1

SEMINAR REPORT

ON

ASP.NET

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Web Application Fundamentals

3. Parts of an ASP.NET Web Application

4. ASP.NET Architecture

5. The .NET Framework

6. Creation of ASP.NET Pages.

7. Comparison of ASP and ASP.NET

8. Conclusion
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1. Introduction

ASP.NET is the platform used to create Web applications and Web services
that run under IIS (Internet Information Service).

ASP.NET is more than the next version of Active Server Pages (ASP); it is a
unified Web development platform that provides the services necessary for
developers to build enterprise-class Web applications. While ASP.NET is
largely syntax compatible with ASP, it also provides a new programming
model and infrastructure for more secure, scalable, and stable applications.

ASP.NET is a compiled, .NET-based environment; Developer can author

applications in any .NET compatible language, including Visual Basic .NET,
C#, and JScript .NET. Additionally, the entire .NET Framework is available to
any ASP.NET application. Developers can easily access the benefits of these
technologies, which include the managed common language runtime
environment, type safety, inheritance, and so on.

ASP.NET has been designed to work seamlessly with WYSIWYG HTML

editors and other programming tools, including Microsoft Visual Studio .NET.
Not only does this make Web development easier, but it also provides all the
benefits that these tools have to offer, including a GUI that developers can
use to drop server controls onto a Web page and fully integrated debugging
support.

Developers can choose from the following two features when creating an
ASP.NET application, Web Forms and Web services, or combine these in any
way they see fit. Each is supported by the same infrastructure that allows
using authentication schemes; cache frequently used data, or customizes
application’s configuration, to name only a few possibilities.

• Web Forms allows building powerful forms-based Web pages. When

building these pages, ASP.NET server controls can be used to create
common UI elements, and program them for common tasks. These
controls allow to rapidly building a Web Form out of reusable built-in or
custom components, simplifying the code of a page.
• An XML Web service provides the means to access server
functionality remotely. Using Web services, businesses can expose
programmatic interfaces to their data or business logic, which in turn
can be obtained and manipulated by client and server applications.
XML Web services enable the exchange of data in client-server or
server-server scenarios, using standards like HTTP and XML
messaging to move data across firewalls. XML Web services are not
tied to a particular component technology or object-calling convention.
As a result, programs written in any language, using any component
model, and running on any operating system can access XML Web
services
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2. Web Application Fundamentals

The Internet allows people from all over the world to communicate with each
other via their computers. This technology has brought about many new
possibilities, including e-mail, instant messaging and the World Wide Web.

Originally, web sites were very simple. There were only HTML pages on any
topic .people could share whatever they liked, those early pages were static-
visitors could not interact with them in any way.

The Web quickly evolved and new levels of functionality were added,
including images, tables, and forms. This finally allowed visitors to interact
with Web sites, giving rise to guest books and user polls. Web site developers
began to build other neat little tricks into their sites, such as image rollovers
and dropdown menus.

This allowed interactivity, but true dynamic content was still lacking. Then
server processing was introduced. A visitor can now interact with database,
process content, and determine new types of visitor demographics over the
Web.
ASP.Net is a server technology that brings together the different pieces of the
Web to give Web sites developer more power than ever.

Dynamic processing
The internet works on the client /server model .Two computers work
together, sending information back and forth, to perform a task. The most
common scenario is communication between a server (a computer that holds
information) and a client (a computer that wants the information).
The client computer sends a request for information to he server, the server
then responds to the client with the information that was requested of it. This
paradigm is the request/response model, and it is an integral part of the
client/server model. Although this is a marvelous way to communicate and
distribute information, it’s rather simple and static. It can’t provide any
dynamic information or processing. The server simply waits around for
someone t request information, and then it returns the data that’s already
stored on its hard drive without really looking at what it’s sending.
Generally, static Web request follows these four steps:

1. The client locates a Web Server through its URL (such as

www.microsoft.com).
2. The client requests page (such as index.htm).
3. The server sends the requested document.
4. The client receives the document and displays it.

