Chapter 15. ASP.NET Web Applications

ASP.NET is a centerpiece of the .NET strategy—a new and unique platform for Web development that makes writing a dynamic Web page almost as easy as coding a Microsoft Windows application. However, despite that apparent similarity, ASP.NET developers frequently encounter challenges utterly unlike those faced in Windows applications. Examples include bridging the gap between requests in a stateless Web page (recipe 15.2), adding security and a login page (recipe 15.8), using validation code to prevent input errors (recipe 15.9), leveraging client-side JavaScript to extend your Web page interface (recipes 15.4 and 15.5), and using rich controls such as trees, toolbars, tab strips, and menus (recipes 15.16 and 15.17).

This chapter considers all these issues. In addition, it tackles advanced issues such as creating a dynamic interface with programmatically loaded controls (recipes 15.12 and 15.13), generating images such as pie charts on the fly (recipes 15.14 and 15.15), and using different caching techniques (recipes 15.10 and 15.11). These are some of the common techniques used when programming first-rate ASP.NET Web pages.