ASP.NET 2.0 Illustrated

by Homer, Alex; Sussman, Dave

• ISBN13: 9780321418340
• ISBN10: 0321418344
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-06-06
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional

Summary

"This book is a phenomenal start for someone new to ASP.NET, as well as a complete guide to the new features of version 2.0 for programmers familiar with an earlier version. The beginning chapters detail concepts using a hypothetical company, examining the myriad sorts of requests and situations often requested by clients. The authors deal with these in an eloquent, realistic manner. They have clearly worked in the industry and have faced real-world challenges that programmers encounter daily. The content covers everything from the most basic tasks to the most complex, and is a comprehensive collection of information on ASP.NET 2.0. Every topic is well-referenced for additional information, but contains clear examples that work. The content is technical but the clear writing makes it easy to understand. Difficult concepts are explained in such a way that this book will quickly become your favorite reference for ASP.NET!" -Ronda Pederson, consultant, Microsoft MVP Visual Developer, ASP/ASP.NET "As to be expected from two of today's leading technical authors, this book is a cracking guide to getting the most from the ASP 2.0 Framework. Detailed chapters, concise yet practical examples, and clear explanation provide the grounding and support necessary to leverage the new features that ASP 2.0 brings to the table-all explained with a logical, no-nonsense approach. This book will be borrowed by every developer you work with, so guard it wisely!" -John Timney, Microsoft MVP, senior Web services consultant, British Telecom "This book will absolutely change the way you view ASP.NET technology. Read it and your existing Web sites will suddenly appear to be underperforming." -Chris Carpenter, senior software engineer, L3 Communications, Inc. "The authors have worked closely with the ASP.NET team at Microsoft to makesure that this book is authoritative, accurate, and informative. Anyone usingASP.NET will find a wealth of useful information on ASP.NET 2.0." -Scott Guthrie, general manager, .NET Developer Platform, Microsoft Corporation Developers moving to ASP.NET 2.0, the breakthrough Web development environment from Microsoft, will want to learn how to take full advantage of the new features that make this the most productive and powerful Web development environment ever. ASP.NET 2.0 Illustrated teaches developers exactly what they need to know to create exciting Web sites and applications quickly and easily using ASP.NET 2.0.Renowned authors, developers, and conference speakers Alex Homer and Dave Sussman have written a concise, detailed exploration of the "must learn" features of ASP.NET 2.0. The book's many original examples, fully updated for the release version of ASP.NET 2.0, are all downloadable from the authors' Web site, and many can be run live online.The authors provide detailed coverage of Connecting to databases, using data source and data display controls with SQL statements and stored procedures; creating business layers and data layers with custom classes and Typed DataSets; and providing declarative access to business and data layers Techniques for improving the scalability and responsiveness of data-driven sites, including caching techniques for data and ASP.NET pages Binding to XML, transforming XML, updating XML data, and managing XML data stored in SQL Server 2005 Building interactive Web forms with a wide variety of ASP.NET controls Understanding and using the core functionality of the Page class and key .NET Framework classes Providing a consistent

Author Biography

Alex Homer is a computer geek and Web developer with a passion for ASP.NET, who doubles as a consultant, trainer, and speaker. Together with Dave Sussman, he has written many books on Microsoft technologies, including ASP.NET v. 2.0--The Beta Version (Addison-Wesley, 2005). He and Dave are the only two Microsoft "Software Legends" from the UK.

Dave Sussman speaks frequently at Microsoft development conferences and has been writing about ASP since its earliest release. Together with Alex Homer, he has written many books on Microsoft technologies, including ASP.NET v. 2.0--The Beta Version (Addison-Wesley, 2005). He and Alex are the only two Microsoft "Software Legends" from the UK.

