Introduction to ASP.

NET
Some references:

Beginning ASP.NET using VB.NET; Wrox; 2002 chpt 2.

Kalata, K, Introduction to ASP.NET 2002, chpt 1.
Esposito, D. Programming Microsoft ASP.NET, chpt 1.
Morrison, M. and Morrison, J. Database driven web sites (2nd
edn). Chpt 6.
VS.NET on line documentation + Quickstart tutorials

What is ASP.NET and how is different from ASP

ASP: server side technology for creating dynamic web pages using
scripting languages eg vb script.
ASP.NET: server side technology for creating dynamic web pages
using Fully Fledged programming languages supported by .NET
VB.NET: our chosen language for writing ASP.NET pages

What is .NET?

A Microsoft strategy and new technology for delivering software services

to the desktop and to the web
Components include:
MS Intermediate Language; all code is complied into a more abstract,

trimmed version before execution. All .NET languages are compiled to MSIL
the common language of .NET
The CLR- common language runtime; responsible for executing MSIL code;
interfaces to Windows and IIS
A rich set of libraries (Framework Class Libraries) available to all .NET
languages
The .NET languages such as C#, VB.NET etc that conform to CLR
ASP.NET is how the Framework is exposed to the web, using IIS to manage
simple pages of code so that they can be complied into full .NET programs.
These generate HTML for the browser.

Built on open protocols (XML, SOAP)

Future for development of MS & non-MS based systems.
Also heading towards the Internet Operating System

Common Language
Runtime Type System
Compilers use the runtime type system to
produce type compatible components
Components

C#

VB

C++

Common Type System

Compilers

Runtime Environment

Robust And Secure

Native code compilation

MSIL
No interpreter
Install-time or run-time IL tonative compilation

Code correctness and type-safety

IL can be verified to guarantee type-safety

No unsafe casts, no uninitialized variables, noout-ofbounds array indexing

Evidence-based security

Policy grants permissions based on evidence (signatures,

origin)

.NET Execution Model

VB

Native
Code

VC

...

Script

IL

Common Language Runtime

Standard JIT
Compiler

Native
Code

Common Language Runtime

Lightweight Just-in-time compiler:
MSIL to Native machine language; Can be ported to numerous platforms

The compiled code is transformed into an intermediate language

called the Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL or IL)
An integer in Visual Basic .NET or an int in C# are converted to
the same .NET data type, which is Int32
The IL that is created is the same for all languages
The assembly is the compiled .NET program
The assembly contains the IL along with additional information
called metadata
Metadata contains information about the assembly
Use the IL Disassembler (ildasm.exe) to view the IL within an
assembly

Framework Overview
VB

C++

C#

JScript

Common Language Specification

Win Forms

Data and XML

Base Class Library
Common Language Runtime

Visual Studio.NET

Web Forms
(ASP.NET)

.NET Framework Architecture

System.WinForms

System.Web
Web Services

Web Forms

ASP.NET Application Services

Controls

Drawing

Windows Application Services

System Base Framework

ADO.NET

XML

SQL

Threading

IO

Net

Security

ServiceProcess

Common Language Runtime

Type System

Metadata

Execution

Namespace
The base class libraries are organized into logical
groupings of code called namespaces
A namespace is a hierarchical way to identify
resources in .NET
The System object is at the top of the namespace
hierarchy, and all objects inherit from it
ASP.NET: System.Web namespace
WebForms: System.Web.UI namespace
HTML Server Controls:
System.Web.UI.Control.HTMLControl
ASP.NET Server Controls:
System.Web.UI.Control.WebControl

Importing Namespaces
Visual Studio .NET adds references to your projects
commonly used namespaces by default
You can import the namespaces into your page using
the @Import directive
The following is the syntax for importing a .NET
namespace
<%@ Import NamespaceName %>

Below is a sample of how you would import the

ASP.NET Page class
<%@ Imports System.Web.UI.Page %>

Some ASP.NET namespaces

System

Defines fundamental data types eg

system.string

System.Collections

Definitions and classes for creating

various collections

System.IO

File reading & writing operations

System.Web

Support browser/server
communication

System.Web.UI

Creates the Page object whenever

an .aspx page is requested

System.Web.UI.web Classes and definitions to create

controls
server controls

ASP.NET class browser

ASP.NET provides a means of exposing the .NET
Framework and its functionality to the WWW
Contains a number of pre-built types that take
input from .NET types and represents them in a
form for the web (such as HTML)
Class browser (over 9000 classes; lists the
namespaces): http://interdev.csse.monash.edu.au/
quickstart/aspplus/samples/classbrowser/vb/
classbrowser.aspx

ASP.NET
The latest version of ASP is known as ASP.NET
Visual Studio .NET is a developer application used to
create ASP.NET Web applications
There are two main types of Web resources created
with ASP.NET applications
WebForms are ASP.NET pages within an ASP.NET
application
Web Services are ASP.NET Web pages that contain
publicly exposed code so that other applications can
interact with them
Web Services are identified with the file extension .asmx

