Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET 4 in 24 Hours

Scott Mitchell is founder, editor, and main contributor of 4GuysFromRolla.com, a popular ASP.NET resource website. Scott has authored thousands of articles and tutorials on Microsoft web technologies. In addition to his vast collection of online articles, Scott has written seven previous books on ASP and ASP.NET: Sams Teach Yourself Active Server Pages 3.0 in 21 Days (Sams); Designing Active Server Pages (O’Reilly); ASP.NET: Tips, Tutorials, and Code (Sams); ASP.NET Data Web Controls Kick Start (Sams); Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 24 Hours (Sams); Teach Yourself ASP.NET 2.0 in 24 Hours (Sams); and Teach Yourself ASP.NET 3.5 in 24 Hours (Sams).   Scott regularly speaks at ASP.NET user groups and conferences across the country and teaches classes on ASP.NET and related web technologies at the University of California-San Diego University Extension. Scott also works as an independent software developer. Scott can be reached at mitchell@4GuysFromRolla.com; his blog is available at www.ScottOnWriting.NET.  

Introduction     1

 

PART I: GETTING STARTED WITH ASP.NET     4

Hour 1: Getting Started with ASP.NET 4    7

What Is ASP.NET?      8

Installing the .NET Framework, Visual Web Developer, and SQL Server 2008     14

A Brief Tour of Visual Web Developer     16

Q&A     23

Workshop     24

Hour 2: Understanding the ASP.NET Programming Model     25

Examining the HTML Portion of an ASP.NET Page     25

Examining the Source Code Portion of an ASP.NET Page     44

Q&A     53

Workshop     53

Hour 3: Using Visual Web Developer     57

Creating a New Website     58

Opening Existing Websites     60

Working with Web Pages and Other Content     61

Customizing the Visual Web Developer Experience     65

Viewing, Moving, and Resizing Windows     68

A World of Help at Your Fingertips     69

Q&A     70

Workshop     71

Hour 4: Designing, Creating, and Testing ASP.NET Pages     73

Specifying the Design Requirements     73

Creating the User Interface     76

Writing the Source Code for the ASP.NET Page     82

Testing the Financial Calculator     86

Examining the Source Code     92

Using the Debugger     93

Q&A     97

Workshop     98

Hour 5: Understanding Visual Basic’s Variables and Operators     101

The Purpose of Programming Languages     102

Declaring and Using Variables     103

Examining Visual Basic’s Operators     110

Learning Visual Basic’s Type Rules     116

Q&A     118

Workshop     118

Hour 6: Managing Program Flow with Visual Basic’s Control Structures     121

Understanding Control Structures     122

Exploring the Conditional Control Structure      123

Working with Visual Basic’s Looping Control Structures     128

Exploring the Modularizing Control Structures: Subroutines and Functions     131

Q&A     142

Workshop     144

Hour 7: Working with Objects in Visual Basic     147

Reexamining the Role of Classes and Objects     148

Creating an Object     150

Setting an Object’s Properties     151

Calling an Object’s Methods     152

Creating Event Handlers for an Object’s Events     153

Q&A     155

Workshop     155

Hour 8: ASP.NET Web Controls for Displaying Text     157

Examining the Web Controls Designed for Displaying Text     157

Using the Literal Web Control     158

Using the Label Web Control     163

Q&A     172

Workshop     173

 

PART II: COLLECTING AND PROCESSING USER INPUT

Hour 9: Web Form Basics     179

Gathering User Input in an HTML Web Page     180

Dissecting ASP.NET Web Forms     186

Q&A     198

Workshop     199

Hour 10: Using Text Boxes to Collect Input     201

Learning About the TextBox Web Control Basics     202

Creating Multiline and Password Text Boxes     205

Examining the TextBox Web Control’s Properties     211

Q&A     216

Workshop     218

Hour 11: Collecting Input Using Drop-Down Lists, Radio Buttons, and Check Boxes     221

