Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET 2.0 in 24 Hours

September 7, 2008 in ASP.NET, Visual Basic
Tags: ASP.NET, Visual Basic

Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET 2.0 in 24 Hours

• Authors:
  Scott Mitchell

Introduction:
As the World Wide Web continues its meteoric growth, websites have matured from simple collections of static HTML pages to data-driven dynamic web applications. For example, websites like eBay o Amazon.com are much more than simple HTML pages; they’re actual applications that are accessed through the Internet. Although there are many competing technologies for building data-driven websites, this book shows how to use the latest version of Microsoft’s popular ASP.NET technology for creating web applications.

ASP.NET web applications are composed of individual ASP.NET web pages. As we will see in numerous examples throughout this book, these ASP.NET web pages can display HTML, collect user input, and interact with databases. ASP.NET web pages contain a mix of both HTML markup and source code. It is the source code of an ASP.NET web page that allows for the more advanced features, such as accessing data from a database or sending an email from an ASP.NET web page. The source code of an ASP.NET web page can be written in any one of a number of different programming languages. For this book we will be using Microsoft’s Visual Basic programming language. Don’t worry if you’ve never programmed in Visual Basic or have never even programmed at all. Starting with Hour 5, “Understanding Visual Basic’s Variables and Operators,” we will spend three hours examining programming language concepts and the Visual Basic syntax.

To ease ASP.NET web page development, Microsoft provides a free development editor, Visual Web Developer, which is included on this book’s accompanying CD. We will be using Visual Web Developer throughout this book to create our ASP.NET web pages. Visual Web Developer simplifies creating both the HTML markup and source code portions of ASP.NET web pages. The HTML markup for an ASP.NET web page can be quickly created by using the What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) graphical editor. With this WYSIWYG editor, you can simply drag and drop various HTML elements onto an ASP.NET web page, moving them around with a few clicks of the mouse.

ASP.NET version 2.0 contains a number of improvements over version 1.0. With ASP.NET 2.0, Microsoft has made it easier than ever before to build data-driven websites. Starting in Hour 13, “An Introduction to Databases,” we will begin our look at building websites that interact with databases. Hours 14 through 16 highlight a number of the new tools in ASP.NET 2.0 that facilitate creating database-aware web pages. Additionally, ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Web Developer provide tools to help with building professional, easy-to-use websites. In Hour 19, “Defining a Site’s Structure and Providing Site Navigation,” we’ll look at how to define a website’s navigational structure and easily provide menus, treeviews, and breadcrumbs. Hour 21, “Using Master Pages to Provide Sitewide Page Templates,” examines master pages, a new feature that enables web designers to create a web page template that can be applied to all pages across the site.

This book is geared for developers new to ASP.NET, whether or not you’ve had past experience with HTML or programming languages. By the end of this book, you’ll be able to create your own dynamic, data-driven web applications using ASP.NET. In fact, in Hours 22 through 24 we’ll build a completely functional online photo album web application, highlighting the lessons learned throughout the previous hours.

Table Of Contents:

