ASP.NET INTRODUCTION

Unlike the ASP runtime, ASP.NET uses the Common Language Runtime (CLR) provided
by the .NET Framework. The CLR is the .NET runtime, which manages the execution
of code. The CLR allows the objects, which are created in different languages,
to interact with each other and hence removes the language barrier. CLR thus
makes Web application development more efficient.



In addition to simplifying the designing of Web applications, the .NET CLR
offers many advantages. Some of these advantages are listed as follows.

Improved performance:



The ASP.NET code is a compiled CLR code instead of an interpreted code. The CLR
provides just-in-time compilation, native optimization, and caching. Here, it is
important to note that compilation is a two-stage process in the .NET Framework.
First, the code is compiled into



the Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL).



Then, at the execution time, the MSIL is compiled into native code. Only the
portions of the code that are actually needed will be compiled into native code.
This is called Just In Time compilation. These features lead to an overall
improved performance of ASP.NET applications.



Flexibility:

The entire .NET class library can be accessed by ASP.NET applications. You can
use the language that best applies to the type of functionality you want to
implement, because ASP.NET is language independent.



Configuration settings:

The application-level configuration settings are stored in an Extensible Markup
Language (XML) format. The XML format is a hierarchical text format, which is
easy to read and write. This format makes it easy to apply new settings to
applications without the aid of any local administration tools.



Security:

ASP.NET applications are secure and use a set of default authorization and
authentication schemes. However, you can modify these schemes according to the
security needs of an application.



In addition to this list of advantages, the ASP.NET framework makes it easy to
migrate from ASP applications.



Creating an ASP.NET Application



Use a text editor:

In this method, you can write the code in a text editor, such as Notepad, and
save the code as an ASPX file. You can save the ASPX file in the directory
C:inetpubwwwroot. Then, to display the output of the Web page in Internet
Explorer, you simply need to type http://localhost/.aspx in the Address box. If
the IIS server is installed on some other machine on the network, replace "localhost"
with the name of the server. If you save the file in some other directory, you
need to add the file to a virtual directory in the Default WebSite directory on
the IIS server. You can also create your own virtual directory and add the file
to it.



Use the VS.NET IDE:

In this method, you use the IDE of Visual Studio .NET to create a Web page in a
WYSIWYG manner. Also, when you create a Web application, the application is
automatically created on a Web server (IIS server). You do not need to create a
separate virtual directory on the IIS server.



From the preceding discussion, it is obvious that the development of ASP.NET Web
applications is much more convenient and efficient in Visual Studio .NET.



ASP.NET Web pages consist of HTML text and the code. The HTML text and the code
can be separated in two different files. You can write the code in Visual Basic
or C# . This separate file is called the code behind file. In this section,
you'll create simple Web pages by using VB as well as C#.



Before you start creating a Web page, you should be familiar with basic ASP.NET
syntax. At the top of the page, you must specify an @ Page directive to define
page specific attributes, such as language.



To specify the language as VB for any code output to be rendered on the page.



This line indicates that any code in the block, <% %>, on the page is compiled
by using VB.



To render the output on your page, you can use the Response.Write() method.



Creating a Visual Basic Web Application



You can create an ASP.NET application using Visual Basic by creating a Visual
Basic



Web Application project. To do so, complete the following steps:



1. Select File ® New ® Project. The New Project dialog box appears.



2. Select Visual Basic Projects from the Project Types pane.



3. Select ASP.NET Web Application from the Templates pane. The Name box contains
a default name of the application. The Location box contains the name of a Web
server where the application will be created. However, you can change the
default name and location. In this case, the name of the sample application is
SampleVB.



Deploying an ASP.NET Web Application



After creating and testing your ASP.NET Web applications, the next step is
deployment.



Deployment is the process of distributing the finished applications (without the
source code) to be installed on other computers.



In Visual Studio .NET, the deployment mechanism is the same irrespective of the
programming language and tools used to create applications. In this section,
you'll deploy the "Hello World" Web application that you created. You can deploy
any of the application that was created by using VB or C#. Here, you'll deploy
the application created by using VB. To do so, follow these steps:



1. Open the Web application project that you want to deploy. In this case, open
the SampleVB project.



2. Select File ® Add Project ® New Project to open the Add New Project dialog
box.



3. From the Project Types pane, select Setup and Deployment Projects.



From the Templates pane, select Web Setup Project.



4. Change the default name of the project. In this case, change it to "SampleVBDeploy."



5. Click OK to complete the process. The project is added in the Solution
Explorer window.



Additional Resources and Reference

click here for more info mcitp training

click here for more info mcst training

:

 

MCITP SQL Server: Business Intelligence

I need to set some personal objectives for the next six months and I’ve been
considering working towards the Microsoft MCITP SQL Server: Business
Intelligence certification.



This requires that I pass two exams:

* 70-445: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence – Implementation and
Maintenance

* 70-446 exam: Designing a Business Intelligence Infrastructure by Using
Microsoft SQL Server 2005



Passing the 70-445 gives you the MCTS SQL Server BI certification. Passing the
70-446 gives you the MCITP. The 70-445 is a prerequisite to the 70-446.



