Five steps for getting started with ASP. NET

Author: Rob Howard

Archive on March 13

Welcome to the Nothin 'but ASP. NET column. Next I will introduce some important new features in ASP. NET and some other. NET Framework technologies.

In the first column, we will discuss the five steps for getting started with ASP. NET. In future columns, we will explore other excellent functions in ASP. NET (such as deployment, status management, process model, control, security, and other changes ).

Step 1: download and install the. NET SDK

ASP. NET is provided as part of the. net sdk. It is a collection of all technologies required to create, generate, and test. NET Framework-based applications. To download and install the. net sdk, go to the MSDN Online. NET Developer Center (in English) and click"Download the. NET Framework SDK Beta 1". The downloaded content is about 90 MB. However, there is an option to split the SDK into a series of small files for download.

Before installing ASP. NET, you need to install Internet Explorer 5.5, which you can download from the http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.htm.

Note:SDK technology preview only supports Windows 5.0 Server installed with Internet Information Services (IIS) 2000, while Beta 1 supports Windows NT 4.0 and IIS 4.0.

Step 2: Quick Start example for installing. NET Framework

If you have installed the SDK, you should also install the Quick Start example of. NET Framework. The Quick Start examples in the. net sdk include detailed examples of various ASP. NET features and other. NET technologies.

To install Quick Start example:

1. Open the SDK Overview Link (. NET Framework SDK Overview), which has been added to your desktop during SDK installation.
2. Open the HTML page and click the. NET Framework Samples link.
3. Follow the installation steps to install the example.
4. After the installation is complete, you can access the example at http: // localhost/quickstart/default.htm.
5. Finally, when browsing the default document, you can select the ASP. NET link at the top of the page. This link contains a list of ASP. NET examples.

Step 3: add to ASPNG discussion list

As one of the leader in the ever-expanding ASP. NET community, Charles Carroll has been dedicated to holding the list of ASP. NET discussions based on email. In fact, from the first day of the Professional Development Conference (PDC) in early July, this discussion list has been present.

This discussion list is the best choice for learning and releasing increasingly rich ASP. NET developers' knowledge. Charles checks and filters all messages to ensure that published articles are related to this list, so that the discussion is not separated from the topic.

In addition to the Community list, the Microsoft. NET Framework Team also regularly participates in discussions and releases sample code. Recently Scott Guthrie released an ASP. NET example of dynamically generated images.

To join the discussion list, just access the http://www.asplists.com/asplists/aspng.asp ). On this page, you can find the complete list of email discussions for different topics related to ASP. NET. The most active list is ASPNGBeta. We recommend that you join this list. Select ASPNGBeta from the list. You can also directly access the http://www.asplists.com/asplists/aspngbeta.asp to select the option for receiving email distribution as needed.

Step 4: If I install the SDK and use ASP. NET, will the existing ASP application be interrupted?

No. ASP. NET applications and existing ASP applications can run simultaneously.

The file extension used by ASP (such. asp and. asa) and ASP.. NET file extension (such. aspx ,. asax ,. ascx ,. asmx and so on) are completely independent and will not replace each other. In addition, ASP. NET applications are processed by an independent ISAPI extension.

Note: Although ASP and ASP. NET applications can run simultaneously, they cannot share application information even in the same directory. For example, the setting in global. asa does not affect ASP. NET applications, and the setting in global. asax does not affect ASP applications. Similarly, the application and session status information are not shared. A user in an ASP application cannot use the session data added to the same user in an ASP. NET application unless the user is re-created.

Do I need to use Visual Studio or other tools to create an ASP. NET page?

No. Although Visual Studio. NET provides an amazing design, encoding, and debugging environment, it is not required to create an ASP. NET application. ASP. NET follows the same "just save" design principle as ASP: any text-based editing program can be used to create an ASP. NET application. When you access the ASP. NET page for the first time, the page is automatically compiled, and future requests will access compiled resources.

Can ASP. NET run on Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me?

No. You can use one of these platforms for development, but ASP. NET applications must run on Web servers, Windows 2000 with IIS installed, or Windows NT 4.0.

