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This book is for anyone who wants to learn how to build rich and interactive web sites that run on the Microsoft platform. With the knowledge you gain from this book, you create a great foundation to build any type of web site, ranging from simple hobby-related web sites to sites you may be creating for commercial purposes.

Anyone new to web programming should be able to follow along because no prior background in web development is assumed. The book starts at the very beginning of web development by showing you how to obtain and install Visual Web Developer. The chapters that follow gradually introduce you to new technologies, building on top of the knowledge gained in the previous chapters.

Do you have a strong preference for Visual Basic over C# or the other way around? Or do you think both languages are equally cool? Or maybe you haven't made up your mind yet and want to learn both languages? Either way, you'll like this book because all code examples are presented in both languages!

Even if you're already familiar with previous versions of ASP.NET, with the 1.x versions in particular, you may gain a lot from this book. Although many concepts from ASP.NET 2.0 are brought forward into ASP.NET 3.5, you'll discover there's a host of new stuff to be found in this book, including an introduction to LINQ, the new CSS and JavaScript debugging tools, new ASP.NET controls, and integrated support for ASP.NET Ajax.

To build effective and attractive database-driven web sites, you need two things: a solid and fast framework to run your web pages on and a rich and extensive environment to create and program these web pages. With ASP.NET 3.5 and Visual Web Developer 2008 you get both. Together they form the platform to create dynamic and interactive web applications.

ASP.NET 3.5 builds on top of its popular predecessor ASP.NET 2.0. While maintaining backward compatibility with sites built using this older version, the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 in general and ASP.NET 3.5 in particular add a lot of new, compelling features to the mix.

Continuing the path of "less code" that was entered with the 2.0 version of the .NET Framework, ASP.NET 3.5 lets you accomplish more with even less code. New features like LINQ that are added to the .NET Framework allow you to access a database with little to no hand written code. The integration of Microsoft ASP.NET Ajax into the ASP.NET Framework and Visual Web Developer means you can now create fast responding and spiffy web interfaces simply by dragging a few controls onto your page and setting a few properties. This book gives you an in-depth look at both these technologies.

The support for cascading style sheets (CSS), the language to lay out and format web pages, has undergone a major overhaul in Visual Web Developer. The design time support, that shows you how a page will eventually look in the browser, has been vastly improved. Additionally, Visual Web Developer now ships with a lot of tools that make writing CSS a breeze.

However, drag-and-drop support and visual tools are not the only things you'll learn from this book. ASP.NET 3.5 and Visual Web Developer 2008 come with a great and extensive set of tools to help you program your web applications. These tools range from the new LINQ syntax that allows you to query data and databases in your web applications, to the vastly improved debugging capabilities that allow you to debug your application from client-side JavaScript all the way up into your server-side code, all with the same familiar user interface, commands, and actions.

Under the hood, ASP.NET 3.5 makes use of the same run-time as version 2.0. This ensures a great backward compatibility with that version, which means that ASP.NET 2.0 applications continue to run under the new framework. But don't be fooled by the fact that the run-time hasn't changed. Although the technical underpinnings needed to execute your web application haven't changed, the .NET 3.5 Framework and ASP.NET add a lot of new features, as you'll discover in this book.

Probably the best thing of Visual Web Developer 2008 is its price: it's available for free. Although the commercial versions of Visual Studio 2008 ship with Visual Web Developer, you can also download and install the free Express Edition. This makes Visual Web Developer 2008 and ASP.NET 3.5 probably the most attractive and compelling web development technologies available today.

This book teaches you how to create a feature-rich, data-driven, and interactive web site. Although this is quite a mouthful, you'll find that with Visual Web Developer 2008 this isn’t as hard as it seems. You'll see the entire process of building a web site, from installing Visual Web Developer 2008 in Chapter 1 all the way up to putting your web application on a live server in Chapter 18. The book is divided into 18 chapters, each dealing with a specific subject.

Chapter 1, “Getting Started With ASP.NET 3.5.” In this chapter you'll see how to obtain and install Visual Web Developer 2008. You'll get instructions for downloading and installing the free edition of Visual Web Developer 2008, called the Express Edition. You are also introduced to HTML, the language behind every web page. The chapter closes with an overview of the customization options that Visual Web Developer gives you.

Chapter 2, “Building an ASP.NET Web Site.” This chapter shows you how to create a new web site and how to add new elements like pages to it. Besides learning how to create a well-structured site, you also see how to use the numerous tools in Visual Web Developer to create HTML and ASP.NET pages.

Chapter 3, “Designing Your Web Pages.” Visual Web Developer comes with a host of tools that allow you to create well-designed and attractive web pages. In this chapter, you see how to make good use of these tools. Additionally, you learn about CSS, the language that is used to format web pages.