According to the latest MCP figures, there aren’t that many MCITP BI developers
out there, so this may be a challenge I’ll take on.



From the company perspective, it will be a big plus as it will earn them their
third competency - Business Intelligence, and will enhance our Microsoft Gold
Partner status. Hitting this milestone should also yield a good bonus at the end
of the year! On a personal level, it will allow me to build on my existing
BusinessObjects and Performance Point Server skills and pick up more of the
Microsoft BI toolset.



I’ve worked with Microsoft SQL Server a great deal and am currently playing
around with SQL Server 2008. I’ve also used most of the Microsoft BI tools as
well; SSIS, SSAS (for cubes) and SSRS. Having looked through the exam
preparation guides, I think I can clear these two exams in the next few months.



I don’t think I’ll take any formal classroom based training for these exams. I’d
rather use my training budget on something else, possibly Crystal Reports or
BusinessObjects Data Integrator. Hence, I’ll be using the MS book MCTS
Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-445): Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005 Business
Intelligence—Implementation and Maintenance to get me going.



Once this is out of the way, I might start looking at Sharepoint, and portals in
general.



Additional Resources:

click here for more info
mcitp training  

click here for more info
mcst training

MCTS .NET Certification Station

How Do You Retrieve Information About All Network Connections?

One of the objectives of the MCTS .NET Framework exam is to Embed management
information and events into a .NET Framework application. (Refer
System.Management namespace) and within that exam objective there is the
specific objective



Retrieve information about all network connections.

I started to look through the System.Management namespace and found the
ManagementObject and the ManagementObjectSearcher. Then the clarity of the
examples of the descriptions and examples began to muddy. I understood that the
ManagementObjectSearcher was using an ObjectQuery object to perform the search.
It was completely unclear WHAT was being queried.



My investigations then lead me to the Windows Management Interface, known as WMI.
What does this have to do with ObjectQuery and the ManagementObjectSearcher
classes? Well, WMI and the underlying WMI classes are what is actually being
queried. The queries are written in a SQL derivative named WQL. There is a
dizzying variety of information exposed by WMI.



After the mechanics of writing a query are understood, the next task is to find
the correct WMI class that encapsulates the information you need. In the case of
our question at hand, we are looking for networking information.



At first I was happy to find the Win32_NetworkConnection class, but found that
it did not return information for me. (Despite having a connection up for
writing this post). The next promising class was the Win32_NetworkAdapter class.
Using this class I created the example below that retrieves information about
all network connections.



A "gotcha" to consider before reviewing the code below:

My first version of the code listed a number of adapters. I then determined that
it listed physical AND logical network adapters. You will see an if block in the
code to distinguish between physical and logical adapters.



Retrieve Information About All Network Connections Example using System;

// A reference to the System.Management assembly needs

// to be added to your project...

using System.Management;



namespace NetworkConnectionsExample

{

class Program

{

static void Main(string[] args)

{

// In order to use ManagementObjectSearcher, we need to

// supply an query string to search on. We are searching

// against differenct classes exposed by the Windows Management

// Interface(WMI).

ManagementObjectSearcher network_connections =

new ManagementObjectSearcher(

"SELECT * FROM Win32_NetworkAdapter");



Console.WriteLine("\nFirst we will just list the names of all physical
adapters");

Console.WriteLine("and their connection status");

Console.WriteLine("-----------------------------");



// The query of the underlying ObjectQuery object is not executed

// until the Get() function is executed.

foreach (ManagementObject connection in network_connections.Get())

{

// Knowledge by experiment... on my machine there were a number

// of network adapters displayed on my first version of this code.

// I know I only have three pyhisical adapters (Wireless, 10/100,

// and 1394) so I empirically determined that the Management Objects

// with the NetConnectionStatus property were physical apdapters and

// not logical adapters... mileage may vary, results not insured ;)

if (connection.Properties["NetConnectionStatus"].Value != null)

{

Console.WriteLine("Product Name: " + connection.Properties["ProductName"].Value);

Console.WriteLine("Connection Status: " +
connection.Properties["NetConnectionStatus"].Value);

Console.WriteLine("-----------------------------");

}

}



Console.WriteLine("\nNext we will show all of the information availalbe for each
physical adapter.");

Console.WriteLine("Probably more than you ever wanted to know about your network
adapter, but your software might need to know it...");

Console.WriteLine("-----------------------------");



foreach (ManagementObject connection in network_connections.Get())

{

if (connection.Properties["NetConnectionStatus"].Value != null)

{

foreach (PropertyData d in connection.Properties)

{

Console.WriteLine("-- Name: " + d.Name + " Value: " + d.Value);

}

Console.WriteLine("-----------------------------");

}

}

}

}

}





Additional Resources

click here for more info mcitp training

click here for more info mcst training

click here for more info mcse training

click here for more info mcse 2003 training

click here for more info mcdst training