Beginning ASP.NET 4.5.1: in C# and VB

Imar Spaanjaars, a Microsoft ASP.NET MVP and an ASPInsider, is the CTO of Dynamicweb North America. He is a bestselling author for Wrox and one of the top contributors to the Wrox Community Forum at p2p.wrox.com, with more than 15,000 answers to programmer questions.

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