Table of Contents

Figures	xix
Tables	xxix
Preface	xxxi
Acknowledgments	xxxiii
About the Authors	xxxv
Technology, Tools, and Getting Started	1	(22)
New Features of ASP.NET 2.0	2	(17)
Templates for a Consistent Look and Feel	2	(2)
Styles for Controls	4	(2)
Securing Your Site	6	(3)
Personalizing Your Site	9	(1)
Creating Portals	10	(4)
Using Images on Your Site	14	(1)
Using Data on Your Site	15	(2)
Internationalization	17	(2)
Changes from Version 1.x	19	(1)
Obtaining and Installing .NET 2.0	19	(2)
Running Side-by-Side with 1.x	20	(1)
Security Accounts	20	(1)
Upgrading and Deploying Applications	21	(1)
Installing the Samples	21	(1)
Summary	22	(1)
Is It Really This Easy?	23	(30)
A Day in the Life of a Developer	24	(28)
Using a Data Source Control and GridView to Display Data	24	(2)
Enabling Sorting and Paging for the Rows	26	(2)
Providing a Row Editing Feature	28	(1)
Adding Filtering to Select Specific Sets of Rows	29	(6)
Displaying Single Rows in a Form for Editing	35	(3)
Working with Data Exposed through a Business Object	38	(6)
Caching the Data to Reduce Database Access	44	(2)
Using a Master Page to Give a Consistent Look and Feel	46	(3)
Adding a Menu and Other Navigation Features	49	(3)
Summary	52	(1)
Data Source and Data Display Controls	53	(52)
Databases and Connections	54	(5)
Auto-Attached Databases	54	(1)
User Instancing	55	(1)
Connection String Placement	56	(2)
Visual Web Developer and Visual Studio 2005 Database Explorer	58	(1)
Data Source Controls	59	(13)
The SqlDataSource Control	60	(1)
Displaying Data with a GridView Control	61	(1)
Filtering and Selecting Data	62	(4)
Selecting Data Declaratively	66	(3)
Updating Data	69	(3)
Data Display and Edit Controls	72	(32)
Data Binding to Data Source Controls	73	(2)
Customizing the GridView Control	75	(3)
The BoundField Control	78	(1)
The ButtonField Control	78	(3)
The CheckBoxField Control	81	(2)
The HyperLinkField Control	83	(1)
Using the DataNavigateUrlFields Property	83	(2)
The ImageField Control	85	(10)
The DetailsView Control	95	(5)
The FormView Control	100	(4)
Summary	104	(1)
Data Binding to Business Objects	105	(28)
Two- and Three-Tier Architecture	106	(7)
Business Layers, Data Layers, or Both?	106	(1)
Object Data Mappers	107	(1)
Creating a Data Layer	108	(5)
The ObjectDataSource Control	113	(9)
Using the ObjectDataSource Control	117	(3)
Getting the Identity Value of an Inserted Row	120	(2)
Typed Data Sets	122	(9)
Using Typed DataSets with the ObjectDataSource Control	126	(5)
Summary	131	(2)
Advanced Data and Page Techniques	133	(44)
DataSource Control Events	134	(10)
Modifying Parameters before Command Execution	134	(2)
Synchronizing DataSource Controls after Updates	136	(1)
Accessing Output Parameters after Command Execution	137	(1)
Output Parameters with the ObjectDataSource Control	138	(3)
Custom Paging with an ObjectDataSource	141	(3)
GridView and Details View Events	144	(1)
Handling GridView Update Events	144	(1)
Handling Data Editing Conflicts	145	(5)
Asynchronous Pages and Data	150	(9)
Asynchronous Pages	152	(7)
Asynchronous Tasks	159	(1)
SQL Server 2005 User-Defined Types	159	(9)
UDT Attributes	161	(3)
Serializable Types	164	(1)
Constructors	164	(1)
Parsing Values	165	(1)
Outputting Values	166	(1)
Handling Null Values	166	(1)
Adding Properties	167	(1)
Additions to UDTs	168	(8)
Creating a UDT in Visual Studio 2005	168	(1)
Deploying the UDT to SQL Server 2005	169	(1)
Creating Tables with UDT Columns	170	(2)
Inserting Data into UDT Columns	172	(1)
Accessing UDT Columns	173	(2)
Further Reading	175	(1)
Summary	176	(1)
Data and Output Caching	177	(42)
Application, Session, HttpContext, and ViewState Caching	178	(7)
Using the Application State	178	(1)
Using the Session State	179	(2)
Using HttpContext	181	(4)
Using ViewState	185	(1)
Output Caching	185	(10)
Configuring Output Caching	186	(3)
Caching Portions of a Page	189	(3)
Configuring Caching	192	(3)
Data Caching	195	(15)
SQL Cache Invalidation with SQL Server 2005	196	(8)
SQL Cache Invalidation with SQL Server 2000	204	(6)
The Cache API	210	(6)
Getting Items in the Cache to Expire	212	(2)
Making Cache Entries Depend upon External Factors	214	(1)
Multiple Cache Dependencies	215	(1)
Being Notified When an Item in the Cache Expires	215	(1)
When to Use Caching	216	(2)
Summary	218	(1)
Working with XML	219	(38)
Working with XML in Visual Studio 2005	220	(2)
Databinding and Displaying XML Data	222	(8)
Manually Binding to XML Files	222	(1)
Using the XmlDataSource Control	222	(3)
Specifying TreeView Bindings	225	(2)
