Beginning ASP.NET for Visual Studio 2015

About the author William Penberthy has specialized in the Microsoft software development stack since the initial deployment of .NET, performing client, service, and web development in C# and VB.NET. He has directly participated in the development of over 135 different applications, ranging from record retention management software, to e-Commerce storefronts, to geographic information systems, to point-of-sale systems and many applications in between.

• INTRODUCTION xxiCHAPTER 1: GETTING STARTED WITH ASP.NET 6.0 1An Introduction to ASP.NET vNext 2Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) 2Microsoft Internet Information Services 5HTML 5 5HTML Markup 5Attributes in HTML 7HTML Example 8ASP.NET Web Forms 10ViewState 10ASP.NET Web Forms Events and Page Lifecycle 11Control Library 13ASP.NET MVC 15Testability 16Full Control over Output 17Web Forms and MVC Similarities 17Choosing the Best Approach 17Using Visual Studio 2015 18Versions 18Downloading and Installing 19The Sample Application 23Summary 24CHAPTER 2: BUILDING AN INITIAL ASP.NET APPLICATION 27Creating Websites with Visual Studio 2015 28Available Project Types 28Web Site Project–Based Approach 28Web Application Project 29Creating a New Site 30While Creating a Project 30Empty Template 34Web Forms Template 35MVC Template 36Web API Template 36Single Page Application Template 37Azure Mobile Service Template 38Working with Files in Your Application 38File Types of an ASP.NET MVC Application 38File System Structure of an ASP.NET MVC Application 41File Types of an ASP.NET Web Forms Application 43MVC and Web Form File Differences 46Creating the Sample Application 47Summary 49CHAPTER 3: DESIGNING YOUR WEB PAGES 51HTML and CSS 52Why Use Both HTML and CSS? 52An Introduction to CSS 54More CSS 58Selectors 58Properties 61Precedence in Styles 65The Style Sheet 67Adding CSS to Your Pages 68Creating Embedded and Inline Style Sheets 71Applying Styles 72Managing Styles 78Summary 84CHAPTER 4: PROGRAMMING IN C# AND VB.NET 87Introduction to Programming 87Data Types and Variables 88Defi ning a Variable 88Operators 91Converting and Casting Data Types 93Converting Data Types 93Casting Data Types 96Using Arrays and Collections 97Using Arrays 97Using Collections 99Decision-Making Operations 101Comparison Operators 102Logical Operators 103If Statement 104Switch/Select Case Statement 106Loops 106For Loop 106Foreach/For Each Loops 108While Loop 109Exiting Loops 110Organizing Code 110Methods: Functions and Subroutines 110Writing Comments and Documentation 112Object-Oriented Programming Basics 114Important OO Terminology 115Classes 115Fields 116Properties 117Methods 120Constructors 120Inheritance 121Events 123Summary 125CHAPTER 5: ASP.NET WEB FORM SERVER CONTROLS 129Introduction to Server Controls 129Defining Controls in Your Pages 130Types of Controls 137Standard Controls 138HTML Controls 143Data Controls 144Validation Controls 144Navigation Controls 145Login Controls 145AJAX Extensions 146Other Control Sets 146The ASP.NET State Engine 147How the State Engine Works 148Summary 157CHAPTER 6: ASP.NET MVC HELPERS AND EXTENSIONS 161Why MVC Has Fewer Controls Than Web Forms 162A Different Approach 162Razor 166Controller 170Routing 172HTTP Verbs and Attributes 174Form-Building Helpers 175Form Extensions 175Editor and EditorFor 177Model Binding 177Summary 194CHAPTER 7: CREATING CONSISTENT-LOOKING WEBSITES 197Consistent Page Layout with Master Pages 198Creating and Using Master Pages in ASP.NET Web Forms 198Creating a Content Page in ASP.NET Web Forms 208Creating Layouts in ASP.NET MVC 212Creating a Content View in ASP.NET MVC 215Using a Centralized Base Page 219Summary 225CHAPTER 8: NAVIGATION 229Different Ways to Move around Your Site 230Understanding Absolute and Relative URLs 230Understanding Default Documents 234Friendly URLs 234Using the ASP.NET Web Forms Navigation Controls 236Using the Menu Control 240Navigating in ASP.NET MVC 248Routing 248Default Configuration and Route 249Creating a Navigational Structure 252Programmatic Redirection 255Programmatically Redirecting the Client to a Different Page 255Server-Side Redirects 258Practical Tips on Navigation 262Summary 263CHAPTER 9: DISPLAYING AND UPDATING DATA 