Introduction
In this article, we are going to look at an overview of ASP.NET components and the environment. To build a good understanding of this we will need to understand what is ASP.NET, the .NET framework, then move on to look at an overview of the ASP.NET components and environment.
ASP.NET
ASP.NET is a web development platform by Microsoft that enables programmers to build web-based software applications that can be used on PC and other devices that have access to the web, such as tablets and personal digital assistants. ASP.NET makes use of the .NET Framework to provide robust and dynamic functionality to web applications. The .NET Framework’s Common Language Runtime can be used with programming languages such as Visual Basic, J#, C#.
ASP.NET provides useful controls, like buttons, labels, list boxes which are logically linked to programming code lines to create HTML and ASPX pages. These pages use HTTP commands and policies to create two-way communication between the client and the server.
ASP.NET pages are event-driven and provide user requests through the use of a browser (i.e the client). A client sends a request to the server and ASP.NET translates the mark-up to the client. Since HTTP is a stateless protocol, ASP.NET provides different states namely, Session State and Page State, in which client-side activities are handled.
The server receives the client requests and gives feedback.
ASP.NET is object-oriented and provides useable application programming tools such as functions, classes, and events. The platform provides a unified model for handling client requests by using presentational layouts with code-behind files that deal with the back-end server-side of handling logical client requests.
ASP.NET pages are extensible as you also make use of different features and functionality to create a customized appearance of your application using different themes and skins. ASP.NET master pages let you create a uniform look on all the pages of your application. UI tools such as CSS Bootstrap Framework can help you apply different styles and themes to your application at the control or page level.
ASP.NET makes use of the Common Language Runtime to compile code to Native code to boost application performance. The compiler will unify the presentational pages (i.e.aspx/HTML pages), code-behind files, and packages and create an assembly that will be used in the server to provide client requests.
ASP.NET provides a security infrastructure for managing user access and various activities that may require security. You can authenticate users at page level with the help of ASP.NET membership and forms authentication, or make use of Internet Information Services (IIS) using Windows authentication. ASP.NET provides other authentication measures, such as ASP.NET roles that can be implemented using database permissions.
Since ASP.NET resides on a stateless protocol (HTTP), it then provides a special functionality to manage the state of the application at different states which include application state, session state, and page state. ASP.NET can also manage states using user information and is used to refer to their chosen theme or interests etc.
The web.config file in ASP.NET web applications stores information about the application’s configuration settings which can be added at deployment or during the development course of the application. This file is created by default when you create a new ASP.NET application in Visual Studio.
Conclusion
ASP.NET is a rich framework that comprises of almost all the tools necessary to build web applications and web sites through the use of Microsoft’s .NET Framework.