start ASP net from very scratch

[pamelafluente]

Hi,
I would like to get some advice.

I know enough vb.net on win apps, but I have never worked on web
applications
and asp.net.

I would appreciate if you could indicate the most basic tutorials where
to
start my journey with ASp net.

At my stage, more than references, I would need some guided tour which
gradually
would introduce me to the topic in a simple, but well rooted way, so
that I
can eventually proceed with my own legs. Also some simple instructional
samples
would be useful.

Any help or advice in this direction would be very much appreciate.

Thank you very much,

-Pam

 

[Joshua Flanagan]

www.asp.net has a whole bunch of great tutorials, starter kits, and
forums to help you.

Good luck!

Joshua Flanagan
http://flimflan.com/blog

 

[Guest]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in @g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

I would appreciate if you could indicate the most basic tutorials where
to
start my journey with ASp net.

Here's what I suggest:

1. Learn to write HTML by hand
2. Learn CSS (Cascade Style Sheets)
3. Learn Javascript, DHTML, etc
4. Learn Object Oriented Programming theory (if you don't know OO)
5. Learn ASP.NET

Once you have the first 3 basics down, ASP.NET is a breeze : )

www.w3schools.com is a good starter site for HTML, Javascript, and event
ASP.NET.

 

[albert braun]

i have found these webcasts helpful. the ones by Fritz Onion are
especially good.

http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/essentialaspnet.mspx

 

[Jeff]

There are many fundamental differences between a Windows application and Web
applications. You may find Web applications to be incredibly primitive
compared to Windows applications. You will have to think about things (and
act on them intelligently) that you likely have never had to think about
(specifically state management).

Not to scare you off or anything.... I wish I had someone tell me about
these things before I jumped in! Anyway, here are some topics to be
understood. Understanding these things even at a very basic level early on
will make your learning process go easier and faster.

1. HTTP (3-way handshake, etc.)
2. The request/response model
3. state management
4. Client-side logic and scripting vs. Server-side.
5. HTML and CSS (content and layout vs. styling)
6. Web server software (e.g., IIS) and the role it plays
7. Browser variations and limitations

Basically you need to know what an ASP.NET application IS. Hint: it does
*NOT* run in your browser! Never has, never will.

Now, for tutorials. I'll second a vote for www.w3schools.com for some
readable introductions to all topics.

Then look for the starter kits at
http://www.asp.net/default.aspx?tabindex=4&tabid=41 They are complete and
functional ASP.NET Web applications, complete with all source code. You can
download, install, and run them. Then pull them apart and see how everything
hangs together.

Good Luck!

 

[pamelafluente]

Thaks you. Seems quite a lot stuff to begin with and to digest.

Following joshua's suggestion and www.asp.net I have downloaded the

-Framework 2 final
-Visual web developer
-Web deployment
-Starter kit

As to the points listed by Spam Catcher my concern is only
for points:

3. Learn Javascript, DHTML, etc
5. Learn ASP.NET

I have already checked the w3school in the past and is really an
asthonishing
source of information.

Also I want to go check the webcasts as suggested by Albert. I have
attended some
in the past on other topics and they are really useful.

As Jeff is stressing, probably my bigger problem will be to fully
understand
the tech difference between a win app, and an app which insteads talks
with
a remote server. So I have to learn to separate what runs locally and
what on the server.
Also I can prefigure a difficulty can be related to maintaning
the information through the different interactions with it.

The framework 2final seems really to be an elephant compared with 1.1
!!

Anyway, I will start from scratch, proceding gradually with these
tutorials,
trying to get the main ideas.

Please, in case you have more source or samples, that you think may
be of help to understand some key concept, please do not hesitate to
send them
to my email address (or to post here). I will be happy to receive them.

Thank you very much!

-Pam

 

[Jeff]

I don't want to speak for him (nor get credit for what he says; so...) one
of the MVPs here, Kevin Spencer, sometimes tells people who are just getting
started that Web application development is perhaps the most difficult type
of programming there is. He might jump in here and present his helpful
perspective, but the bottom line is that there are so many things which must
be understood (many listed in my previous post) that can be taken for
granted or simply ignored in a Windows application.

