Kennesaw State UniversityDepartment of Computer Science and Information SystemsCS 8630Web Technology and DBMSs.Language SupportKennesaw State UniversityDepartment of Computer Science and Information SystemsCS 8630Web Technology and DBMSs.Mohammad Wadood Majid July 06, 2004Web technologies and DBMSs. Just over a decade after its conception in 1989, the World Wide Web is arguably the most popular and powerful-networked information system to date. Its growth in the past few years has been near exponential and it has started an information revolution that will continue through the next decade. Now the combination of the Web and database bring many new opportunities for creating advanced database application. The Internet is made up of many separate but interconnected networks belonging to commercial, educational and government organizations, and Internet Services Providers (ISPs).The services offered on the Internet include electronic mail (e-mail), conferencing and chat services, as well as the ability to access remote computer, and send and receive files. How is ASP.NET different from ASP?ASP.NET is a new programming framework from Microsoft for developing next generation web Applications. It talks the net language and is a framework built on the Common Language Runtime and introduces a new paradigm to server-side Web development. There are several advantages that ASP.NET offers, such as:Performance.The code written in ASP.NET is compiled, so straight ahead it is a performance boost. The code written in .Net Framework is complied in Common Language Runtime. ASP.NET can take advantage of early binding, just-in-time compilation, automatic resource optimization, runtime profiling, automatic memory management, enhanced exception handling, and caching services, right out-of-the-box, this improves the performance before you start coding. A problem with Web site’s performance is with data-access. For example, a database table will spend the majority of its execution time connecting to the database and querying the information. ASP.NET comes with a data-caching module. This data-caching module allows you to specify what data on an ASP page to cache and on what conditions to empty the cache and re-query the data-store. ASP.NET ships with Performance Counters which system administrators can use to gather application metrics. They can be used to measure the performance of either a single instance of an ASP.NET application or all ASP.NET applications combined on a computer.Tool Support. Now you can drag-and-drop web controls like you do VB controls, double-click and write the server code for the control. ASP .NET supports XCOPY deployment that requires no registration or stopping of the server, supports dynamic DLL updates and extensible configuration using XML files. Flexibility. Because ASP.NET is based on the Common Language Runtime, the power and flexibilityof that entire platform is made available to web application developers. The Common Language Runtime's Base Class libraries, Messaging, and Data Access solutions are all seamlessly accessible from the web. ASP.NET is also language-independent, so you can choose a language that best applies toyour application, or partition your application across many languages. Further, Common Language Runtime interoperability guarantees that your existing investment in COM-based development is preserved when migrating to ASP.NET.Simplicity. ASP.NET makes it easy to perform common tasks, from simple form submission and client authentication to deployment and site configuration. For example, the ASP.NET Page Framework allows you to build user interfaces that cleanly separate application logic from presentation code, and handle events in a simple, VB-like forms processingmodel. Additionally, the Common Language Runtime simplifies development with managed code services like automatic reference counting and garbage collection. Manageability The ASP.NET configuration system handles both ends, and provides a hierarchical configuration setup that enables extensible configuration data to be defined and used throughout an application, a Web site, and/or an entire domain. No server restart is required, even to deploy or replace running compiled code!Scalability.ASP.NET has been designed with scalability in mind, enables automatic process recoverythrough error and memory overload detection. Session state can now be maintained in a number of ways. Session data can be passed in a hidden field within the pages, or in one of two out-of-process State Stores. The two flavors they come in are the ASP.NET State Store, which maintains stateful data in memory, or the SQL State Store, for writing stateful data to your SQL Server database. Customizability and Extensibility. ASP.NET delivers a well-factored architecture that allows developers to "plug-in" their code at the appropriate level. In fact, it is possible to extend or replace any sub-component of the ASP.NET runtime with your own custom-written component. Implementing custom authentication or state services has never been easier. SecurityASP.NET works in conjunction with the Microsoft .NET Framework and Internet Information Server (IIS) 5.0 to provide outstanding security capabilitiesASP.NET is broken down into 3 layers:The ASP.NET Application, as the base layer, with ASP.NET Pages and ASP.NET Web Services sitting on top of the application. The application represents the entire solution, with ASP.NET Pages representing the user interface, and Web Services exposing selected functionality of the application. Introducing Web Forms Web Forms is an ASP.NET technology used on the server to dynamically generate web pages. These pages utilize server-based programmable user interfaces called Web Forms controls that encapsulate common functionality. ASP.NET Web Forms Framework has been specifically designed to address a number of key deficiencies with the previous model. In particular: Reusability of UI controls, which can encapsulate common functionality and reduce thecoding. Allow for creating all application logic on the server, eliminating the need to explicitly code for browser differences. The ability for developers and designers to work independently -- non-“spaghetti code” – fashion.ASP.NET Web Form Pages are text files with a .aspx filename extension. Introducing Web Services A Web Service is a programmable