Chapter 7. ASP.NET

This chapter introduces the next technology for providing dynamic and interactive web pages. ASP.NET takes Active Server Pages (ASP) a step further to simplify the development process of web pages and enhance scalability of web applications. First, we review the conventional way of developing web applications using ASP to uncover some of the pitfalls that ASP.NET overcomes. We then discuss the benefits of ASP.NET and provide a high-level survey of the classes in the ASP.NET, such as control and page, as well as the complete syntax of ASP.NET Web Forms. To wrap up the chapter, we discuss the many aspects of ASP.NET development: how ASP.NET supports web services development, how to use custom server controls, and how session management has been improved to provide more scalable web solutions. This overview chapter is designed to provide experienced developers with a solid introduction to ASP.NET and Web Forms; for additional in-depth information, see Programming ASP.NET by Liberty and Hurwitz (O'Reilly) and ASP.NET in a Nutshell by Duthie and MacDonald (O'Reilly).