WebForms
The ASP.NET WebForm is separated into two
logical areas:
The HTML template
A collection of code behind the WebForm

The HTML template

Contains the design layout, content, and the controls

Creates the user interface, or presentation layer
Instructs the browser how to format the Web page
Is created using a combination of HTML controls, HTML
Server controls, Mobile Controls, and ASP.NET controls

Server Controls
HTML Server controls are similar to the HTML
controls, except they are processed by the server
Add runat = "server" to the HTML control to transform
it into an HTML Server control
HTML control: <input type="text">
HTML Server control:
<input type="text" runat="server"/>
<input type=radio runat=server value=Yes/> Yes

Server-side programs can interact with the control

before it is rendered as a plain HTML control and sent
to the browser

ASP.NET Controls
ASP.NET form controls will create the HTML code
ASP.NET Server controls are organized as:

ASP.NET Form Controls

Data Validation Controls
User Controls
Mobile Controls

ASP.NET controls are usually identified with the prefix

asp: followed by the name of the control
ASP.NET button:
<asp:Button id="ShowBtn" runat="server"
Text="Show the message." />

HTML Server Vs
ASP.NET Server, Controls
ASP.NET form controls can interact with client-side
events such as when the user clicks on a button
When the event occurs, ASP.NET can trigger a script to run
on the server

ASP.NET form controls also have different properties

than their HTML server control counterparts
HTML Server label control
Message1.InnerHTML = "Product 1"

ASP server label control

Message2.Text = "Product 2"

User Controls
User controls are external files that can be included within
another WebForm
User controls allow you to reuse code across multiple files
For example, you can create a user control that displays
the a navigation bar
You can use this control on the home page; they are often
used for creating self-contained code, headers, menus, and
footers
User controls replace the functionality of ASP server-side
include pages
They are identified with the file extension .asmx

Other ASP.NET Server Controls

Data validation controls
A series of controls that validate form data without extensive
JavaScript programming

Mobile controls
A series of controls that provide form functionality within wireless
and mobile devices

Literal controls
Page content that is not assigned to a specific HTML control such as
a combination of HTML tags and text to the browser

Server Controls within

Visual Studio .NET
In Visual Studio
.NET most of the
ASP.NET Server
controls are located
on the Web Forms
tab in the toolbox

Server controls with Visual Studio.NET

The Code Behind

Server programs are written in a separate file known as the
code behind the page
By separating the programming logic and presentation
layer, the application becomes easier to maintain
Only Server controls can interact with the code behind the
page
Written in any ASP.NET compatible language such as Visual
Basic .NET, C#, Perl, or Java
Filename is the same as the WebForm filename
Add a file extension that identifies the language
Visual Basic .NET use .vb (mypage.aspx.vb)
C# use .cs (mypage.aspx.cs)

Code Behind file

The location of the code behind the page is determined via
a property that is set on the first line in the page using the
@Page directive
<%@ Page Language="vb" Codebehind="WebForm1.vb"
Inherits=MyFirstApp.WebForm1"%>

The @Page directive allows you to set the default

properties for the entire page such as the default language
The CodeBehind property identifies the path and filename
of the code behind file
The Inherits property indicates that the code behind the
page inherits the page class
This page class contains the compiled code for this page

Compiling the Page Class

The compiled code behind the page is the class
definition for the page
A class is a named logical grouping of code
The class definition contains the functions, methods, and
properties that belong to that class

In Visual Studio .NET the process of compiling a

class is called building
When you build the application, you compile the code into
an executable file
Visual Studio .NET compiles the code behind the page into
an executable file and places the file in the bin directory

Page Class Events

The Page Class consists of a variety of methods,
functions, and properties that can be accessed
within the code behind the page
The first time a page is requested by a client, a
series of page events occurs
The first page event is the Page_Init event which
initializes the page control hierarchy
The Page_Load event loads any server controls
into memory and occurs every time the page is
executed

Page class events

Page_init
Page_load

Server_Controls

Page_prerender

Page_Unload

Web Services
Web Services also provide a means to
expose .NET functionality on the web but
Web Services expose functionality via XML
and SOAP (cf: function calls over the web)

Web Services

If your business partner is Course Technology and you

want to query that companys product catalog from your
Web site, you could:
Post a link
Scrape a Web site (use a program to view a Web site and capture
the source code)
Provide a Web Service to their catalog application

Web Services are used to create business-to-business

applications
Web Services allow you to expose part or all of your programs over
the Internet. The Web Service source file has the extension .asmx
A public registry known as UDDI contains registered public Web
Services. Third party Web Services are available at
http://www.xmethods.com

How ASP.NET works

When .NET is installed, IIS is configured to
look for files with the .aspx extension and
to use the ASP.NET module
(aspnet_isapi.dll) to handle them.
ASP.NET parses the .aspx file and arranges
it in a predefined class definition and
generates an asp.net page object.
The page object generates html that is sent
back to IIS and then the browser.
NOTE: only .aspx files are parsed (if it is
pure html dont save it as an aspx file as it
will slow down the server.

