An Introduction to ASP.NET Web Programming
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If you're just getting started with ASP.Net and looking for help, this is a good place to start. After reading this three-part series of articles, you should have a general understanding of how ASP.Net applications work and what software you'll need to develop these applications. This article is an excerpt from chapter one of
Murach's ASP.NET 3.5 Web Programming with VB 2008, written by Anne Boehm (Murach, 2008; ISBN: 1890774472).
This chapter introduces you to the basic concepts of web programming and ASP.NET. Here, you’ll learn how web applications work and what software you need for developing ASP.NET web applications. You’ll also see how the HTML code for a web form is coordinated with the Visual Basic code that makes the web form work the way you want it to. When you finish this chapter, you’ll have the background you need for developing web applications of your own.
An introduction to web applications
A web application consists of a set of web pages that are generated in response to user requests. The Internet has many different types of web applications, such as search engines, online stores, auctions, news sites, discussion groups, games, and so on.
Two pages of a Shopping Cart application
Figure 1-1 shows two pages of a simple web application. In this case, the application is for an online store that lets users purchase a variety of Halloween products, including costumes, masks, and decorations. You’ll see parts of this application throughout the book, so it’s worth taking the time to become familiar with it in this chapter.
The first web page in this figure is used to display information about the various products that are available from the Halloween store. To select a product, you use the drop-down list that’s below the banner at the top of the page. Then, the page displays information about the product including a picture, short and long descriptions, and the product’s price.
If you enter a quantity in the text box near the bottom of the page and click the Add to Cart button, the second page in this figure is displayed. This page lists the contents of your shopping cart and provides several buttons that let you remove items from the cart, clear the cart entirely, return to the previous page to continue shopping, or proceed to a checkout page.
Of course, the complete Halloween Superstore application also contains other pages. For example, if you click the Check Out button in the second page, you’re taken to a page that lets you enter the information necessary to complete a purchase.
An important point to notice about these pages is that they both contain controls that let the user interact with the page, like the drop-down list and buttons on the Order page. A page that contains controls like these is called a web form, and an ASP.NET application consists of one web form for each page in the application.
The Order page of a Shopping Cart application
The Cart page of a Shopping Cart application
Figure 1-1 Two pages of a Shopping Cart application
Next: The hardware and software components for web applications >>
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 This article is excerpted from chapter one of Murach's ASP.NET 3.5 Web Programming with VB 2008, written by Anne Boehm (Murach, 2008; ISBN: 1890774472). Check it out today at your favorite bookstore. Buy this book now.
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