VS.Net And FrontPage

[Jim Heavey]

I have a friend that does all of their web page development in FrontPage
and she has asked me to create some asp.net pages for here with some db
functionality. I know nothing of Frontpage ans she knows little about
ASP.Net.

My question is that if she designs the "appearance" of the web page in
front page, can I just suck that page into asp.net and then add all of my
controls and the code behind page? I know that the framework requires the
installation of the frontpage extensions, so they must somehow collaberate.

Should I be concerned? Is there information available on the subject that
I should read up on?

Thanks in advance for your assistance!!!!

 

[Jim Cheshire [MSFT]]

Hi Jim,

You can certainly open the FrontPage Web site in Visual Studio .NET and add
Server Controls and code. The only problem that you might encounter is
with pre-FrontPage 2003 versions not understanding the ASP.NET Server
Controls. For best compatibility, I would use FrontPage 2003 since it
supports ASP.NET.

Jim Cheshire, MCSE, MCSD [MSFT]
Developer Support
ASP.NET
(e-mail address removed)

This post is provided as-is with no warranties and confers no rights.

--------------------

 

[Cowboy \(Gregory A. Beamer\)]

Put the asp.net code in the CodeBehind page and bind to the elements on the
page. Do not mix code and tags. That bears repeating: Do not mix code and
tags.

If you follow this rule, you will find that she is very unlikely to mess
with your code. She can alter the look and feel at any time, as long as she
does not delete the ASP.NET tags you are binding to, so you will find fewer
headaches.

IF ... you mix code and tags, you may end up with a case where either she or
FrontPage alters something and creates a great pain for you.

BTW, my "official" MVP designation (although I spend almost all my time in
..NET groups) was awarded in FrontPage. I use FrontPage (and Dreamweaver -
perhaps a boo! hiss! from the MS purists ;->) with Visual Studio .NET all
the time. As long as you keep code separate from the tagged page, you will
be fine. As most of the architecture samples you can download use this
methodology, you can find plenty of sample code to get started with this
methodology. SOME books, esp. the early ones, mix code and tags, which I
would avoid like the plague.

NOTE: In ASP.NET 2.0 - released with VS.NET 2004 next year, the rules are
altered slightly, but the IDE, at least up to the PDC alpha, supports the
full CodeBehind methodology, so none of what you are about to do will be
obsolete next year.

--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA

**********************************************************************
Think Outside the Box!
**********************************************************************

 

[Cowboy \(Gregory A. Beamer\)]

I concur with Jim's assessment on this one, although I have not had a
problem with FrontPage 2002 messing with my ASP.NET tags. I would still aim
towards the CodeBehind methodology (ASP.NET in the aspx page, and code in
either the aspx.vb (VB.NET) or aspx.cs (C#) page, depending on language).

--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA

**********************************************************************
Think Outside the Box!
**********************************************************************

Hi Jim,

You can certainly open the FrontPage Web site in Visual Studio .NET and add
Server Controls and code. The only problem that you might encounter is
with pre-FrontPage 2003 versions not understanding the ASP.NET Server
Controls. For best compatibility, I would use FrontPage 2003 since it
supports ASP.NET.

Jim Cheshire, MCSE, MCSD [MSFT]
Developer Support
ASP.NET
(e-mail address removed)

This post is provided as-is with no warranties and confers no rights.

--------------------

Subject: VS.Net And FrontPage
From: Jim Heavey <[email protected]>
Organization: Jim Heavey and Associates
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
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Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2003 07:10:37 -0800
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I have a friend that does all of their web page development in FrontPage
and she has asked me to create some asp.net pages for here with some db
functionality. I know nothing of Frontpage ans she knows little about
ASP.Net.

My question is that if she designs the "appearance" of the web page in
front page, can I just suck that page into asp.net and then add all of my
controls and the code behind page? I know that the framework requires the
installation of the frontpage extensions, so they must somehow collaberate.

Should I be concerned? Is there information available on the subject that
I should read up on?

Thanks in advance for your assistance!!!!

 

[Jim Cheshire [MSFT]]

I agree with that. Personally, I like the code behind model. I've known
for a bit over a year that Whidbey will focus more on inline code, but many
developers will want to stick with code behind because of the way they
develop. For people who are used to doing something such as writing an
interface for a third-party to use while implementation in an object is
completed, the code behind model feels very comfortable.

In the case of using FrontPage (or any other non-VS.NET Web development
tool), code behind is a means to secure your code not only from prying
eyes, but from inadvertant changes.

One of the major benefits of using FrontPage 2003 as opposed to earlier
versions is that FrontPage 2003 can render many Server Controls. In
earlier versions, you just see a placeholder. In FrontPage 2003, you are
able to more easily with with Server Control content. However, keep in
mind that you can't edit most Server Controls in the FrontPage UI. For
example, if you try and edit text that is inside of an ASP.NET Panel
control in FrontPage, you may notice that you never even get an I beam
pointer.

Jim Cheshire, MCSE, MCSD [MSFT]
Developer Support
ASP.NET
(e-mail address removed)

This post is provided as-is with no warranties and confers no rights.


--------------------

From: "Cowboy \(Gregory A. Beamer\)" <[email protected]>
References: <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: VS.Net And FrontPage
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I concur with Jim's assessment on this one, although I have not had a
problem with FrontPage 2002 messing with my ASP.NET tags. I would still aim
towards the CodeBehind methodology (ASP.NET in the aspx page, and code in
either the aspx.vb (VB.NET) or aspx.cs (C#) page, depending on language).

--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA

**********************************************************************
Think Outside the Box!
**********************************************************************

Hi Jim,

You can certainly open the FrontPage Web site in Visual Studio .NET and add
Server Controls and code. The only problem that you might encounter is
with pre-FrontPage 2003 versions not understanding the ASP.NET Server
Controls. For best compatibility, I would use FrontPage 2003 since it
supports ASP.NET.

Jim Cheshire, MCSE, MCSD [MSFT]
Developer Support
ASP.NET
(e-mail address removed)

This post is provided as-is with no warranties and confers no rights.

--------------------

Subject: VS.Net And FrontPage
From: Jim Heavey <[email protected]>
Organization: Jim Heavey and Associates
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
User-Agent: Xnews/5.04.25
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.aspnet
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2003 07:10:37 -0800
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