound Columns. Adding a Delete Button to the DataGrid Control. Using Smart Navigation with a DataGrid. Editing with Template Columns.

III. WORKING WITH ASP.NET APPLICATIONS.

14. Improving Application Performance with Caching.
Using Page Output Caching. Using the VaryByParam Attribute. Using Controls in a Cached Page. Using the VaryByHeader Attribute. Using the VaryByCustom Attribute. Specifying the Cache Location. Using Partial Page Caching. Using Controls in a Cached Web User Control. Using Properties in a Cached User Control. Using Data Caching. Adding and Removing Items from the Cache. Using File Dependencies. Using Expiration Policies. Setting Item Priorities.

15. Configuring Your Application.
Overview of the Machine.Config and Web.Config Files. Configuration Sections. Adding Custom Configuration Information. Advanced Configuration Topics.

16. Securing Your Application.
Overview of Forms Authentication. Enabling Forms Authentication. Storing Usernames and Passwords in the Web.Config File. Storing Usernames and Passwords in a Database Table. Implementing Custom Roles with Forms Authentication.

17. Maintaining Application State.
Using View State. Using Session State. Using Application State.

18. Handling Application-Wide Events.
Using the Global.asax File. Using Custom HttpModules.

19. Deploying Your Application.
Web Application Deployment Overview. Creating Web Setup Projects.

IV. COMPONENTS, WEB SERVICES, AND CUSTOM CONTROLS.

20. Building Business Components.
Why Use Components? Components Versus Classes. Creating a Simple Component. Creating a Database Component. Creating Multi-Tiered Applications. Creating a Library of Components. Accessing the Current HttpContext in a Component.

21. Building XML Web Services.
What Is a Web Service? Creating a Simple ASP.NET Web Service. Exposing Database Data Through a Web Service. Exposing a Custom Object Through a Web Service. Advanced Web Service Topics.

22. Creating Custom Web Form Controls.
Custom Web Form Controls Versus Web User Controls. Overview of Custom Web Form Controls. Creating a Simple Non-Composite Control. Creating a Simple Composite Control. Adding Designer Support to a Custom Web Form Control.

Index

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