Beginning ASP.NET 4.5.1: in C# and VB

Foreword xxv
Introduction xxvii
Chapter 1: Getting Started with ASP .NET 4.5.1 1
Microsoft Visual Studio Express for Web 2
Getting Visual Studio 3
Installing Visual Studio Express for Web (VSEW) 3
Creating Your First ASP.NET 4.5.1 Website 5
An Introduction to ASP.NET 4.5.1 9
Understanding HTML 10
A First Look at ASP.NET Markup 15
A Tour of the IDE 16
The Main Development Area 16
Informational Windows 22
Customizing the IDE 23
Rearranging Windows 23
Modifying the Toolbox 24
Customizing the Document Window 26
Customizing Toolbars 27
Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts 28
Resetting Your Changes 28
The Sample Application 29
Practical Tips on Visual Studio 30
Summary 31
Chapter 2: Building an ASP .NET Website 33
Creating Websites with Visual Studio 2013 34
Different Project Types 34
Choosing the Right Website Template 35
Creating and Opening a New Website 37
Working with Files in Your Website 41
The Many File Types of an ASP.NET Website 41
Adding Existing Files 44
Organizing Your Site 45
Special File Types 46
Working with Web Forms 47
The Different Views on Web Forms 47
Choosing between Code Behind and Pages with Inline Code 49
Adding Markup to Your Page 54
Connecting Pages 59
Practical Tips on Working with Web Forms 61
Summary 61
Chapter 3: Designing Your Web Pages 63
Why Do You Need CSS? 64
Problems with Using HTML Formatting 64
How CSS Fixes Formatting Problems 65
An Introduction to CSS 65
CSS -- The Language 69
The Style Sheet 70
Adding CSS to Your Pages 82
Working with CSS in Visual Studio 84
Using the CSS Editor 85
Creating Embedded and Inline Style Sheets 89
Applying Styles 93
Managing Styles 94
Practical Tips on Working with CSS 97
Summary 97
Chapter 4: Working with ASP .NET Server Controls 101
Introduction to Server Controls 102
A Closer Look at ASP.NET Server Controls 106
Defining Controls in Your Pages 106
Common Properties for All Controls 106
Types of Controls 109
Standard Controls 109
HTML Controls 122
Data Controls 123
Validation Controls 123
Navigation Controls 123
Login Controls 123
Ajax Extensions 124
WebParts 124
Dynamic Data 124
The ASP.NET State Engine 124
What Is State and Why Is It Important? 124
How the State Engine Works 125
Not All Controls Rely on View State 129
A Note about View State and Performance 130
Practical Tips on Working with Controls 131
Summary 132
Chapter 5: Programming Your ASP .NET Web Pages 135
Introduction to Programming 136
Data Types and Variables 137
Converting and Casting Data Types 140
Using Arrays and Collections 142
Statements 147
Operators 147
Making Decisions 155
Loops 162
Organizing Code 167
Methods: Functions and Subroutines 167
The App_Code Folder 169
Organizing Code with Namespaces 173
Writing Comments 176
Object Orientation Basics 178
Important OO Terminology 178
Events 190
Practical Tips on Programming 191
Summary 192
Chapter 6: Creating Consistent Looking Websites 195
Consistent Page Layout with Master Pages 196
Creating Master Pages 198
Creating Content Pages 200
Using a Centralized Base Page 206
An Introduction to the ASP.NET Page Life Cycle 207
Implementing the Base Page 208
Creating Reusable Page Templates 212
Themes 216
Different Types of Themes 217
Choosing Between Theme and StyleSheetTheme 217
Applying Themes 218
Extending Themes 222
Dynamically Switching Themes 224
Skins 232
Creating a Skin File 233
Named Skins 234
Disable Theming for Specific Controls 235
Practical Tips on Creating Consistent Pages 235
Summary 236
Chapter 7: Navigation 239
Different Ways to Move Around Your Site 240
Understanding Absolute and Relative URLs 240
Understanding Default Documents 243
Using the Navigation Controls 243
Architecture of the Navigation Controls 244
Examining the Web.sitemap File 244
Using the Menu Control 246
Using the TreeView Control 254
Using the SiteMapPath Control 258
Routing 260
Setting up Extension-less URLs 261
Considerations for Extension-less URLs 263
Programmatic Redirection 263
Programmatically Redirecting the Client to a Different Page 264
Server-Side Redirects 266
Practical Tips on Navigation 268
Summary 269
Chapter 8: User Controls 273
Introduction to User Controls 274
Creating User Controls 274
Adding User Controls to a Content Page or Master Page 277
Sitewide Registration of User Controls 280
User Control Caveats 282
Adding Logic to Your User Controls 284
Creating Your Own Data Types for Properties 284
Implementing View State Properties 289
View State Considerations 295
Practical Tips on User Controls 295
Summary 296
Chapter 9: Validating User Input 299
Gathering Data from the User 300
Validating User Input in Web Forms 301
Understanding Request Validation 320
Processing Data at the Server 321
Sending E-mail from Your Website 321
Reading from Text Files 327
Practical Tips on Validating Data 333
Summary 333
Chapter 10: ASP .NET AJAX 337
Introducing Ajax 338
Using ASP.NET AJAX in Your Projects 340
Creating Flicker-free Pages 340
Providing Feedback to Users 345
The Timer Control 350
Using Web Services in Ajax Websites 351
What Are Web Services? 351
Creating Web Services 357
