ASP.NET 3.5 For Dummies®

23.1. Stop Bashing Your Head against a Wall

It's not unusual to be stuck on code that should work but doesn't. It happens to everyone, not just beginners. When you're spinning (geekspeak for getting nowhere) the frustration can drive you up the wall. Consider these possibilities when you hit a roadblock:

• There's a knowledge gap. You're missing a key piece of information that you need to make this thing work.

• The code sample is wrong. It might be that the code was based on a prerelease version and hasn't been updated; that it targets a different version of .NET; that it never worked in the first place; or something has been left out.

• The documentation is wrong. Because of product churn (last minute and unreported changes), the documentation may not accurately reflect the release version of the software. (Churn is an occupational hazard for technical writers!)

• You're up against a bug in the .NET platform or ASP.NET. Released software always has some bugs, so it's within the realm of possibility that you discovered one. That said, be sure you rule out the preceding possibilities before deciding the platform is faulty.

The great thing about ASP.NET is that you're never alone. A good chance exists that someone has already jumped the same hurdle.