Professional Visual Basic® 2010 and .NET 4

Chapter 21. Working with ASP.NET

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS CHAPTER

• Overview of ASP.NET

• Introduction to Web Forms

• Using server controls

• Working with events

• Understanding ViewState

• Adding validation

• Building data-driven applications

ASP.NET is a Web application framework (built on top of the .NET framework) that en ables you to build powerful, secure, and dynamic applications in a highly productive environment. This chapter introduces ASP.NET and helps get you started building applications for the Web.

THE HISTORY OF ASP.NET

The technologies and practices around Web development have changed considerably since .NET was first released in 2002, and ASP.NET has evolved to keep up. The additions of the provider model, ASP.NET AJAX, ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET Dynamic Data, Silverlight, and SharePoint have enabled Web developers on the Microsoft platform to build applications that meet the needs and expectations of today's consumer.

Here's a brief summary of the versions of ASP.NET and some of the key features introduced with each version.

VERSION	FEATURES
1.0/1.1	Web Forms
2.0	Master pages Themes and skins DataSource controls Provider model Membership and profiles Navigation controls ASP.NET AJAX extensions
3.5	ASP.NET AJAX integrated in .NET Framework Support for REST and JSON in Web services
3.5 SP1	ASP.NET MVC ASP.NET Routing ASP.NET Dynamic Data
4.0	Web application deployment Web Forms additions (control over client IDs, support for routing, enhanced support for standards, integration with Dynamic Data) Microsoft ...