On the other hand in server processing the server takes a look at what it
sends before it sends it, and it can take orders from the client. The server can
return dynamic data, such as that from a database, calculations it performs
and anything else the client may ask for. The modified work flow is as follows:
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1. The client locates a Web Server through its URL (such as

www.microsoft.com).
2. The client requests page (such as index.htm).
3. The server examines the requested file and processes any code it contains.
4. The server translates the results of the processing to HTML and sends the
requested document to the client.
5. The client receives the document and displays it.

There’s another model for communicating between servers and clients, known
as the event-driven model. The server waits around for something to happen
on the client. Once it does the server takes action and performs some piece of
functionality. This model is much easier for building applications than using a
request/response scenario.
ASP.net works in this way-it detects actions and responds to them.

Client-side processing
Client side processing occurs when some programming code in an HTML
page is placed the client can understand. This code is simply HTML that the
browser executes. For example

<html>
<head>
<script language=”JavaScript”>
<! --
alert (“Hello World”);
-- >
</script>
<head>
<body>
Welcome to my page
</body>
</html>

If browser supports client side scripting, it will understand that line 5 is telling it
to display message box to the user saying “Hello World”.

So now we have two places to execute code: on the server, where everything
is returned to the clients as HTML, and on the client. These two locations of
code are distinct and cannot interact with each other. Table below outlines the
differences client-side and server-side code.
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The differences between Client –side and server –side

Location Description
Client-side This code isn’t processed at all by the
server. That’s solely the client
responsibility. Code is written in
scripts-plain text commands that
instruct the client to do something.

Generally used for performing

dynamic client effects, such as image
rollovers or dynamic message boxes.
Server-side This code is executed only on the
server. Any content or information
that this code produces must be
converted to plain HTML before sent
to the client.
Code can be written in scripts as well,
but ASP.net uses compiled
languages.

Used for processing content an

returning data.
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3. Parts of an ASP.NET Web Application

A Web application consists of three parts: content, program logic, and Web
configuration information. Table below summarizes these parts and gives
examples of where they reside in an ASP.NET Web application.

Table: Parts of an ASP.NET Web Application

Part Types of Files Description

Content Web Forms, HTML, Content files determine
images, audio, video, the appearance of a
other data Web application. They
can contain static text
and images as well as
elements that are
composed on the fly by
the program logic (as in
the case of a database
query).

Program Logic Executable files, scripts The program logic

determines how the
application responds to
user actions. ASP.NET
Web applications have a
dynamic-link library
(DLL) file that runs on
the server, and they can
also include scripts that
run on the client
machine.

Configuration Web configuration file, The configuration files

Style sheets, IIS and settings determine
settings how the application runs
on the server, who has
access, how errors are
handled, and other
details.

The Web form is the key element of a Web application. A Web form is a cross
between a regular HTML page and a Windows form: It has the same
appearance and similar behavior to an HTML page, but it also has controls
that respond to events and run code, like a Windows form.
 7

In a completed Web application, the executable portion of the Web form is

stored in an executable (.dll) that runs on the server under the control of IIS.
The content portion of the Web form resides in a content directory of the Web
server, as shown in Figure

Web Application parts on a Web Server

When a user navigates to one of the Web Forms pages from his or her
browser, the following sequence occurs:

IIS starts the Web application’s executable if it is not already running.