Chapter 4, “Working with ASP.NET Controls.” ASP.NET Server controls are one of the most important concepts in ASP.NET. They allow you to create complex and feature-rich web sites with very little code. This chapter introduces you to the large number of server controls that are available, explains what they are used for, and shows you how to use them.

Chapter 5, “Programming Your ASP.NET Web Pages.” Although the built-in CSS tools and the ASP.NET server controls can get you a long way in creating web pages, you are likely to use a programming language to enhance your pages. This chapter serves as an introduction to programming with a strong focus on programming web pages. Best of all: all the examples you see in this chapter (and the rest of the book) are in both Visual Basic and C#, so you can choose the language you like best.

Chapter 6, “Creating Consistent Looking Web Sites.” Consistency is important to give your web site an attractive and professional appeal. ASP.NET helps you create consistent-looking pages through the use of master pages, which allow you to define the global look and feel of a page. Skins and themes help you to centralize the looks of controls and other visual elements in your site. You also see how to create a base page that helps to centralize programming code that you need on all pages in your site.

Chapter 7, “Navigation.” To help your visitors find their way around your site, ASP.NET comes with a number of navigation controls. These controls are used to build the navigation structure of your site. They can be connected to your site's central site map that defines the pages in your web site. You also learn how to programmatically send users from one page to another.

Chapter 8, “User Controls.” User Controls are reusable page fragments that can be used in multiple web pages. As such, they are great for repeating content like menus, banners, and so on. In this chapter, you learn how to create and use User Controls and enhance them with some programmatic intelligence.

Chapter 9, “Validating User Input.” A large part of interactivity in your site is defined by the input of your users. This chapter shows you how to accept, validate, and process user input using ASP.NET server controls. Additionally, you see how to send e-mail from your ASP.NET web application and how to read from text files.

Chapter 10, “ASP.NET Ajax.” Microsoft ASP.NET Ajax allows you to create good looking, flicker free web pages that close the gap between traditional desktop applications and web applications. In this chapter you learn how to use the built-in Ajax features to enhance the presence of your web pages, resulting in a smoother interaction with the web site.

Chapter 11, “Introduction to Databases.” Understanding how to use databases is critical to building modern web sites, as most modern web sites require the use of a database. You'll learn the basics of SQL, the query language that allows you to access and alter data in a database. In addition, you are introduced to the database tools found in Visual Web Developer that help you create and manage your SQL Server databases.

Chapter 12, “Displaying and Updating Data.” Building on the knowledge you gained in the previous chapter, this chapter shows you how to use the ASP.NET data-bound and data source controls to create a rich interface that enables your users to interact with the data in the database that these controls target.

Chapter 13, “LINQ.” LINQ is Microsoft's new solution for accessing objects, databases, XML, and more. In this chapter you'll see how to use LINQ to SQL to access SQL Server databases. Instead of writing a lot of manual code, you create a bunch of LINQ objects that do the heavy work for you. This chapter shows you what LINQ is all about, how to use the visual LINQ designer built into Visual Web Developer, and how to write LINQ queries to get data in and out of your SQL Server database.

Chapter 14, “Presenting Data: Advanced Topics....

Summary

Dependency Injection in .NET

presents core DI patterns in plain C#, so you'll fully understand how DI works, covers integration with standard Microsoft technologies like ASP.NET MVC, and teaches you to use DI frameworks like Structure Map, Castle Windsor, and Unity.

Dependency Injection is a great way to reduce tight coupling between software components. Instead of hard-coding dependencies, such as specifying a database driver, you inject a list of services that a component may need. The services are then connected by a third party. This technique enables you to better manage future changes and other complexity in your software.

Dependency Injection in .NET introduces DI and provides a practical guide for applying it in .NET applications. The book presents the core patterns in plain C#, so you'll fully understand how DI works. Then you'll learn to integrate DI with standard Microsoft technologies like ASP.NET MVC, and to use DI frameworks like StructureMap, Castle Windsor, and Unity. By the end of the book, you'll be comfortable applying this powerful technique in your everyday .NET development.

This book is written for C# developers. No previous experience with DI or DI frameworks is required.

• Many C#-based examples
• A catalog of DI patterns and anti-patterns
• Using both Microsoft and open source DI frameworks

PART 1 PUTTING DEPENDENCY INJECTION ON THE MAP
1. A Dependency Injection tasting menu
2. A comprehensive example
3. DI Containers
PART 2 DI CATALOG
4. DI patterns
5. DI anti-patterns
6. DI refactorings
PART 3 DIY DI
7. Object Composition
8. Object Lifetime
9. Interception
PART 4 DI CONTAINERS
10. Castle Windsor
11. StructureMap
12. Spring.NET
13. Autofac
14. Unity
15. MEF

Completely reengineered for ASP.NET 4—this definitive guide deftly illuminates the core architecture and programming features of ASP.NET 4 in a single, pragmatic volume. Web development expert Dino Esposito provides essential, architectural-level guidance, along with the in-depth technical insights designed to take you—and your solutions—to the next level. The book covers Dynamic Data, AJAX, Microsoft Silverlight®, ASP.NET MVC, Web forms, LINQ, and security strategies—and features extensive code samples in Microsoft Visual C#® 2010.