	Copyright
		About the Author
		Acknowledgments
		We Want to Hear from You!
		Introduction
			Conventions Used in This Book
		Part I:  Getting Started with ASP.NET
			Hour 1.  Getting Started with ASP.NET 2.0
				What Is ASP.NET?
				Installing the ASP.NET Engine, Editor, and Database System
				A Brief Tour of Visual Web Developer
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 2.  Understanding the ASP.NET Programming Model
				Examining the HTML Markup Portion of an ASP.NET Web Page
				Examining the Source Code Portion of an ASP.NET Web Page
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 3.  Using Visual Web Developer
				Creating a New Website
				Opening Existing Websites
				Working with Web Pages and Other Content
				Customizing the Visual Web Developer Experience
				Viewing, Moving, and Resizing Windows
				A World of Help at Your Fingertips
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 4.  Designing, Creating, and Testing ASP.NET Web Pages
				Specifying the Design Requirements
				Creating the User Interface
				Writing the Source Code for the ASP.NET Web Page
				Testing the Financial Calculator
				Examining the Source Code
				Using the Debugger
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 5.  Understanding Visual Basic’s Variables and Operators
				The Purpose of Programming Languages
				Declaring and Using Variables
				Examining Visual Basic’s Operators
				Learning Visual Basic’s Type Rules
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 6.  Managing Program Flow with Visual Basic’s Control Structures
				Understanding Control Structures
				Exploring the Conditional Control Structure
				Working with Visual Basic’s Looping Control Structures
				Exploring the Modularizing Control Structures: Subroutines and Functions
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 7.  Working with Objects in Visual Basic
				Reexamining the Role of Classes and Objects
				Creating an Object
				Setting an Object’s Properties
				Calling an Object’s Methods
				Creating Event Handlers for an Object’s Events
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 8.  ASP.NET Web Controls for Displaying Text
				Examining the Web Controls Designed for Displaying Text
				Using the Literal Web Control
				Using the Label Web Control
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
		Part II:  Collecting and Processing User Input
			Hour 9.  Web Form Basics
				Gathering User Input in an HTML Web Page
				Dissecting ASP.NET Web Forms
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 10.  Using Text Boxes to Collect Input
				Learning About the TextBox Web Control Basics
				Creating Multiline and Password Text Boxes
				Examining the TextBox Web Control’s Properties
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 11.  Collecting Input Using Drop-down Lists, Radio Buttons, and Check Boxes
				Examining the Different Types of User Input Classifications
				Examining the DropDownList Web Control
				Selecting One Option from a List of Suitable Choices with RadioButton Web Controls
				Using the CheckBox Web Control
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 12.  Validating User Input with Validation Controls
				Examining the Need for User Input Validation
				Validating User Input in an ASP.NET Web Page
				Examining the RequiredFieldValidator Validation Control
				Examining the CompareValidator
				Using the RangeValidator
				Validating Input with the RegularExpressionValidator
				Aesthetic Properties for the Validation Web Controls
				A Look at the Remaining Validation Controls
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
		Part III:  Working with Databases
			Hour 13.  An Introduction to Databases
				Examining Database Fundamentals
				Storing Structured Data
				Creating a New Database
				Creating Database Tables
				Adding Data to the Books Table
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 14.  Accessing Data with the Data Source Web Controls
				Examining the Data Source Controls
				A Look at SQL, the Language of Databases
				Delving into the SQL SELECT Statement
				Filtering and Sorting Data from the SqlDataSource Control’s Wizard
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 15.  Displaying Data with the Data Web Controls
				An Overview of Data Web Controls
				Displaying Data with the GridView Control
				Showing One Record at a Time with the DetailsView
				Paging and Sorting with the GridView
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 16.  Deleting, Inserting, and Editing Data
				Updating, Deleting, and Inserting Data with the SqlDataSource
				Looking at the Data Modification SQL Statements
				Editing and Deleting Data with the GridView
				Inserting Data with the DetailsView
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 17.  Working with Data-Bound DropDownLists, RadioButtons, and CheckBoxes
				An Overview of the List Web Controls
				Filtering Results Using the DropDownList
				Collecting User Input with CheckBoxLists and RadioButtonLists
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 18.  Exploring Data Binding and Other Data-Related Topics
				Looking at the GridView’s and DetailsView’s Fields
				Using Wildcards in a WHERE Filter Expression
				An Examination of Data Binding
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
		Part IV:  Site Navigation, User Management, and Page Layout
			Hour 19.  Defining a Site’s Structure and Providing Site Navigation
				An Overview of ASP.NET’s Site Navigation Features
				Defining the Website’s Structure Using a Site Map
				Displaying a Breadcrumb with the SiteMapPath Control
				Showing the Entire Site Structure
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 20.  Managing Your Site’s Users
				An Overview of User Accounts in ASP.NET
				Allowing Visitors to Create New User Accounts
				Logging In to the Website with the Login Control
				Displaying Content Based on Authentication Status
				Recovering a User’s Forgotten Password
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 21.  Using Master Pages to Provide Sitewide Page Templates
				An Overview of Master Pages
				Creating a Master Page
				Creating an ASP.NET Page That Inherits the Master Page
				Providing Default Content in a Master Page
				Working with a Master Page’s Source Code Portion
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
		Part V:  Building a Photo Album Web Application with ASP.NET
			Hour 22.  Devising a Plan for the Photo Album Application
				An Overview of the Design Process
				The Photo Album Application’s Design Requirements
				Creating the Database Structure
				Sketching Mockups for the Application’s User Interface
				Summary
				Q&A
				Workshop
			Hour 23.  Building the Photo Album Application Foundation
				Partitioning the Application into Manageable Tasks
				Implementing the User Account-Related Pages
				Creating the Photo Album Website’s Home Page
				Managing Categories
				Summary
				Q&A
			Hour 24.  Uploading and Displaying Images and Leaving Comments
				Completing the Photo Album Administration Pages
				Displaying the Photo Album to All Visitors
				Viewing an Individual Picture and Its Comments
				Defining the Site’s Structure and Providing Site Navigation
				Summary
				Q&A

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