Binding Expressions	227	(1)
Applying Selections	227	(2)
Using Binding Expressions and Selections	229	(1)
Transforming XML	230	(6)
Debugging XSLT in Visual Studio 2005	232	(3)
Transforming with the XmlDataSource Control	235	(1)
Transforming in Code	235	(1)
Working with Raw XML	236	(11)
Streaming XML	238	(5)
Working with XML Documents in Memory	243	(4)
Converting between XML and Relational Data	247	(1)
Working with SQL Server 2005 XML Data	248	(7)
Creating XML Columns	249	(1)
Creating Schemas	249	(2)
Inserting Data into XML Columns	251	(1)
Accessing XML Columns from ADO.NET	251	(4)
Summary	255	(2)
Building Interactive Web Forms	257	(52)
The ASP.NET Control Set	258	(48)
Standard HTML Server Controls	258	(1)
Text and Image Display Controls	259	(7)
Hyperlink and Navigation Controls	266	(8)
Input and Form Controls	274	(9)
The ValidationSummary Control	283	(1)
Accessing the Validation Controls in Code	283	(1)
List and Grid Controls	284	(10)
Rich Controls	294	(8)
Container Controls	302	(1)
Mobile Controls	302	(2)
Layout Approaches---Tables and Stylesheets	304	(1)
Choosing the Appropriate Control Type	305	(1)
The ASP.NET Page and Postback Model	306	(2)
Differentiating between Postback and Navigate	306	(1)
The ASP.NET Event-Driven Architecture	306	(1)
Request and Response Information	307	(1)
Summary	308	(1)
The Page Class and Master Pages	309	(44)
The HttpRequest, HttpResponse, HttpServerUtility, and HttpContext Classes	310	(9)
Using the HttpRequest Class	310	(1)
Using the HttpResponse Class	311	(5)
Using the HttpServerUtility Class	316	(2)
Using the HttpContext Class	318	(1)
The ASP.NET Page Class	319	(24)
General Methods and Properties of the Page Class	320	(3)
Accessing the Intrinsic ASP.NET Objects	323	(2)
Finding Controls on a Page	325	(5)
Writing Trace Information	330	(1)
Skins and Themes	331	(1)
Validation	331	(1)
Page-Level Events	331	(3)
Client-Side Scripting Features	334	(2)
Creating Client-Side Script Sections	336	(2)
Asynchronous Page Callbacks	338	(5)
Sub-Classing the Page Object	343	(1)
Working with Master Pages	344	(7)
Simple Master Pages	345	(1)
Nested Master Pages	345	(3)
Dynamically Setting the Master Page	348	(1)
Accessing Values and Controls in the Master Page	348	(3)
Summary	351	(2)
Web Site Navigation Techniques	353	(42)
Simple Navigation with Hyperlinks	354	(4)
The ASP.NET Hyperlink Control	355	(3)
Navigation with LinkButton Controls	358	(8)
Using the LinkButton Control	358	(8)
Navigation through Browser Redirection	366	(3)
Redirection with Client-Side Script	368	(1)
Navigation through Server-Side Redirection	369	(8)
The HttpServerUtility.Transfer Method	369	(1)
The HttpServerUtility.Execute Method	370	(1)
Using the Transfer and Execute Methods	371	(6)
Cross-Page Posting of Form Contents	377	(4)
An Example of Cross-Page Posting	377	(4)
Site Maps, Menus, and Navigation Path Controls	381	(12)
Site Map Providers	382	(1)
Site Map Configuration Files	382	(1)
Using a Site Map File	383	(5)
Site Maps in Depth	388	(5)
Summary	393	(2)
Security and Membership	395	(64)
Preventing Anonymous Access to Web Sites	396	(12)
The ASP.NET Configuration Files	396	(2)
Security and Access Control Settings in IIS and ASP.NET	398	(3)
ASP.NET Authentication and Authorization	401	(7)
ASP.NET Membership Provider and Role Manager	408	(6)
The ASP.NET Application Database	409	(1)
ASP.NET Membership Provider Configuration	410	(3)
ASP.NET Role Manager Configuration	413	(1)
The ASP.NET Web Site Administration Tool	414	(27)
Creating the ASP.NET Application Database	415	(3)
Troubleshooting ASP.NET Application Database Issues	418	(1)
Creating and Managing Users and Roles	419	(22)
The ASP.NET Security Server Controls	441	(10)
The Available Control Set	441	(1)
Using the Security Server Controls	442	(9)
Accessing the Membership and Roles Features in Code	451	(6)
The Membership Class	451	(1)
Create and Delete a User	452	(1)
Get a Reference to a User	452	(1)
Find or Get a List of Users	453	(1)
Get the User Name from an E-mail Address	454	(1)
Determine the Number of Users Online	454	(1)
The MembershipUser Class	455	(1)
Get Password	455	(1)
Change Password	455	(1)
Change Security Q/A	456	(1)
Reset Password	456	(1)
The Roles Class	456	(1)
Create/Delete Roles	456	(1)
Get Role Names Lists	456	(1)
Check if User Is in Role	457	(1)
Add Users to Roles	457	(1)
Remove Users from Roles	457	(1)
Summary	457	(2)
Profiles, Personalization, and Themes	459	(46)
Configuring Profiles and Personalization	460	(11)
Specifying the Profiles and Personalization Providers	460	(3)
