ASP.Net 2.0 Improvements
In this article we discuss the several new features that are introduced in ASP.NET and see
how it has improved by doing so.
The need for improvement lead to ASP.NET 2.0, which was designed keeping in mind
the factor that web development requires to be made simpler and faster.
ASP.NET 2.0 was designed to meet the following goals:
Reducing code by 70% to increase productivity Use similar controls for all kinds of devices Provision of a quicker and improved web server platform Web Application's administration needs to be simplified To make easier the compilation and installation
New Features in ASP.NET 2.0
ASP.NET 2.0 offers some of the following new features:
Master Pages, Themes and Web Parts Security controls standardized Standard controls for navigation Personalization, roles and internationalization services Simpler and better data access controls Complete support for XML standards Better compilation and deployment Better Site Management New and improved development tools
Let's discuss these new features in detail:
Master Pages
ASP.NET didn't offer a way to have a consistent look and feel for the complete web site.
ASP.NET 2.0 solved this problem by introducing master pages. A master page is a
template for other pages, with shared layout and functionality. The master page defines
placeholders for content pages. The result page is a combination (merge) of the master
page and the content page. More about master pages read in Master Pages in ASP.NET 2.0 tutorial
Themes
To give a customized look to the web applications, ASP.NET 2.0 came up with the
themes/skins feature (more about this feature you can find in Themes and Skins in ASP.NET 2.0 tutorial).
ASP.NET 2.0 aimed to achieve the following design goals:
Simplify to customize the appearance of a site Allow themes to be applied to controls, pages, and entire sites Allowing the customization of all visual elements
Web Parts
ASP.NET 2.0 Web Parts provide a consistent look for a site, while still allowing user
customization of style and content (more in Web Parts in ASP.NET tutorial).
New controls:
Navigation
ASP.NET 2.0 introduces built-in navigation controls (more in Web Site Navigation in ASP.NET 2.0 tutorial)
Site Maps Dynamic HTML menus Tree Views
Security
Security plays a key role in application development. So the confidential and personal
information need to be protected (read more on Security Features in ASP.NET 2.0).
In ASP.NET 2.0 the following controls has been added:
A Login control, which provides login functionality A LoginStatus control, to control the login status A LoginName control to display the current user name A LoginView control, to provide different views depending on login status A CreateUser wizard, to allow creation of user accounts A PasswordRecovery control, to provide the "I forgot my password" functionality
Roles and Personalization
Internet communities are gaining popularity. ASP.NET 2.0 has personalization features
for storing user details. This caters to an easy way to customize user (and user group)
properties (more about user management read in User registration and authentication for an ASP.NET 2.0 tutorial).
Internationalization
To cater and reach out to a large audience is important and requires reaching people with
different languages. So to handle this, ASP.NET 2.0 introduces an improved support for
multiple languages (read more in Building Multilingual Web Sites with ASP.NET tutorial).
Data Access
There are many data driven web sites that use databases or XML files as data sources.
With ASP.NET this involved code, and often the same code had to be used over and over
in different web pages.
A key goal of ASP.NET 2.0 was to ease the use of data sources and eliminate this
redundancy. ASP.NET 2.0 has a whole new data controls, removing much of the need for
programming and in-depth knowledge of data connections. Read more in Data Source Controls in ASP.NET 2.0 and DataSet and DataAdapter in ASP.NET 2.0 tutorials
Mobility Support
Often with Mobile devices is a problem arises when it comes to screen size and display
capabilities. In ASP.NET, the Microsoft Mobile Internet Toolkit (MMIT) is used for such
purposes. But In ASP.NET 2.0, MMIT is no longer needed because mobile support is
built into all controls.
Images
In ASP.NET 2.0, following new controls for image handling have been included:
These controls are important for better image display on mobile devices, like hand-held
computers and cell phones.
Automatic Compilation
ASP.NET 2.0 supports automatic compilation. The first run will compile all files within a
directory, including support for WSDL, and XSD files.
Compiled Deployment (Installation) and Source Protection
ASP.NET 2.0 also provides pre-compilation. A complete web site can be pre-compiled.
This gives an easy way to deploy (upload to a server) compiled applications, and this
protects the source code as only compiled files are deployed.
Site Management
ASP.NET 2.0 introduces three new features for web site configuration and management:
New local management console New programmable management functions (API) New web-based management tool
Development Tools
Along with ASP.NET, Project and design features were released in Visual Studio.NET
keeping in mind the need of corporate developers. With ASP.NET 2.0, Visual Studio
2005 was released.
Visual Studio 2005's key design features include:
Support for the features described above Upload files from anywhere (FTP, File System, Front Page...) No project files, allowing code to be manipulated outside Visual Studio Integrated Web Site Administration Tool No "build" step - ability to compile on first run
For non-corporate developers who cannot access Visual Studio.NET, ASP.NET
introduces a new and free tool called Visual Web Developer. More about this free tool read in Introduction to Visual Web Developer 2005 - Express Edition tutorial.
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