Learning Web Technology is essential today because Internet has become the number one source to information, and many of the traditional software applications have become Web Applications. Web Applications have become more powerfull and can fully replace desktop application in most situations.
Thats why you need to know basic Web Programming, including HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
To create more powerful Web Sites and Web Applications you also need to know about Web Servers, Database Systems and Web Frameworks like PHP, ASP.NET, etc.
If you want to learn basic Web Technology and Web Programming before you start learning ASP.NET, please click here.
ASP.NET is a Web Framework for creating Web Pages. ASP.NET is built on top of the .NET Framework.
Web Programming | ASP.NET Core
Below you find the new textbook "Web Programming | ASP.NET Core". You can freely download (click on the cover image below in order to open the textbook) it as a PDF file.
This textbook is available as an "Early Preview" edition. Not all resources are ready at the moment, but new resources are released continuously. These are "working documents" that are more or less updated continuously with new contents. Stay tuned!
ASP.NET is an open source web framework, created by Microsoft, for building web apps and services using the .NET Framework or the .NET Core. We have both ASP.NET and ASP.NET Core. ASP.NET Core is the new approach built on .NET Core.
ASP.NET comes in many flavours and programmings models. The Figure below gives an overview:
ASP.NET comes in many flavors:
ASP.NET Web Forms - The same programming model as WinForms. If you already know WinForms, this is an easy access to the world of web programming.
ASP.NET MVC (Model-View Controller). If you are familiar with the MVC approach, this could be your choice.
ASP.NET with Razor Pages - This is the latest and recommended way! This has become the "default" approach for ASP.NET today. It mixes the best from all the others combined with PHP like syntax (PHP is probably the most popular Web Framework today)
ASP.NET Core is based on the .NET Core (not the ordinary .NET Framework).
We have:
ASP.NET Core MVC (Model-View Controller). If you are familiar with the MVC approach, this could be your choice.
ASP.NET Core with Razor Pages. This is the latest and recommended way. This has become the "default" approach for ASP.NET today. It mixes the best from all the others combined with PHP like syntax (PHP is probably the most popular Web Framework today)
I will focus on using ASP.NET Core with Razor Pages. Below you find some resources that introduce ASP.NET Core using Razore Pages.
Video: ASP.NET Core - Create your first Hello World Application:
Query String is used to retrieve the variable values in the HTTP query string, e.g., https://www.Website/ShowPerson.html?Person=Elvis. Multiple fields are separated by &, e.g., https://www.Website/ShowData.html?field1=value1&field2=value2&field3=value3.
CRUD Application means Creating, Reading, Updating and Deleting Data in a Database from your Application. The CRUD application presented here can be a foundation for all your Applications in ASP.NET Core. Typically all Applications today need to communicate with a Database and has CRUD functionality. When you have learned to create a basic CRUD Application, you have all the necessary tools you need to create any kind of Application.
The Connection String is used to connect to the database, but it can come in many flavours. SQL Server offers 2 different Authentication methods: SQL Server Authentication and Windows Authentication. Here you will find examples how you can configure and use these different Authentication methods.
SQL injection is a code injection technique that might destroy your database or expose information, such as passwords, etc. SQL injection is one of the most common web hacking techniques.
Some basic Charts examples using ASP.NET Core will be demonstrated. The examples use the Google Charts framework.
In the examples Google Charts will be used. Google Charts is an API (or framework) for creating Charts in your web pages. It is free to use and it is easy to use (when you first know how to use it).
If the data contains decimals, you may get some trouble if your computer has “,” as a decimal symbol. An easy solution is to change the Decimal symbol to “.” in Windows. In Windows, goto the "Control Panel", then "Clock and Region". Select "Additional settings..." and then set the Decimal symbol to "."
In object-oriented programming , a class library is a collection of prewritten classes or coded templates, any of which can be specified and used by a programmer when developing an application program. In the video below, a Class Library will be created and used in order to share code between 2 different ASP.NET Core Web Applications.
appSettings.json is a configuration file used in ASP.NET Core Web Applications. It is typically used to store the Connection String to the Database, but it can be used to store lots of other settings that you need to use in your application.
Session state is a mechanism that enables you to store and retrieve user specific values temporarily. It can be used to share data between different web pages.
Typically you need to create functionality for User Registration, Login, etc. Here you will see how this can be done from scratch. If you do it from scratch, you will have full control of your code. If you use something called "ASP.NET Core Identity", which is explained in the next section, lots of "magic" happens behind the curtains. If something not working, it may be more complicated to figure out why.
ASP.NET Core Identity is an API that supports user interface (UI) login functionality out of the box. You can manage users, passwords, roles, email confirmation, 2FA, and more. Users can create an account with the login information stored in Identity or they can use an external login provider. Supported external login providers include Facebook, Google, Microsoft Account, and Twitter.
The benefits of using ASP.NET Core Identity rather than creating it yourself from scratch is that you save time and other professional developers take care of security for you.
The disadvantage is that lots of "magic" happens behind the curtains. If something not working, it may be more complicated to figure out why.
Testing is important when creating Applications.Unit Tests are written by the Developers as part of the Programming. Each part is developed, and Unit tested separately (Every Class and Method in the code).
Internet Information Services (IIS) is a Web Server created by Microsoft. It is tailormade for dealing with ASP.NET Web Applications. The video below shows how to deploy ASP.NET Core Web Applications to Internet Information Services (IIS). The Web Application used in the video is the ASP.NET Core CRUD Application.
