Build Your Own ASP.NET 2.0 Web Site Using C# & VB, Second Edition

To make sure we’re on the same page and that the code works, save this piece of

code in a file named Hello.aspx within the Learning virtual directory you created

in Chapter 1. Loading the file through http://localhost/Learning/Hello.aspx

should render the result shown in Figure 2.3.

Figure 2.3. Sample Page in action

As you can see, this ASP.NET page contains examples of all the above components

(except server-side includes) that make up an ASP.NET page. You won’t often

use every single element in a given page, but it’s important that you are familiar

with these elements, their purposes, and how and when it’s appropriate to use

them.

Directives

The directives section is one of the most important parts of an ASP.NET page.

Directives control how a page is compiled, specify how a page is cached by web

browsers, aid debugging (error-fixing), and allow you to import classes to use

within your page’s code. Each directive starts with <%@. This is followed by the

directive name, plus any attributes and their corresponding values. The directive

then ends with %>.

There are many directives that you can use within your pages, and we’ll discuss

them in greater detail later, but, for now, know that the Import and Page directives

are the most useful for ASP.NET development. Looking at the sample ASP.NET

page in Figure 2.2, we can see that a Page directive was used at the top of the

page like so:

Visual Basic File: Hello.aspx (excerpt)

<%@ Page Language="VB" %>

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Chapter 2: ASP.NET Basics