ASP

Professional ASP.NET 3.5 helps the experienced programmer put these new technologies into action. Greatly expanded from the original best-selling Professional ASP.NET 2.0, Professional ASP.NET 3.5 covers all the key technologies retained from 2.0 in new depth alongside the hundreds of pages of coverage of the important new 3.5 features. Written by 3 of the most well-known and influential ASP.NET developers who were highly praised by ASP.NET creator Scott Guthrie for their ASP.NET 2.0 books, Professional ASP.NET 3.5 is the book you’ll learn the language from and turn to day after day as you write web applications. And as always, Professional ASP.NET 3.5 features language examples in the book and in the code download in both C# and VB!

Key new coverage for ASP.NET 3.5 includes:

• Thorough coverage of how to implement ASP.NET 3.5 AJAX and the ASP.NET AJAX Toolkit
• An introduction to LINQ and many LINQ examples throughout the book side-by-side with the related SQL example to show you the differences between the two
• Enhanced coverage of XML use in ASP.NET including the new XML Schema Designer Add-on, LINQ to XML, LINQ for XML examples, and XSLTC.exe, a command-line XSLT compiler
• A new chapter on CSS design for ASP.NET and the Visual Web Developer CSS design tools
• A new chapter on the ASP.NET lifecycle and architecture best-practices
• Increased coverage of ASP.NET with SQL Server 2005 and Oracle as the databases
• Coverage of enhancing your ASP.NET applications with Microsoft’s new Silverlight for stunning video and animation uses
• Coverage of Scott Hanselman’s famous productivity tool picks for developers to help make you a more productive ASP.NET developer
• Updated coverage of migrating applications for previous ASP.NET versions

Key coverage retained and improved from the ASP.NET 2.0 book:

• The idea of the server control and its pivotal role in ASP.NET development
• How to create templated ASP.NET pages using the master page feature
• Techniques for debugging and handling errors
• Ways to package and deploy ASP.NET applications
• How to retrieve, update, and delete data quickly and logically
• How to implement the cultures and regions features to localize your web site into multiple languages for different visitors
• An understanding of how to use and extend the provider model for accessing data stores, processes, and more
• How to keep track of your application's performance and health with monitoring tools

Who this book is for

This book is for experienced programmers and developers who are looking to make the transition to ASP.NET 3.5.

Beginning ASP.NET 3.5 helps readers learn to build dynamic database driven web sites using ASP.NET 3.5. Starting from scratch, the reader will progressively learn how to design and create web sites with interactive elements. After reading this book, the reader should be able to build a database driven web site on her own, using best practices and current standards.

The book follows the well-known Wrox Beginning approach where theory and demos are intermixed with exercises. Substantial pieces of theory are followed by an exercise that makes use of the things the reader just learned. The 3.5 version of this book is written from scratch with an emphasis on the beginner developer and the order in which they need to learn and work. Steps that are required to set up the development and web server environment are done carefully in sequence to make sure the reader gets off to a good start.

Imar is technical director and software designer for Design IT, an IT company in the Netherlands specializing in Internet and intranet applications built with Microsoft technologies. In addition to extensive ASP.NET writing on his blog and co-authoring a previous Wrox ASP.NET book, he is most well-known amongst the 500,000 monthly developers at p2p.wrox.com for his more than 7000 posts in the Wrox p2p.wrox.com reader discussion forums. He is by far the most well-known Wrox author and participant in this active Wrox discussion area. His answers in the forums have earned him extensive reader praise.

Some of the topics covered in this book include:

• Getting started with ASP.NET 3.5
• Creating Your First Web Site in Visual Web Developer (VWD) 3.5
• Creating Consistent Looking Web Sites
• Programming Your ASP.NET Pages
• Working with ASP.NET Controls
• Navigation
• Using User Controls
• Ajax
• Creating Data Driven Web Forms
• Introduction to Databases, Displaying, Updating, and working with Data
• Working with Data using LINQ
• Security in Your ASP.NET 3.5 Web site
• Personalizing Web Sites
• Debugging and Tracing Pages
• Compiling and Deployment

The 2008 version of Visual Basic is tremendously enhanced and introduces dramatic new concepts, techniques, and features to this popular object-oriented language. Written by an elite author team who are sympathetic to the challenges of learning VB 2008, this comprehensive book provides a clear and concise approach to using VB 2008 in the ever-expanding .NET world.

This book focuses on using the latest and most powerful tools from the Microsoft arsenal within your Visual Basic solutions. Looking closely at LINQ, AJAX, a new Visual Studio and more, you'll be able to take lessons from this book and apply them to what you are doing today. You'll examine everything from the .NET Framework to the best practices for deploying .NET applications to database access and integrating with other technologies, such as COM and XML.