ASP.NET samples
Page directives: <%@ page language = VB
debug="true" trace="true %>
<script language = VB runat=server> VB.NET
code declarations .. </script>
Message.aspx
<html>
<head> <title>Inserting ASP.NET code Example</title> </head>
<body>
Line1: First HTML Line<br />
Line2: Second HTML Line<br />
Line3: Third HTML Line<br />
</body>
</html>
Note this has no asp code so better to use .html extension

 Message2.aspx
<script language="VB" runat="server">
Sub Page_Load()
Response.Write ("First ASP.NET Line<br />")
Response.Write ("Second ASP.NET Line<br />")
Response.Write ("Third ASP.NET Line<br />")
End Sub
</script>
<html> <head> <title>Inserting ASP.NET code Example</TITLE> </head>
<body>
Line1: First HTML Line<br />
Line2: Second HTML Line<br />
Line3: Third HTML Line<br />
</body>
</html>

 Message3.aspx
html>
<head><title>Inserting ASP.NET code Example</title></head>
<body>
Line1: First HTML Line<br />
Line2: Second HTML Line<br />
Line3: Third HTML Line<br />
<script language="VB" runat="server">
Sub Page_Load()
Response.Write ("First ASP.NET Line<br />")
Response.Write ("Second ASP.NET Line<br />")
Response.Write ("Third ASP.NET Line<br />")
End Sub
</script>
</body>
</html>

Render or inline code block

interweave1.aspx
<html>
<head>
<title>Interweaving ASP.NET code and HTML Example</title>
</head>
<body>
Line1: First HTML Line<br />
<% Response.Write ("First ASP.NET Line<br />") %>
Line2: Second HTML Line<br />
<% Response.Write ("Second ASP.NET Line<br />") %>
Line3: Third HTML Line<br />
<% Response.Write ("Third ASP.NET Line<br />") %>
</body>
</html>
NOT RECOMMENDED.

Interweave2.aspx A Server control

script language="VB" runat="server">
Sub Page_Load()
Message.Text="The ASP.NET line"
End Sub
</script>
<html>
<head> <title>Inserting ASP.NET code Example</TITLE> </head>
<body>
First HTML Line<br/>
<asp:label id=Message runat="server"/> <br />
Second HTML Line<br/>
</body>
</html>

Web application project files

AssemblyInfo.vb

Info about the compiled project file stored in

/bin and named project.dll

Global.asax

Event handler commands visible to all web

forms in a project

Global.asax.resx

Define application resources such as text

strings, images. Can change without
recompiling project.

Global.asax.vb

Asp.net code for application events eg

session.start

Project.sln

Stores links to all project files

Project.suo

VS.NET IDE configuration info for the proj.

Project.vbproj

Configuration and build settings for project

files.

Web application project files cont.

Project.vbproj.webinfo

URL to project web server

Project.vsdisco

Enables search for web services

Styles.css

Project style sheet

Web.config

Project and folder configuration information

Webform.aspx

Web form .aspx file;Html

Webform.aspx.resx

Resources in corresponding web form

Webform.aspx.vb

Code written for the form (code behind)

Bin\project.dll

Compiled project output file (assembly)

Bin\project.pdb

Debugging information used by developer

Viewing the Assembly

Create a simple class, compile the class into an assembly,
then view the class using the IL Disassembler
Open Notepad and type the code shown:
' hello.vb - displays hello world
' Created 06/01/2002
Imports System
Public Module Hello
Sub Main()
Dim s1 As String = "1 - Hello World"
Console.WriteLine(s1)
End Sub
End Module
' Run this at the command line
' vbc hello.vb

Using the ILDASM to

View the Assembly and Classes

Using the ILDASM to view the assembly and classes

Examples
quickstart webforms

Intro4 shows VIEWSTATE

Intro6 shows a click event
Intro7 shows a usercontrol with a calander
Intro8 shows a db connection
Intro9 & 10 show asp.net templates
Intro11shows validation controls
Intro13 shows code behind pages

Server directives eg trace and debug

trace

The lab environment.

Each machine is set up to be an IIS server
http://localhost:1900/..
You create your web projects with Visual Studio.Net.
VS.NET will create a subdirectory in c:/inetpub/wwwroot
for your project. You must copy this subdirectory when
moving to another machine or home.
URL
http://localhost:1900/MyfirstApp/homepage.aspx

Alternative to VS.Net is webmatrix

Some samples on another machine
http://interdev.csse.monash.edu.au/cse2030/ Interdev is not
accessible outside the Monash network.

ASP.NET Vs PHP
Feature

PHP

ASP.NET

HTML

Yes

Yes

CSS

Yes

Yes

php Templates

Yes

UserControls

ServerControls
(buttons,grids etc)

No

Yes

Javascript

Yes

Yes + Validation controls

Database Conn

Yes

Yes

Cookies & Sessions

Yes

Yes

VIEWSTATE

No

Yes

POSTBACK

No

Yes