The executable composes a response to the user based on the content of the
Web Forms page that the user requested and any program logic that provides
dynamic content.
IIS returns the response to the user in the form of HTML.
Once the user gets the requested Web form, he or she can enter data, select
options, click buttons, and use any other controls that appear on the page.
Some controls, such as buttons, cause the page to be posted back to the
server for event processing and the sequence repeats itself, as shown in
Figure
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How the parts interact

4. ASP.Net Architecture

As the illustration shows, all Web clients communicate with ASP.NET

applications through IIS. IIS deciphers and optionally authenticates the
request. IIS also finds the requested resource (such as an ASP.NET
application), and, if the client is authorized, returns the appropriate resource.
 9

Integrating with IIS

IIS always assumes that a set of credentials maps to a Windows NT account

and uses them to authenticate a user. There are three different kinds of
authentication available in IIS 5.0: basic, digest, and Integrated Windows
Authentication (NTLM or Kerberos). A developer can select the type of
authentication to use in the IIS administrative services. If URL is requested
containing an ASP.NET application, the request and authentication
information are handed off to the application. ASP.NET provides the two
additional types of authentication described in the following table

ASP.NET authentication provider Description

Forms authentication A system by which unauthenticated
requests are redirected to an HTML
form using HTTP client-side
redirection. The user provides
credentials and submits the form. If
the application authenticates the
request, the system issues a form
that contains the credentials or a key
for reacquiring the identity.
Subsequent requests are issued with
the form in the request headers; they
are authenticated and authorized by
an ASP.NET handler using whatever
validation method the application
developer specifies.
Passport authentication Centralized authentication service
provided by Microsoft that offers a
single log on and core profile
services for member sites.

Using ASP.NET Configuration Files

ASP.NET configuration, of which security is a part, has a hierarchical

architecture. All configuration information for ASP.NET is contained in files
named Web.config and Machine.config. Web.config can be placed in the
same directories as the application files. The Machine.config file is in the
Config directory of the install root. Subdirectories inherit a directory's settings
unless overridden by a Web.config file in the subdirectory. In a Web.config
file, there are sections for each major category of ASP.NET functionality.

The security section of a Web.config file is organized as follows:

<authentication mode="[Windows/Forms/Passport/None]">
<forms name="[name]" loginUrl="[url]" >
<credentials passwordFormat="[Clear, SHA1, MD5]">
<user name="[UserName]" password="[password]"/>
</credentials>
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</forms>
<passport redirectUrl="internal" />
</authentication>

<authorization>
<allow users="[comma separated list of users]"
roles="[comma separated list of roles]"/>
<deny users="[comma separated list of users]"
roles="[comma separated list of roles]"/>
</authorization>

<identity impersonate ="[true/false]"/>

5. The .NET Framework

ASP.NET is an important part of the .NET Framework, but it is just one part.
Understanding what else the .NET Framework provides will help programming
ASP.NET application effectively and avoid writing new code to perform tasks
that are already implemented within the .NET Framework. First, a little
background. The .NET Framework is the new Microsoft programming platform
for developing Windows and Web software. It is made up of two parts:

• An execution engine called the common language runtime (CLR)

• A class library that provides core programming functions, such as
those formerly available only through the Windows API, and
application-level functions used for Web development (ASP.NET), data
access (ADO.NET), security, and remote management

.NET applications aren’t executed the same way as the traditional Windows
applications. Instead of being compiled into an executable containing native
code, .NET application code is compiled into Microsoft intermediate language
 11

(MSIL) and stored in a file called an assembly. At run time, the assembly is
compiled to its final state by the CLR. While running, the CLR provides
memory management, type-safety checks, and other run-time tasks for the
application. Figure shows how this works

How a .NET application runs

Applications that run under the CLR are called managed code because the
CLR takes care of many of the tasks that would have formerly been handled
in the application’s executable itself. Managed code solves the Windows
programming problems of component registration and versioning (sometimes
called DLL Hell) because the assembly contains all the versioning and type
information that the CLR needs to run the application. The CLR handles
registration dynamically at run time, rather than statically through the system
registry as is done with applications based on the Common Object Model
(COM).