A couple of other things...

Re:
<<the tech difference between a win app, and an app which insteads talks
with a remote server>>
Just to clarify... an ASP.NET Web application is not "an app which talks
with a remote server". It might, but a basic or typical ASP.NET Web
application runs all by itself on a Web server. The Web server is the *only*
place in which it runs. Browsers do not, and cannot, run an ASP.NET Web
application. Notice that client machines do not need the .NET framework
installed in order to run ASP.NET Web applications? That's because the Web
Application, itself, does not run on any client application. The job of an
ASP.NET Web application is to send HTML down to a browser. The job of a
browser is to render the HTML to the screen. The browser sends a request.
The server receives it, fires up your ASP.NET Web application which then
processes the request and then sends HTML back to the client. The ASP.NET
Web application might be incredibly complicated; connect to a database, talk
with other servers, and perform a bunch of whiz-bang logic -- but when it's
all said and done, all the ASP.NET Web application will do is send plain old
HTML (or perhaps XHTML or even XML) back downto the browser. This is the
"request-response" model. The browser sends a request, and the server sends
a response. That's it.

Re:
<< As to the points listed by Spam Catcher my concern is only for points

3. Learn Javascript, DHTML, etc
5. Learn ASP.NET >>

I'm sure others may disagree with me, but I don't think JavaScript and DHTML
should be a high priority for you at this point. Don't get me wrong - they
*are* important and the more you know about them the better Web applications
you will be able to write. My opinion is that you don't need to concentrate
on it too much right now. About item 5 "Learn ASP.NET" - well, that's what
we're all talking about. As you learn all of these things from the .NET
point of view, you will be learning ASP.NET. Just remember it's not a
different language. It's a sort of paradigm (I won't try to define it beyond
that because there are so many things to be understood - it's hard if not
impossible to focus on ASP.NET independently of all those other things).

-HTH

 

[pamelafluente]

Dear Jeff,

thank you very much for the enlighting clarification.

Probably these things may seems trivial to experienced web programmers,
but when has only done win apps, they are not at all. So the most basic
schema you are suggesting is Browser--> Server <--> MywebApp -->
Browser, right?

Actually, I have just begun playing with the VWD. I have got through a
few lessons of the www.asp.net tutorial, which are really nice.

I already have found my first problem. In fact I found no way to make
SQLServer2005 work. It's like the service is not seen by the
applications (I did run the script the create the PUBS db and it worked
fine).
Don't know if the people at Microsoft expect the poor thing starting
its journey in this new world with the "Express" tools be also a
SQLServer expert. I have tried to reinstall it 2 times and at last gave
up.

Reinstalled the old SQLServer2000 Prof. which works like a charm.

I am probably missing something very basic. But the point now is that
would not like to waste
a couple of days to find what it is. I prefer to focus on the ASP net
for now.

But if anyone know what the problem is (I am sure I am missing
something very elementary) please let me know!

-Pam

 

[Jeff]

Re:
<< Browser--> Server <--> MywebApp -->Browser, right? >>

Yes - more or less. The big point to understand is that ASP.NET Web
applications do not run inside of browsers. They run on Web servers...

Browser sends a request to the server (for myPage.aspx)
IIS is running on the Web server (it IS the web server) and it receives the
request.
IIS sees that the request is for an .aspx file - and so hands off the
request to ASP.NET for further processing.
ASP.NET then processes the request (any code-behind logic, etc).
ASP.NET ultimately returns plain old HTML back to the browser.

At the end of the day, all the browser is doing is (1) sending HTTP requests
to the server, and (2) receiving HTML. That's basically it. IF there is any
client-side programming going on, it will usually be client-side JavaScript.
Even when it runs, there is no live/ongoing connection with the Web server
and/or ASP.NET Web application.

This link explains it better than I:
http://aspnet.4guysfromrolla.com/articles/011404-1.aspx


Now, about your SQL Server problems.... sorry , I don't know. You might want
to post a new question to specifically address that.

-HTH

 

[pamelafluente]

Thank you very much for the link Jeff. Really a very nice piece of
information!