ASP.NET 4 is the principal standard for creating dynamic web pages on the Windows platform. Pro ASP.NET 4 in C# 2010 raises the bar for high-quality, practical advice on learning and deploying Microsoft's dynamic web solution.

This edition is updated with everything you need to master up to version 4 of ASP.NET, including coverage of ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET AJAX 4, ASP.NET Dynamic Data, and Silverlight 3.

Seasoned .NET professionals Matthew MacDonald and Mario Szpuszta explain how you can get the most from these groundbreaking technologies. They cover ASP.NET 4 as a whole, illustrating both the newer features and the functionality carried over from previous versions of ASP. This book will give you the knowledge you need to code real ASP.NET 4 applications in the best possible style.

1. Introducing ASP.NET
2. Visual Studio
3. Web Forms
4. Server Controls
5. ASP.NET Applications
6. State Management
7. ADO.NET Fundamentals
8. Data Components and the DataSet
9. Data Binding
10. Rich Data Controls
11. Caching and Asynchronous Pages
12. Files and Streams
13. LINQ
14. XML
15. User Controls
16. Themes and Master Pages
17. Website Navigation
18. Website Deployment
19. The ASP.NET Security Model
20. Forms Authentication
21. Membership
22. Windows Authentication
23. Authorization and Roles
24. Profiles
25. Cryptography
26. Custom Membership Providers
27. Custom Server Controls
28. Graphics, GDI+, and Charting
29. JavaScript and Ajax Techniques
30. ASP.NET AJAX
31. Portals with Web Part Pages
32. MVC
33. Dynamic Data
34. Silverlight

Make the right architectural decisions up front—and improve the quality and reliability of your results. Led by two enterprise programming experts, you’ll learn how to apply the patterns and techniques that help control project complexity—and make systems easier to build, support, and upgrade—right from the start.

Get pragmatic architectural guidance on how to:

• Build testability, maintainability, and security into your system early in the design
• Expose business logic through a service-oriented interface
• Choose the best pattern for organizing business logic and behavior
• Review and apply the patterns for separating the UI and presentation logic
• Delve deep into the patterns and practices for the data access layer
• Tackle the impedance mismatch between objects and data
• Minimize development effort and avoid over-engineering—and deliver more robust results

Get code samples on the Web.

DVD includes Visual Web Developer 2010 Express and ASP.NET 4

In just 24 sessions of one hour or less, you’ll learn how to build complete, professional-quality web solutions with ASP.NET 4 and Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2010. Using this book’s straightforward, step-by-step approach, you’ll master the entire process, from site design through data collection, user management through debugging and deployment. Scott Mitchell, editor of top ASP.NET resource site 4GuysFromRolla.com, shows how to use the newest ASP.NET 4 enhancements and make the most of free tools like ASP.NET Ajax and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express Edition. Each lesson builds on what you’ve already learned, giving you a strong, practical foundation for success!

Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common ASP.NET 4 development tasks.

Quizzes and Exercises at the end of each chapter help you test your knowledge.

By the Way, Did You Know?, and Watch Out! boxes point out shortcuts and solutions.

Learn how to…

• Get started fast with ASP.NET 4 and Visual Web Developer 2010
• Use Visual Web Developer 2010 to quickly build professional-quality ASP.NET websites
• Design, create, and test ASP.NET web pages
• Collect, process, and validate input from your site’s visitors
• Build a website that supports user accounts
• Create web pages that access, display, and edit database data using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express Edition
• Define site maps to provide efficient, easy navigation
• Use master pages to build more consistent and well-designed sites
• Create more responsive and interactive web pages with ASP.NET Ajax
• Host, upload, deploy, and update production web sites

You want to learn C# programming, but you're not sure you want to suffer through another tedious technical book. You're in luck: Head First C# introduces this language in a fun, visual way. You'll quickly learn everything from creating your first program to learning sophisticated coding skills with C# 4.0, Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4, while avoiding common errors that frustrate many students.

