Core Internet Application Development with ASP.NET 2.0

Chapter 1 introduces ASP.NET and the .NET Framework. It examines the different components of the .NET platform, compares ASP.NET to other Web development environments, describes the ASP.NET compilation model, examines the event system in ASP.NET, and illustrates how to create simple ASP.NET pages using Visual Studio 2005.

Chapter 2 continues the coverage of the basics of ASP.NET. This chapter examines in depth how ASP.NET works. It describes the event system in ASP.NET, the page lifecycle, and the essential mechanisms of postback and view state. It also covers some more advanced topics that could be skipped and returned to after you become more comfortable with ASP.NET. These topics include the ASP.NET compilation model, the Page class, as well as the application lifecycle.

Chapter 3 provides an overview of ASP.NET's Web server control architecture, covers Web forms syntax, examines how to use the common features of all Web server controls, and provides and illustrates how to use a core subset of the standard Web server controls. Because ASP.NET 2.0 now has so many Web server controls, some of the less frequently used core Web server controls are covered in Chapter 4.

Chapter 4 continues the coverage of the standard Web server controls. The controls covered in this chapter are more complicated. Some of the controls covered in this chapter include the Panel, MultiView, Wizard, FileUpload, and Xml controls. Several of the longest code listings in the entire book are in this chapter.

Chapter 5 covers one of the most important facets of Web application development, namely, how to deal with exceptions, both at the language level and at the ASP.NET level. It also illustrates how to use the ASP.NET validation controls.

Chapter 6 examines how to create complex user interfaces using styles, themes, skins, and master pages. The chapter also covers the creation of your own user controls.

Chapter 7 examines how to describe and create a site's navigation system using the ASP.NET site navigation controls.

Chapter 8 is the first chapter of the second part of the book. ASP.NET 2.0 introduces a new way of working with data and this chapter's focus is on the different ways that data can be represented. It covers data binding, arrays, collections, generics, and data sets.

Chapter 9 continues the material from Chapter 8 by examining how to programmatically and declaratively work with data in databases. This chapter begins by examining how to access and modify data within databases in ASP.NET using the classes of ADO.NET. The chapter also covers the codeless approach to accessing data using the data source controls introduced in version 2.0 of ASP.NET.

Chapter 10 illustrates how to use the various data controls in ASP.NET. It illustrates the use of the Repeater, DataList, FormView, DetailsView, and Grid-View controls. Each of these controls uses data binding to display (and for some even edit) multiple sets of data in different ways.

Chapter 11 shifts the focus away from individual controls and classes and instead examines some of the issues involved in creating a more complex Web application with ASP.NET. It begins with the design of Web applications and some common layering models for Web applications, and then moves on to implement two sample layered architectures.

Chapter 12 covers an aspect of ASP.NET that is vital for any Web application: managing state. This chapter begins with the various types of ASP.NET state whose data is stored on the client, such as view state and cookies. It then moves on to those state mechanisms whose data is stored in the server: session state, application state, and finally the ASP.NET cache.

Chapter 13 is the first chapter of the final part of the book. It covers security, one of the most important aspects of any Web application. It discusses authentication and authorization in the context of ASP.NET, illustrates how to use the various login control as well as the new provider system, including the membership and role management providers.

Chapter 14 examines two mechanisms in ASP.NET 2.0 for integrating user personalization into a Web application: namely, the profile system and the Web part framework. The profile system allows an application to persist user information across time and multiple pages. The Web part framework provides the developer with a mechanism for creating pages in which the user can customize the placement, appearance, and possibly the behavior of the page's content.

Chapter 15 looks at how to synchronously and asynchronously consume Web services in ASP.NET. The chapter also demonstrates how to construct Web services.

Chapter 16 demonstrates how to plan and adapt an ASP.NET application for an international audience, as well as the various ways to deploy a completed ASP.NET Web application.