Examining the Different Types of User Input Classifications     222

Examining the DropDownList Web Control     224

Selecting One Option from a List of Suitable Choices with RadioButton Web Controls    233

Using the CheckBox Web Control     238

Q&A     243

Workshop     244

Hour 12: Validating User Input with Validation Controls     247

Examining the Need for User Input Validation     248

Validating User Input in an ASP.NET Page     250

Examining the RequiredFieldValidator Validation Control     253

Examining the CompareValidator     261

Using the RangeValidator     268

Validating Input with the RegularExpressionValidator     269

Formatting Properties for the Validation Web Controls     272

A Look at the Remaining Validation Controls     274

Q&A     276

Workshop     277

 

PART III: WORKING WITH DATABASES

Hour 13: Introducing Databases     283

Examining Database Fundamentals     284

Storing Structured Data     285

Creating a New Database     290

Creating Database Tables     292

Adding Data to the Books Table     298

Q&A     302

Workshop     303

Hour 14: Accessing Data with the Data Source Web Controls     305

Examining the Data Source Controls     306

A Look at SQL, the Language of Databases     314

Delving into the SQL SELECT Statement     314

Filtering and Sorting Data from the SqlDataSource Control’s Wizard      323

Q&A     330

Workshop     331

Hour 15: Displaying Data with the Data Web Controls     333

An Overview of Data Web Controls     333

Displaying Data with the GridView Control     337

Showing One Record at a Time with the DetailsView     347

Paging and Sorting with the GridView     351

Q&A     356

Workshop     357

Hour 16: Deleting, Inserting, and Editing Data     359

Updating, Deleting, and Inserting Data with the SqlDataSource      360

Looking at the Data-Modification SQL Statements      363

Editing and Deleting Data with the GridView      366

Inserting Data with the DetailsView      385

Q&A     388

Workshop     388

Hour 17: Working with Data-Bound DropDownLists, RadioButtons, and CheckBoxes     393

An Overview of the List Web Controls     394

Filtering Results Using the DropDownList      401

Collecting User Input with CheckBoxLists and RadioButtonLists     406

Q&A     412

Workshop     412

Hour 18: Exploring Data Binding and Other Data-Related Topics     415

Looking at the GridView and DetailsView’s Fields     416

Using Wildcards in a WHERE Filter Expression     426

An Examination of Data Binding     429

Q&A     436

Workshop     438

Hour 19: Using Templated Data Web Controls     441

Displaying Data Using the ListView Control     442

Paging and Sorting the ListView’s Data     450

Displaying One Record at a Time with the FormView Control     456

Q&A     463

Workshop     464

 

PART IV: SITE NAVIGATION, USER MANAGEMENT, PAGE LAYOUT, AJAX, AND DEPLOYMENT

Hour 20: Defining a Site Map and Providing Site Navigation     469

An Overview of ASP.NET’s Site-Navigation Features     470

Defining the Website’s Structure Using a Site Map     471

Displaying a Breadcrumb with the SiteMapPath Control     476

Showing the Entire Site Structure     481

Q&A     492

Workshop     493

Hour 21: Using Master Pages to Provide Sitewide Page Templates     495

An Overview of Master Pages     496

Creating a Master Page     500

Creating a Content Page     507

Providing Default Content in a Master Page     510

Working with a Master Page’s Source Code Portion     513

Q&A     517

Workshop     517

Hour 22: Managing Your Site’s Users     521

An Overview of User Accounts in ASP.NET     522

Allowing Visitors to Create New User Accounts     533

Signing In to the Website with the Login Control     541

Displaying Content Based on Authentication Status     545

Examining the ASP.NET Web Site Template     547

Q&A     550

Workshop     551

Hour 23: Building More Responsive Web Pages with ASP.NET Ajax     555

An Overview of Ajax     556

Using the ASP.NET Ajax Library     558

Q&A     568

Workshop     569

Hour 24: Deploying Your Website     573

Choosing a Web-Hosting Company     574

Visiting the Remote Website     590

Q&A     592

Workshop     593

Index     595