Creating and Modifying the ASP.NET Application Database	463	(1)
Enabling Profiles and Declaring Profile Properties	464	(7)
Storing and Using Dynamic Profile Data	471	(3)
Reading Profile Data	472	(1)
Storing (Writing) Profile Data	472	(2)
A Simple Example of Using a Shopping Cart	474	(13)
Setting the Text Size	476	(1)
Displaying the Shopping Cart and Adding Items	477	(1)
Displaying Details of Logged In Users	478	(3)
Updating the Profile Properties	481	(1)
Migrating Anonymous Users	482	(4)
Other Features of the Profile Class	486	(1)
Using Themes to Personalize Your Site	487	(16)
What Are Themes and Skins?	488	(2)
Creating Themes and Skins	490	(3)
Applying Themes and Skins	493	(3)
Preventing the Use of Themes and Skins	496	(1)
An Example of Using Themes	497	(6)
Summary	503	(2)
Building Web Portals	505	(42)
The ASP.NET 2.0 Portal Framework	506	(3)
The Goals of the Portal Framework	506	(2)
About the WebParts Framework	508	(1)
The WebPart Manager	509	(3)
WebParts and Authorization	512	(1)
Zones and WebParts	513	(10)
User Controls as WebParts	518	(1)
Custom Controls as WebParts	519	(1)
WebPart Chrome and Style	520	(3)
WebPart Verbs	523	(1)
Catalog Zones	523	(2)
Importing and Exporting WebParts	525	(1)
Editor Zones	525	(8)
AppearanceEditorPart	527	(1)
BehaviorEditorPart	528	(3)
LayoutEditorPart	531	(1)
PropertyGridEditorPart	531	(2)
Connecting WebParts Together	533	(12)
Implementing WebPart Connections	533	(3)
Connecting WebParts Together	536	(1)
User-Initiated Connections	537	(2)
Connecting to WebParts in Master Pages	539	(1)
Transformers	540	(5)
Summary	545	(2)
Usability, Accessibility, Mobile Devices, Localization	547	(72)
Page Validation, Browser Capabilities, and Alternative Content	548	(11)
Validating Page Content	549	(3)
Detecting Browser Capabilities	552	(5)
CSS Support Quirks	557	(2)
Making Your Pages Easier to Use	559	(3)
Overall Site and Page Design	559	(1)
Controls, Captions, Short-cut Keys, and Tab Order	560	(2)
Supporting Disabled Users and Specialist User Agents	562	(25)
General Techniques for Maximizing Accessibility	563	(4)
Accessibility Features in ASP.NET Controls	567	(20)
Building Pages for Small-Screen and Mobile Devices	587	(13)
Page Design and Device Support	587	(1)
Creating Pages for Mobile Devices	588	(11)
Mobile Browser Emulators	599	(1)
Supporting Localization and Multiple Languages	600	(16)
Code-Free Localization	601	(10)
User-Selectable Localization	611	(2)
Programmatic Access to Resources	613	(1)
Extensibility	613	(2)
Web Resources	615	(1)
Summary	616	(3)
Using the Framework Classes	619	(60)
The Example Application	620	(8)
Configuring the Example on Your Machine	621	(3)
The User Interface of the Example Application	624	(4)
Storing Data with the System.Collections Classes	628	(10)
ArrayLists	629	(1)
Stacks and Queues	630	(1)
Sorted Lists, HashTables, and Dictionary-Based collections	631	(3)
How the Example Returns Values	634	(1)
Serializing a Collection	634	(2)
Generic Collections	636	(2)
Reading, Writing, and Compressing Data with the System.IO Classes	638	(14)
Working with Streams, StreamReaders, and StreamWriters	638	(3)
Reading Drive, Folder, and File Information	641	(8)
Compressing Data	649	(3)
Creating Graphics and Images with the System.Drawing Classes	652	(4)
Creating Images with the System.Drawing Classes	653	(3)
Accessing the Internet with the System.Net Classes	656	(5)
Retrieving Web Pages	657	(2)
Performing DNS Lookups	659	(2)
Sending E-Mail with the System.Net.Mail Classes	661	(8)
Sending Text and HTML E-Mail Messages	661	(2)
Sending E-Mail Messages with Text Attachments	663	(2)
Sending E-Mail Messages with Binary Attachments	665	(4)
Accessing Active Directory with the System.DirectoryServices Classes	669	(4)
Getting a List of Users	671	(2)
Encrypting Data with the System.Security.Cryptography Classes	673	(5)
Using TripleDES Encryption	674	(4)
Summary	678	(1)
Web Services	679	(32)
Web Services	680	(1)
Standards and Interoperability	680	(1)
Creating Web Services	681	(9)
Web Service Attributes	683	(2)
Testing Web Services	685	(4)
Caching and State	689	(1)
Creating Asynchronous Web Services	689	(1)
Consuming Web Services	690	(4)
Calling Web Services Asynchronously	692	(1)
Handling Errors	693	(1)
Controlling How Data Is Transferred in Web Services	694	(7)
Customizing Serialization	695	(1)
Serializing Collections	696	(3)
Manual Serialization	699	(2)
Web Service Enhancements	701	(7)
The WSE 3.0 Toolkit	703	(5)
The Future of Web Services	708	(1)
Summary	708	(3)
Index	711