The .NET class library provides access to all the features of the CLR. The
.NET class library is organized into namespaces. Each namespace contains a
functionally related group of classes. Table below summarizes the .NET
namespaces that are of the most interest to Web application programmers

A Summary of the .NET Framework Class

Library
 12

The .NET class library Namespaces Provides Classes for

provides access to all the
features of the CLR.
The .NET class library is
organized into
namespaces. Each
namespace contains a
functionally related group
of classes. Table below
summarizes the .NET
namespaces that are of
the most interest to Web
application
programmersCategory

Common Types System All the common data types,

including strings, arrays, and
numeric types. These classes
include methods for converting
types, for manipulating strings
and arrays, and for math and
random number tasks.

Data Access System.Data, Accessing databases. These

System.Data.Common, classes include methods for
System.Data.OleDb, connecting to databases,
System.Data.SqlClient, performing commands, retrieving
System.Data.SqlTypes data, and modifying data

Debugging System.Diagnostics Debugging and tracing application

execution.

File Access System.IO, Accessing the file system. These

System.IO.IsolatedStora include methods for reading and
ge, writing files and getting paths and
System.DirectoryService filenames.
s

Network Communication System.Net, Communicating over the Internet

System.Net.Sockets using low-level protocols such as
TCP/IP. These classes are used
when creating peer-to-peer
applications
Security System. Security, Providing user authentication,
System.Security.Cryptog user authorization, and data
raphy, encrypting
System.Security.Permiss
ions,
System.Security.Policy,
System.Web.Security

Web Applications System. Web, Creating client-server applications

 13

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System.Web.Configurati are the core classes used to
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ASP.NET pages are simply pure text, like HTML files. Once a Web Server
and the .NET Framework SDK is set up and running, ASP.NET pages can be
created easily in ant text editor.
 14

ASP.NET pages have the .aspx extension, so any files the server to interpret
as ASP.NET pages must end in .aspx such as default.aspx

Example
______________________________________________________________
1 <%@ Page Language="C#" %>
2
3 <script runat="server">
4 private void Page_Load (object sender, EventArgs e)
5 {
6 lblMessage.Text="Hello"+ tbMessage.Text;
7 }
8 </script>
9
10 <html>
11 <body>
12 <% Response.Write ("Our First Page");%>
13 <form runat="server">
14 Please enter your name:
15 <asp:textbox id="tbMessage" runat =server/>
16 <asp:button id="btSubmit" Text=Submit runat =server/>
17 <asp:Label id= "lblMessage" runat="server" />
18 </form>
19 </body>
20 </html>
______________________________________________________________

This page is saved as Sample.aspx in virtual directory of IIS.

(default is c:\intetpub\wwwroot\sample.aspx),it can be viewed with the URL
http://localhost/sample.aspx.Entering the Name in the textbox and clicking Submit
a hello message is shown as in figure.
 15

This page highlights the most common elements found in ASP.NET pages.
On line 1 is <@ Page %> directive, which supplies the ASP.NET with specific
information that’s used during the compilation process. It is telling to ASP.NET
is C# programming language is used for writing code.

Lines 3-8 contain a block of code called a code declaration block. This is the
code ASP.NET uses to process its pages, it is compiled into MSIL

Starting on Line 10, HTML begins. This is the content that will be sent to the
browser. Line 12 begins with <% .This is known as a code render block. It
contains additional instructions that ASP.NET uses to produce output.

On Line 13 there is another traditional HTML element .but then there’s that
runat=”server” again. When this tag is specified the form becomes a Web
Form. Anything contained within a Web Form can be watched over by
ASP.NET
On lines 15, 16 17 we have few new elements that look like HTML elements,
these are known as Web controls.