267Working with SQL Server Express 268Installation 269SQL Server Management Studio 276Connecting in Visual Studio 282Entity Framework Approach to Data Access 285Data First 285Code First 286Selecting Data from the Database 295Data Controls in Web Forms 297Details View 297Web Form GridView 303Data Display in MVC 310List Display in MVC 311Details Views 314Summary 318CHAPTER 10: WORKING WITH DATA—ADVANCED TOPICS 323Sorting and Pagination 324Sorting and Pagination in Web Form Server Controls 324Sorting and Pagination in MVC Lists 330Updating and/or Inserting Data 339A Non-Code First Approach to Database Access 347Using SQL Queries and Stored Procedures 350Caching 358Different Ways to Cache Data in ASP.NET Applications 358Common Pitfalls with Caching Data 362Summary 363CHAPTER 11: USER CONTROLS AND PARTIAL VIEWS 367Introduction to User Controls 368Creating User Controls 369Adding User Controls 373Sitewide Registration of a User Control 376Managing the IDs of Any Controls 379Adding Logic to Your User Controls 381Using Partial Views 387Adding a Partial View 389Managing the Controller for a Partial View 393Templates 400Summary 408CHAPTER 12: VALIDATING USER INPUT 413Gathering Data from the User 414Validating User Input in Web Forms 415Understanding Request Validation 424Validating User Input in MVC 426Model Attribution 426Client-Side Validation 434Request Validation in ASP.NET MVC 443Validation Tips 444Summary 445CHAPTER 13: ASP.NET AJAX 449Introducing the Concept of AJAX 450F12 Developer Tools 451Using ASP.NET AJAX in Web Forms 457The Initial AJAX Experience 457Enhancing the AJAX Experience 466Using AJAX in MVC 469Using Web Services in AJAX Websites 483jQuery in AJAX 489Practical AJAX Tips 495Summary 496CHAPTER 14: jQUERY 499An Introduction to jQuery 499Early JavaScript 500jQuery’s Role 500Including the jQuery Library 503Bundles 506jQuery Syntax 512jQuery Core 513Working with the jQuery Utility Methods 514Selecting Items Using jQuery 516Modifying the DOM with jQuery 519Changing Appearance with jQuery 519Handling Events 523Debugging jQuery 532Practical Tips on jQuery 536Summary 537CHAPTER 15: SECURITY IN YOUR ASP.NET WEBSITE 541Introducing Security 542Identity: Who Are You? 542Authentication: How Can Users Prove Who They Are? 542Authorization: What Are You Allowed to Do? 543Logging in with ASP.NET 543Confi guring Your Web Application for Security 547Working with Users within Your Application 558Roles 566Configuring Your Application to Work with Roles 567Programmatically Checking Roles 572Practical Security Tips 576Summary 576CHAPTER 16: PERSONALIZING WEBSITES 581Understanding the Profile 582Creating the Profile 582Using the Profile 590Practical Personalization Tips 602Summary 603CHAPTER 17: EXCEPTION HANDLING, DEBUGGING, AND TRACING 605Error Handling 606Different Types of Errors 606Syntax Errors 606Logic Errors 607Runtime Errors 609Catching and Handling Exceptions 612Global Error Handling and Custom Error Pages 621Error Handling in a Controller 627The Basics of Debugging 629Tools Support for Debugging 629Moving Around in Debugged Code 629Debugging Windows 631Other Windows 634Debugging Client-Side Script 638Tracing Your ASP.NET Web Pages 647Adding Your Own Information to the Trace 650Tracing and Performance 654Logging 654Downloading, Installing, and Configuring a Logger 655Summary 658CHAPTER 18: WORKING WITH SOURCE CONTROL 661Introducing Team Foundation Services 661Why Use Source Control 662Setting Up a Visual Studio Online Account 662Checking Code In and Out 669Undoing Changes 670Shelvesets 672Getting a Specific Version from the Server 672Seeing Changed Items in Solution Explorer 675Looking at History and Comparing Versions 675Labeling 676Interacting with a Team 677Changing Default Source Control Behavior in Visual Studio 677Branching and Merging 678Summary 681CHAPTER 19: DEPLOYING YOUR WEBSITE 683Preparing Your Website for Deployment 684Avoiding Hard-Coded Settings 684The Web.config File 685Expression Syntax 685The Web Configuration Manager Class 687Preparing for Deployment 691Microsoft Azure 691Publishing Your Site 695Introducing Web.config Transformations 706Moving Data to a Remote Server 713Smoke Testing Your Application 720Going Forward 722Summary 722Appendix: answers to exercises 725Index 735