What you will learn from this book

• The core elements of VB 2008 as well as full syntax of all the new additions the language offers

• Ways that the Common Language Runtime (CLR) is responsible for managing the execution of code compiled on the .NET platform

• How VB is used in the creation, installation, running, and debugging of Windows® Services

• How to work with the new SQL Server 2008 along with your .NET applications

• The many features of Windows Forms and Windows Presentation Foundation

• Ways to take advantage of the abilities of LINQ

• The new web technology introduced by Silverlight

Who this book is for
This book is for experienced developers who are looking to transition to the latest version of Visual Basic.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

"This book is by far the best computer programming book I have ever bought. You can go into my upstairs closet and find 20-30 books that I have purchased since the days of VB6. All of them have a few useful pages in them, but all together, they could not add up to as much information as you have given me in the first 11 chapters of this book."(A developer's comment on this book in an email sent to Murach Books)

If you know how to code Windows forms using Visual Basic and want to move to the next level of professional development by mastering web programming, don't miss out on the practical ASP.NET training that's packed into this book.

As its title implies, it teaches all the features that are new in ASP.NET 2.0, including master pages, database access using both SQL and object data sources, the new code-behind model, site navigation features, authentication using the Web Site Administration tool and login controls, profiles, themes, and web parts. And of course, it teaches all the ASP.NET features that are unchanged in this release and that you're going to use every day.

But a lot of ASP.NET 2.0 books say they do that. So here are just a few of the reasons why professional developers like this book so much:

#1: It gives you a 5-chapter section on database programming
Database handling is crucial in business programming, yet it's glossed over in just a chapter or two in many books. In contrast, this 5-chapter section teaches you how to use SQL data sources and the GridView, DetailsView, and FormView controls…all new in ASP.NET 2.0…to develop database applications with little or no VB code. Then, it teaches how to use object data sources, also new in ASP.NET 2.0, to create 3-layer applications that let you separate the presentation code from the data access code in an application.

#2: It teaches you ASP.NET 2.0 development the way it should be done, using Visual Studio 2005
Today, no developer should miss out on the productivity features of Visual Studio 2005 by using limited tools like text editors. So section 1 in this book teaches you how to use Visual Studio 2005 to design, code, and test multi-page web applications that get database data and manage session state. Then, later chapters cover time-saving VS tools like the Query Builder and the Web Site Administration Tool.

#3: Complete applications show you how all the pieces interact
The key to mastering ASP.NET 2.0 is to have plenty of real-world applications that guide you in using the new features you're learning…and that help you avoid the problems that you can run into as you build complex web sites. That's why this book gives you complete applications, including the web forms, the aspx code, and the VB code.

#4: The distinctive "paired-pages" format* makes learning…and reference…a breeze
A few years ago, a customer used the term "paired pages" to describe our presentation style, and the name has stuck. It means that this book presents each topic in a two-page spread. The right page gives screen shots, code, syntax, bulleted details—whatever is needed to illustrate and summarize the topic; the left page provides extra explanation and perspective as needed. That makes it easy for developers at any level to skim through material they already know and focus on what's new to them. It means less reading for everyone. And it makes the book a quick and easy-to-use reference guide once you're done training.

(*To see how paired pages work, you can download free chapters from the Murach web site.)

So if you need to learn ASP.NET 2.0, we hope you'll try this book first. We're convinced that it will deliver the training you need better and faster than any competing book.

Using a practical step-by-step approach, the authors introduce the ASP.NET framework, teach you about database design, and walk you through obtaining, installing and configuring all the freely available software you need to use ASP.NET 2.0. They then show you how to build several real world Web-based applications that you can put to use instantly in your projects.

Readers will learn how to:

The most up-to-date and comprehensive introductory ASP.NET book youll find on any shelf, Beginning ASP.NET 2.0 in VB 2005 guides you through Microsofts latest technology for building dynamic websites. Youll learn to build dynamic web pages quickly, with only basic prior knowledge of Visual Basic. Included is thorough coverage of ASP.NET, to guide you from your first steps to advanced techniques like querying databases from within a web page and performance-tuning your site.

This book includes "best practices" and comprehensive discussions about key database and XML principles, which are essential for you to become effective with ASP.NET. The book also emphasizes the invaluable coding techniques of object orientation and code behind, which will enable you to build real-world websites immediatelyrather than just scraping by with simplified coding practices. By the time youve finished this book, you will have mastered the core techniques and possess the necessary knowledge to begin work as a professional ASP.NET developer.

With its added improvements, ASP.NET 2.0 is becoming the standard technology for creating dynamic web pages on the Windows platform. This new technology is faster to code than the previous version, and offers a more powerful set of tools including MasterPages and Generics. It also runs more quickly when deployed, so that customers enjoy a much better user experience. It is now used by organizations across the board, from start-up companies to blue-chip multinational corporations.

Pro ASP.NET 2.0 in VB 2005 allows on the heels of Apress well-regarded Pro ASP.NET 1.1 in VB .NET. This updated version shares the best-practices coverage and pragmatic style of its predecessor. Author Laurence Moroney covers ASP.NET thoroughlyfrom 2.0 innovations to crossover features from 1.1. This book takes a broad-based approach, explaining how old and new features interrelate. This book also provides you with the solid understanding you need to code real applications.