Excerpts

It was late in the afternoon on a cold and rainy day in 1996 as we sat in the office in Birmingham, England, staring at a blank page in Internet Explorer 3 and wondering when the old Gateway 386 server under the desk would finally finish grinding through a dbWeb query and produce some results. The e-mail, from a small offshoot of the IIS team at Microsoft, arrived as we waited, asking if we would be interested in looking at a new product ("still under development") called Denali. Why not? It seemed that the case study for the final chapter of our book on Web site and database integration was going nowhere. So we installed Denali 0.9 and started to play with it. Somewhere about ten in the evening, blown away by what we were seeing, the decision was made. The final chapter of the book would be a preview of this amazing new technologyreleased to the public some months later as Active Server Pages. Little did we realize then that this one event would determine the direction of our future writing career, right up to the current day. What is remarkable, comparing ASP 1.0 with the current ASP.NET 2.0 release, is how much has changed in the past ten years. Our first book about ASP included the history of the Internet, a comprehensive reference to HTML 3.2 and a new styling language called CSS, a full tutorial on VBScript, plusdescriptions and examples of every object, method, and property of ASP and its associated database access technology, called ActiveX Data Objects. We even had room in the 1,000 or so pages to cover the SQL language, using MTS and MSMQ, building COM components, a few case studies, and a raft of appendices. Now, with ASP.NET, we could fill 1,000 pages just describing server controls. ASP.NET has grown up to become a fully fledged, rich, and all-encompassing language-agnostic technology suitable for building any type of Web-based application. Covering all of ASP.NET 2.0 and the associated .NET Framework classes to the same level of detail as our first book on Active Server Pages would fill a whole shelf in your bookcase! Instead, this book aims to provide you with the concise and detailed information on ASP.NET 2.0 that you need to build great Web sites and Web-based applications. We've attempted to share with you our passion for ASP.NET, our experience of working with it over many years, and our long and fruitful relationship with the team at Microsoft. We hope that you, too, will develop the same passion for ASP.NET as we have. What Do I Need to Use This Book? This book is aimed at developers who are reasonably familiar with the Web, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and the C# language. We have tried to avoid using code or concepts that are obscure or unduly complex, instead concentrating on the techniques and technologies in ASP.NET 2.0. The examples were developed in Visual Studio 2005, though you can use Visual Web Developer (VWD) if you only have this available. You will also need access to a databaseeither SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server Express Edition as installed with Visual Studio 2005 and VWD. You can download the examples, and run many of them online, from our server at http://www.daveandal.net/books/8344/ . Alternatively, you can obtain the samples from the Addison-Wesley Web site at http://www.awprofessional.com/msdotnetseries .