As ASP.NET pages can be developed in any text editors but they don’t offer
many features that would make ASP.NET development easier.
Microsoft Visual Studio.NET (Integrated Development Environment) allows to
manage entire Web sites and it provides features such as deleting virtual
directories, working with database, and dragging and dropping HTML
components. It even color-codes ASP.NET code to make it easier to read.
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7. Comparison of ASP and ASP.NET

ASP.NET is a complete overhaul of traditional Active Server Pages .It offers a

very different methodology for building Web Applications.
Some of the general differences between ASP and ASP.NeT are
as follows:

1. Fundamental Changes from ASP

(a)Classic ASP was built on top of the Windows operating system and IIS.It
was always a separate entity, and therefore its functionality was limited.
ASP.NET, on the other hand, is an integral part of the operating system under
the .NET Framework. It shares many of the same objects that traditional
applications would use, and all .NET objects are available for ASP. Net’s
consumption.

(b)ASP also made it clear that client and server were two separate entities.
Once ASP finished with work on the server, it passed the HTML to the client
and forgot about it.ASP.NET ties together the client and the server through
clever use of server –side code, all invisible to the developer.

(c) Furthermore, ASP.NET code is compiled, whereas classic ASP used

interpreted scripting languages. Using compiled means an automatic boost in
performance over ASP applications.

2. Programmatic Enhancements over ASP

(a) One of the biggest enhancements in ASP.NET is its ease of deployment,

the metadata stores all necessary information for applications, so there is no
need to register Web applications or COM objects. When deploying classic
ASP applications, it is needed to copy appropriate DLLs and use
REGSVR32.EXE to register the components. With ASP.NET
all the developer need to be done is copy the DLL files. The .NET framework
handles everything else.

(b) Session management has become much easier and more powerful with
ASP.NET.It address this issue by providing built in session support that’s
scalable across Web Forms. It also provides reliability that can even survive
server crashes, and it can work with browser that doesn’t support cookies.

(c) In classic ASP, nearly all code was executed in code render blocks (that is
inside < %...%> tags).In ASP.NET, this type isn’t compiled and isn’t
recommended. Instead code declaration blocks, which are complied and
provide better performance. Using these blocks also avoids having code and
HTML interspersed throughout the page, which is very difficult to read through
an ASP page? Code declaration blocks can be placed right at the top of the
page in ASP.NET separated from the rest of the HTML.
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3. Difference in Programming Methodologies

ASP.NET is now completely object –oriented. Classic ASP strove to introduce

the concept of object-oriented programming (OOP), but was unable to
because that was a fundamentally different programming paradigm. Further
Developer can author applications in any .NET compatible language,
including Visual Basic .NET, C#, and JScript .NET.

4. New Application Models

ASP.NET extends application’s reach to new customers and partners.

• XML Web Services. XML Web services allow applications to

communicate and share data over the Internet, regardless of operating
system or programming language. ASP.NET makes exposing and calling
XML Web Services simple.

• Mobile Web Device Support. ASP.NET Mobile Controls let easily

target cell phones, PDAs -- over 80 mobile Web devices -- using
ASP.NET. A developer write application just once and the mobile controls
automatically generate WAP/WML, HTML, or iMode as required by the
requesting device.
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8. Conclusion

ASP.NET makes designing dynamic Web pages quicker and easier than ever
before. It is the next generation of Microsoft’s ASP, and provides many
enhancements to take advantage of new technology. With it, a developer can
interact with database, personalize Web pages for visitors, display pages on
mobile devices (such as cell phones), and even build an entire e-commerce
shopping site from scratch.

ASP.NET is an exciting new Web development technology that is going to

take the world by storm. This next generation of Web Development
technology make designing impressive Web sites an easy and fun process.

ASP.NET has many advantages over other platforms when it comes to

creating Web applications. Probably the most significant advantage is its
integration with the Windows server and programming tools. Web applications
created with ASP.NET are easier to create, debug, and deploy because those
tasks can all be performed within a single development environment—Visual
Studio .NET.
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References

1. http://www.msdn.microsoft.com

2. Microsoft .NET framework SDK Documentation.

3. Developing Web Applications with Microsoft Visual Basic.NET and Visual

C#.NET by Microsoft Corporation.