Practical Ajax Tips 365
Summary 366
Chapter 11: jQuery 369
An Introduction to jQuery 370
Introducing NuGet 371
Choosing the Location for Your jQuery Reference 375
Different Ways to Include the jQuery Library 376
jQuery Syntax 380
jQuery Core 380
Selecting Items Using jQuery 381
Modifying the DOM with jQuery 388
CSS Methods 388
Handling Events 390
Miscellaneous jQuery Functionality 391
Common Mistakes When Working with jQuery 392
Effects with jQuery 393
jQuery and Validation 399
Practical Tips on jQuery 403
Summary 403
Chapter 12: Introducing Databases 407
What Is a Database? 408
Different Kinds of Relational Databases 409
Installing SQL Server 2012 Express 410
Using SQL to Work with Database Data 410
Retrieving and Manipulating Data with SQL 414
Reading Data 414
Creating Data 423
Updating Data 424
Deleting Data 424
Creating Your Own Tables 427
Data Types in SQL Server 427
Understanding Primary Keys and Identities 429
Creating Relationships between Tables 432
Practical Database Tips 436
Summary 436
Chapter 13: Displaying and Updating Data 439
Data Controls 439
Data-bound Controls 440
Data Source Controls 442
Other Data Controls 442
Data Source and Data-bound Controls Working Together 443
Displaying and Editing Data with Grid View 443
Inserting Data with Details View 449
Storing Your Connection Strings in Web.config 451
Filtering Data 453
Customizing the Appearance of the Data Controls 459
Configuring Columns or Fields of Data-bound Controls 460
Updating and Inserting Data 466
Using Details View to Insert and Update Data 466
Practical Tips for Displaying and Updating Data 480
Summary 481
Chapter 14: LIN Q and the ADO .NET Entity Framework 485
Introducing LINQ 486
LINQ to Objects 487
LINQ to XML 487
LINQ to ADO.NET 487
Introducing the ADO.NET Entity Framework 488
Mapping Your Data Model to an Object Model 489
Introducing Query Syntax 495
Standard Query Operators 495
Shaping Data with Anonymous Types 499
Using Model Binding with LINQ Queries 504
Introducing Model Binding 505
A Note about Performance 535
Practical LINQ and ADO.NET Entity Framework Tips 536
Summary 536
Chapter 15: Working with Data -- Advanced Topics 539
Formatting Your Controls Using Styles 540
An Introduction to Styles 541
Combining Styles, Themes, and Skins 545
Handling Events 549
The ASP.NET Page and Control Life Cycles Revisited 549
The ASP.NET Page Life Cycle and Events in Data Controls 555
Handling Errors That Occur in the
Data Source Controls 560
Hand-Coding Data Access Code 564
Caching 574
Common Pitfalls with Caching Data 575
Different Ways to Cache Data in ASP.NET Web Applications 576
Practical Data Tips 585
Summary 586
Chapter 16: Security in Your ASP .NET Website 589
Introducing Security 590
Identity: Who Are You? 590
Authentication: How Can You Prove Who You Are? 590
Authorization: What Are You Allowed to Do? 591
An Introduction to the ASP.NET Application Services 591
Introducing the Login Controls 593
The Login Controls 598
Configuring Your Web Application 609
The Role Manager 612
The Role Manager Configuration 613
Managing Users with the WSAT 613
Configuring the Web Application to Work with Roles 618
Programmatically Checking Roles 622
Practical Security Tips 625
Summary 626
Chapter 17: Personalizing Websites 629
Understanding Profile 630
Configuring the Profile 631
Using the Profile 637
Other Ways of Dealing with Profile 655
Anonymous Identification 655
Cleaning Up Old Anonymous Profiles 655
Looking at Other Users' Profiles 657
Practical Personalization Tips 660
Summary 660
Chapter 18: Exception Handling, Debugging, and Tracing 663
Exception Handling 664
Different Types of Errors 664
Catching and Handling Exceptions 667
Global Error Handling and Custom Error Pages 675
The Basics of Debugging 683
Tools Support for Debugging 686
Moving Around in Debugged Code 686
Debugging Windows 687
Debugging Client-Side Script 693
Debugging with the Page Inspector 696
Introducing the Page Inspector 696
Using the Page Inspector 697
Cross-browser Testing with Browser Link 701
Introducing Browser Link 702
Using Browser Link 702
Tracing Your ASP.NET Web Pages 704
Using the Standard Tracing Capabilities 705
Adding Your Own Information to the Trace 708
Tracing and Performance 710
A Security Warning 710
Practical Debugging Tips 711
Summary 712
Chapter 19: Deploying Your Website 715
Preparing Your Website for Deployment 716
Avoiding Hard-Coded Settings 716
The Web.config File 717
Expression Syntax 717
The Web Configuration Manager Class 718
Introducing Bundling and Minification 723
Preparing for Deployment 727
Publishing Your Site 727
Introducing Web.config Transformations 730
Running Your Site Under IIS 734
Installing and Configuring the Web Server 735
Installing and Configuring ASP.NET 737
Understanding Security in IIS 741
NTFS Settings for Planet Wrox 742
Troubleshooting Web Server Errors 745
Moving Data to a Remote Server 747
Exporting Your Data to a File 748
Recreating the Database 750
The Deployment Checklist 751
What's Next 753
Summary 754
Appendix A: Exercise Answers 757
Appendix B: Configuring SQL Server 2012 781
Index 795