ASP.NET Technical Resources

by Mai-lan Tomsen Bukovec

ASP.NET is a free powerful framework for building dynamic Web applications, whether it's a small, personal Web site or a large, enterprise class Web application. ASP.NET is adaptable to a wide variety of projects and development styles. ASP.NET is part of the .NET Framework, and when coding ASP.NET applications developers have access to the entire .NET Framework. This article provides a summary of where you can go to get started learning about developing ASP.NET applications.

To learn more about ASP.NET as a programming framework, check out the www.asp.net site where you can find whitepapers, forums, and other support

There is also an active blogging community that focuses on ASP.NET, including:

ASP.NET Web Forms

A page and controls framework that enables developers to build Web applications using encapsulated, UI functionality in easy-to-use, reusable common and user-defined controls. There are videos, tutorials, and articles on the www.asp.net web site that provides this information.

ASP.NET Dynamic Data

A data scaffolding framework that enables rapid development of functional, data-driven applications using ASP.NET Web Forms, and is based on a LINQ to SQL or Entity Framework data model. ASP.NET Dynamic Data brings major usability and RAD development changes to the existing ASP.NET data controls. For more information, see the ASP.NET dynamic data site https://www.asp.net/dynamicdata.

ASP.NET AJAX

A framework for quickly creating efficient and interactive Web applications that work across all popular browsers. ASP.NET AJAX offers:

  • Support for jQuery, a fast, concise JavaScript Library that simplifies HTML document traversing, event handling, animating, and Ajax interactions for rapid web development.
  • Support for enhancements to existing pages using powerful AJAX controls with support for all modern browsers.
  • Access to remote services and data from the browser without tons of complicated JavaScript.
  • Improved efficiency and ease of use in Visual Studio 2008, with its built-in support for ASP.NET AJAX, improved JavaScript support, and a new Web page designer interface.

For more information, see the ASP.NET MVC site https://www.asp.net/mvc.

Running ASP.NET Applications on IIS

ASP.NET integrates tightly for management, configuration, and request processing with IIS. Manage ASP.NET settings like .NET authorization rules and ASP.NET providers, through the IIS Management console. The IIS distributed XML-based configuration system stores settings for IIS, ASP.NET and other components, such as FTP 7.0. For an overview of the new IIS configuration system, review Configuration System in IIS7 and Above. The IIS7 and Above Configuration Reference itemizes and describes how to manage each element in the configuration system. The new integrated pipeline in IIS integrates the core ASP.NET runtime with the IIS request process pipeline; see How to Take Advantage of the IIS7 and Above Integration Pipeline for more details. Other articles on optimizing ASP.NET applications for IIS are available here.