Session 2—Setting Up .NET |
17 |
Figure 2-1 The ASP.NET QuickStart Tutorial Page
Testing Your Installation
To test your installation, you can simply begin walking through the default sample applications by running the QuickStart Tutorials discussed in the previous section. These tutorials are broken down into the categories shown in Table 2-3:
Table 2-3 QuickStart Tutorials
In This Category |
You’ll Find . . . |
Getting Started |
An introduction to ASP.NET and a summary overview of each |
|
of the core languages. We highly recommend that you review |
|
the discussion on language support here to familiarize yourself |
|
with Visual Basic .NET and C#. |
|
|
ASP.NET Web Forms |
A discussion of the fundamentals of designing pages, using |
|
server controls, accessing databases and building business |
|
objects with ASP.NET. This should be your next stop in the tour |
|
of tutorials. |
|
|
ASP.NET Web Services |
A few good examples to familiarize yourself with the concepts |
|
of creating and using Web Services. |
|
|
Continued
18 |
Friday Evening |
Table 2-3 |
Continued |
In This Category |
You’ll Find . . . |
ASP.NET Web Applications |
A cursory overview of what an ASP.NET application is, how to |
|
handle state within the application and how the global.aspx |
|
file is used. |
|
|
Cache Services |
A good overview of how all of the new caching features are |
|
handled including, output, fragment and data caching. |
|
|
Configuration |
Details about the machine.config and the Web.config files, |
|
which are critical in supporting major aspects of how your |
|
application operates from security and state maintenance |
|
to localization. |
|
|
Deployment |
A high-level overview on the benefits of the .NET Framework |
|
for deploying applications. |
|
|
Security |
A good summary of the multiple methods available to support |
|
authentication and authorization for your application and Web |
|
services. |
|
|
Localization |
Information on how to handle date/time, encoding and other |
|
format-related issues when targeting multiple languages. |
|
You’ll also find a high-level overview of using resource files |
|
to support language localization. |
|
|
Tracing |
An discussion of how the new tracing functionality can help |
|
you keep your sanity when debugging applications. |
|
|
Debugging |
The basics of the new visual debugger and how to turn |
|
debugging on for testing. |
|
|
Performance |
A high-level overview of the positive and negatives related |
|
to the in-process and out-of-process state maintenance. |
|
|
ASP to ASP.NET Migration |
The key differences in ASP and ASP.NET. This is a great starting |
|
point for those of you familiar with developing for ASP. |
|
|
Sample Applications |
Consists of several excellent sample applications, including |
|
a Personalized Portal, an E-Commerce Application, A Class |
|
Browser Application, and the best example of all the |
|
IBuySpy.com application which covers many of the most |
|
crucial elements you will need to understand such as user |
|
logins, shopping baskets, the use of n-tier development best |
|
practices, and the use of Web services. An absolute must |
|
review! |
|
|
Session 2—Setting Up .NET |
19 |
You will likely face challenges if you have previously installed beta versions of the .NET Framework SDK. If you have installed beta versions, plan to reinstall the operating system prior to installing the production version. Even though the beta versions were fairly stable, anytime you try and simply install production bits over beta bits you are likely to create problems.
Support for .NET
There are a tremendous number of newsgroups and knowledge base articles available on-line to support your development efforts. In order to help you identify some of the more popular support groups available on-line that are specific to ASP.NET and ADO.NET, please refer to Table 2-4.
Table 2-4 Support Resources for ASP.NET and ADO.NET
Name |
Type of Support |
URL |
MSDN Online Newsgroups |
Newsgroup |
http://msdn.microsoft.com/newsgroups/ |
|
|
|
ASP.NET Homepage |
Web Site |
http://www.asp.net/ |
|
|
|
Cold Rooster Consulting |
Web Site |
http://www.coldrooster.com/default.asp |
|
|
|
ASPNG Discussion Lists |
Discussion List |
http://www.aspng.com/aspng/index.aspx |
|
|
|
IBuySpy Homepage |
Web Site |
http://www.ibuyspy.com/ |
|
|
|
GotDotNet |
Web Site |
http://www.gotdotnet.com |
|
|
|
REVIEW
You should now be on your way to developing! If you run into issues, be sure to check http://msdn.microsoft.com and http://support.microsoft.com for additional troubleshooting tips.
QUIZ YOURSELF
1.What are the minimal requirements for installing the .NET Framework? (See “Installation Requirements.”)
2.Can you successfully use the .NET Framework on Windows 95? (See “Installation Requirements.”)
3.List two on-line resources that provide support on ASP.NET or ADO.NET?
(See “Support for .NET.”)
