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There are two types of server control in ASP.NET: HTML server controls and Web server controls. HTML server controls are simply regular web elements into which the runat=”server” attribute has been added and which have been assigned an ID. The runat=”server” attribute tells the ASP.NET engine that the control can respond to events and enables developers to create event handlers to control the behaviour of the controls.

HTML controls are useful, but Web server controls are more powerful because they are not linked to a specific HTML element and subject to its limitations. Some Web server controls are fairly simple but some of them are extremely complex. They offer black box functionality which would require fairly complex client-side and server-side coding to achieve if they did not exist. It is hardly surprising that server controls are the most frequently used component in ASP.NET.

Web server controls allow you to focus on the web page functionality and user-response that you require without having to worry about how this would be achieved using HTML elements. At runtime, the ASP.NET engine will generate the necessary HTML, CSS and JavaScript for each client browser.

The calendar control is one example of the advanced functionality offered by the ASP.NET Web server controls. The developer adds this to a web page as a single component and writes code to determine how it will respond to user interaction. At runtime, the necessary HTML markup is produced, saving the developer hours of coding and testing.

The FileUpload control is another example of a sophisticated, time-saving Web server control. This allows you to add a browse and upload facility to any web page with very little coding. Similarly, the MultiView and View server controls are used in conjunction to control the visibility of different parts of a page. Each view contains different content and the end user is able to move through the views in the sequence specified by the developer.

Wizards are a very familiar feature in software programs and ASP.NET offers a Web server control that allows you to add this same functionality to a web page. The Wizard server control enables you to set up a series of steps which will be presented to your user in the order you specify. It is ideal for building forms where information is gathered in a series of steps rather than overwhelming the user with one single, huge form. The Wizard control is similar to the MultiView and View controls but offers a far greater degree of customization.

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ASP.NET provides developers with many tools for speeding up the development process. Developers often spend a lot of time writing code which checks the data entered by the user in a web form. ASP.NET validation server controls cut down development time by removing the need to write complex validation code to handle client-side and server-side validation of information entered into a form by a user. The controls do more than just validation; they also perform browser detection to check whether JavaScript is enabled on the client’s browser. If JavaScript is enabled, the control sends the necessary JavaScript code to the client; if JavaScript is not enabled, server-side validation takes place.

ASP.NET offers no fewer than six validation controls: the RequiredFieldValidator, the CompareValidator, the RangeValidator, The RegularExpressionValidator, The CustomValidator and the ValidationSummary.

Perhaps the simplest of the bunch is the RequiredFieldValidator. It prevents the user from submitting the form without first entering or choosing a value in a required form field. It is often used in conjunction with other validators since, naturally, multiple validators may be applied to the same field.

Next, we have the CompareValidator which performs comparison on the contents of a given form field and another element. The type of comparison can be varied to reflect the type of data the field contains. Thus, for example, if the data is numeric, operators such as equal to, greater than and less than can be used. The comparision will often involve two fields. For example, if your form requests the user’s email address twice to ensure that it has been entered correctly, the CompareValidator can be used to check that the two email address fields contain the same entry.

The RangeValidator also performs comparison but limits it to verifying that the value entered by the user falls within a certain range. It can be used to perform checks within text ranges, number ranges and date ranges.

The RegularExpressionValidator allows you to define a regular expression against which the value entered in a field can be validated. Regular expressions are notoriously arcane but Visual Studio and Visual Web Developer Express make the process easy by providing a Regular Expression Editor which contains regular expressions for matching common types of data such as email address, web URLs as well as postcodes and telephone numbers for several different countries.

If none of the other validation controls offers the precise type of checking that you require, the CustomValidator control offers maximum flexibility, allowing developers to write custom validation code. The code may be client-side or server side.

The ValidationSummary control is not directly used for validation. Instead, it provides a mechanism for consolidating error messages generated by other validation controls. It is particularly useful for large forms where various error messages can be more easily noticed by the user if they are all in one place.

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Microsoft ASP.NET is one of the most powerful server-side scripting solutions around. It is feasible to create an ASP.NET web application using a tool like Notepad or another text editor or a more sophisticated web editor such as Dreamweaver. However, using Microsoft Microsoft Visual Web Developer Express Edition offers distinct advantages. The first thing to be said in its favour is that it is completely free: not a 30 or 60 day trial version; totally yours to use without charge. Secondly, it contains dozens of tools and features which are specifically designed to work with ASP.NET and will not be found in any other IDE (apart from Microsoft’s non-free web development tool Visual Studio).

A lot of people assume that, because the Express Edition is free, it is lightweight and has all of the really useful features missing. In fact, the opposite is true: all of the really useful stuff is available and this software has everything you need to start building ASP.NET applications.

You can download Web Developer 2008 Express Edition from Microsoft’s website. You will notice that the download page has links to several other free editions of Microsoft web development products. You can even download an ISO file which you can later burn to DVD. The download is very quick, since the downloaded file only contains an installer. When you run the installer, you will need to be connected to the internet so that the installer can download the necessary files.

To download Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition, just go to Microsoft’s website. You will notice that the download page has links to several other free editions of Microsoft web development products. You can even download an ISO file which you can later burn to DVD. The download is very quick, since the downloaded file only contains an installer. When you run the installer, you will need to be connected to the internet so that the installer can download the necessary files.

Be warned, also, that although the installation process is simple, it is also very long process. You will need to use a computer with a high-speed internet connection, get the installation started and then go and make a cup of coffee or something.

Almost all ASP.NET websites will include some form of interaction with databases and, while it is possible to use Microsoft Access databases for this purpose, there will be performance issues as soon as the site starts to become popular. The recommended database solution is Microsoft SQL Server and this too is available in and express edition.

Why Use Microsoft Visual Web Developer To Build ASP.NET Applications

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