The second edition offers several hands-on labs along the way to help you build and test programs using skills you've learned up to that point. In the final lab, you'll put everything together. From objects to garbage collection and from exceptions to interactions, you'll learn C# in a way that engages and entertains your brain. Here are a few of the topics you'll learn:

• Start by building a useful application with pre-built components in Visual Studio 2010
• Discover how objects work, using real-world examples
• Store numbers, text, and other basic data types using primitives
• Save complex data in files and databases with great C# tools
• Build intuitive and easy-to-use interfaces by following simple rules
• Design your code to catch exceptions -- things you don't expect
• Develop good programming habits, such as refactoring code and applying unit tests
• Learn how web services put your programs in touch with the rest of the world
• Make it easy for other people to install your software

Comprehensive coverage to help experienced .NET developers create flexible, extensible enterprise application code

If you're an experienced Microsoft .NET developer, you'll find in this book a road map to the latest enterprise development methodologies. It covers the tools you will use in addition to Visual Studio, including Spring.NET and nUnit, and applies to development with ASP.NET, C#, VB, Office (VBA), and database.

You will find comprehensive coverage of the tools and practices that professional .NET developers need to master in order to build enterprise more flexible, testable, and extensible .NET applications with minimal upfront costs.

• Helps C#, VB.Net, and ASP.NET developers who wish to migrate both their applications and their own skillsets to newer, more flexible enterprise methodologies
• Describes each new pattern or feature along with its benefits, then outlines the pros and cons of its implementation
• Includes an introduction to enterprise development and a comprehensive overview of the differences between new enterprise patterns and older, traditional Microsoft programming
• Explains how to implement these patterns by upgrading an existing code base
• Covers benefits including flexibility, automated testing, extensibility, and separation; modular code; test-driven development, unit test, test automation, and refactoring; inversion of control; and object relational mapping
• Also covers enterprise design patterns: MVC including Ruby on Rails, Monorail, and ASP.NET MVC, MVP, observer, and more
• Contains a primer on object-oriented design

Professional Enterprise .NET focuses on the often-inevitable compromise between forward-thinking design and the needs of business, helping you build applications that serve both.

The most comprehensive book on Microsoft’s new ASP.NET 4, ASP.NET 4 Unleashed covers all facets of ASP.NET development. Led by Microsoft ASP.NET program manager Stephen Walther, an expert author team thoroughly covers the entire platform.

The authors first introduce the ASP.NET Framework’s basic controls and show how to create common site-wide layouts and styles. Next, they cover all aspects of accessing, presenting, organizing, and editing data. You’ll find thorough and practical sections on building custom components and controls, providing effective site navigation, securing sites and applications, and much more. This book presents hundreds of realistic code examples, reflecting the authors’ unsurpassed experience with ASP.NET both inside and outside Microsoft.

• Build interactive Web Forms, validate form data, and upload files
• Provide interactive calendars, wizards, site maps, and other valuable features
• Design efficient, maintainable sites with Master Pages and Themes
• Build data-driven applications with database controls, ADO.NET data access components, QueryExtender, LINQ to SQL, and WCF Data Services
• Generate charts on the fly with the new Chart Control
• Extend ASP.NET with custom controls and reusable components
• Create site registration and authentication systems that store membership data in SQL Server or Active Directory
• Use URL Routing to build dynamism, flexibility, readability, and SEO-friendliness into your URLs
• Improve performance and scalability with caching and preloading
• Maintain state with cookies, cookieless session state, and profiles
• Localize, configure, package, and deploy ASP.NET applications
• Use the ASP.NET MVC Framework to improve agility, testability, speed to market, and extensibility
• Retrofit existing ASP.NET applications with Ajax and build pure client-side Ajax web applications
• Construct a complete ASP.NET 4 website from start to finish

RESTful .NET is the first book that teaches Windows developers to build RESTful web services using the latest Microsoft tools. Written by Windows Communication Foundation (WFC) expert Jon Flanders, this hands-on tutorial demonstrates how you can use WCF and other components of the .NET 3.5 Framework to build, deploy and use REST-based web services in a variety of application scenarios.
RESTful architecture offers a simpler approach to building web services than SOAP, SOA, and the cumbersome WS- stack. And WCF has proven to be a flexible technology for building distributed systems not necessarily tied to WS- standards. RESTful .NET provides you with a complete guide to the WCF REST programming model for building web services consumed either by machines or humans. You'll learn how to:

• Program Read-Only (GET) services
• Program READ/WRITE services
• Host REST services
• Program REST feeds
• Program AJAX REST clients
• Secure REST endpoints
• Use workflow to deliver REST services
• Consume RESTful XML services using WCF
• Work with HTTP
• Work with ADO.NET Data Services (Astoria)

RESTful .NET introduces you to the ideas of REST and RESTful architecture, and includes a detailed discussion of how the Web/REST model plugs into the WCF architecture. If you develop with .NET, it's time to jump on the RESTful bandwagon. This book explains how.
"While REST is simple, WCF is not. To really understand and exploit this part of WCF requires a knowledgeable and experienced guide. I don't know anybody who's better suited for this role than Jon Flanders. ...Jon is first-rate at explaining complicated things. This book is the best introduction I've seen to creating and using these services with WCF." --David Chappell, Chappell & Associates