Step 5: Learn More

In this step, I will try to summarize some important resources for online, printing and activities. If new messages are received, I will continue to add new resources and activities.

IBuySpy Microsoft ASP. NET Sample Application

IBuySpy is a fully functional e-commerce application that describes in detail how to use ASP. NET to create high-performance, scalable Web applications. You can browse the sample application (including the complete source code and documentation) online, or download the complete C # Or Visual Basic. NET version application.

ASP. NET host service

Brinkster Inc. is the largest free ASP Web hosting service provider. It provides free ASP. NET host services. Each member can obtain 5 MB space for testing and learning ASP. NET. The member identities used for testing and learning give developers the opportunity to understand this new technology. Brinkster has provided free ASP host service for more than a year, leading the ASP/ASP. NET host service market.

Community Site and distribution list

ASP. the. NET community (including people, activities, discussion lists, and newsgroups) is amazing. It is not only one of the best occasions to get answers or solve problems, some sites provide online Quick Start examples, which means you can try ASP. NET without installing it.

• Http://www.aspfree.com is one of the more comprehensive ASP. NET community sites managed by Steve Schofield. You can find more than a dozen articles on ASP. NET and examples of online ASP. NET quick start. If you cannot install NET. SDK, this is a good choice for learning ASP. NET. As a reward, you can also get the Wrox Press publishedA Preview of ASP. NETThe online version of chapter 1st.
• Http://www.aspng.com is another comprehensive site related to ASP. NET. ASPNG includes links to the ASP. NET class uploaded by Charles Carroll and ASP. NET Workshop uploaded by Stephen Walther. Finally, ASPNG includes an active email discussion list. For more information, see http://www.asplists.com ).
• Several articles on ASP. NET and Web-based ASP. NET forums organized by clues.
• The online magazine for http://www.asptoday.com Wrox Press has 10 articles on ASP. NET ranging from ADO + to generating server controls.
• Http://www.4guysfromrolla.com 4 GuysFromRolla includes some articles and other related resources. This article covers the overview of ADO + and ASP. NET.
• Http://www.devx.com (English) Finally, devx.com contains a more comprehensive list of ASP. NET and available. NET related resources. From books, websites, and activities, you can find things you are interested in.

Books

There are currently three books on. NET:

• Presenting C #This section briefly introduces the new language C # (one of the multiple languages supported by ASP. NET ). If you want to quickly and easily understand C #, you may need this book.
• A Preview of ASP +Covers a variety of content from brief introduction to ASP. NET to creation of ASP. NET pages, including Web services, data and controls. It also involves topics such as transferring from ASP to ASP. NET, ASP. NET object models, and how to use COM components in. NET. This book was available before Beta 1.
• A Programmer's Introduction to C #Eric Gunnerson (a member of the C # Team) discussed. NET Language C # in depth.

Activity

If you are willing to attend the meeting and watch a demonstration of ASP. NET and. NET Framework, we recommend that you:

• Wrox (English)
  The Wrox European developer conference will be held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on November 29. The meeting discussed various topics related to ASP. NET and. NET. NET Framework Team members will attend the meeting. We hope you will attend this meeting.
  
  
• InsideASP)
  The InsideASP conference will be held in Orlando, Florida on March 13, February 22-25. The meeting will only discuss issues related to ASP and ASP. NET communities. Like the Wrox meeting,. NET Framework Team members will also attend the meeting.
  
  
• ASP. NET quick course (English)
  The four-day seminar will focus on how to use ASP + server controls to create complex interactive HTML forms. We will also introduce you to the latest version of Microsoft ADO-ADO +. For more information about the meeting time and address, see this Web site.

Summary

In short, it is very easy to connect to and run ASP. NET. Now, you have some useful resources to help you learn this technology and hope that you can join the growing community Community Support Team. In the next month's article, we will discuss changes in session state management in ASP. NET (a major change in ASP ).

If you have comments or suggestions on the column, please send an email to the netcolum@microsoft.com.

 

Rob HowardIs an ASP. NET program administrator in the. NET Framework Team. Whenever he is free, he spends time with his family or flies to East Washington for fishing.