ASP.NET FAQs [updated July 17 2011]

[gep13]

ASP.NET FAQs

The following is a list of frequently asked questions for working with ASP.NET, including PostBacks, working with ASP.NET Server Controls, Sessions, ViewState, etc.

Sections in this Page

For all languages:

General
ViewState
Session
QueryString
Using the web.config file
Using the global.asax file
Logging
Installation
Deployment
Hosting
Event Handling
AJAX
Commenting your code
Databases
Screen Scraping
Http Modules
Http Handlers
Data Input Validation

ASP.NET Server Controls:

General
GridView

If you can think of a "frequent" question (and preferably an answer to it as well) that you think should be added to these FAQs, please see this thread.
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Recent Additions

• July 17 2011 : Created the FAQs thread

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General

• What is the difference between a Web Site and a Web Application?
• Why does MsgBox/MessageBox not work in my Web Application?
• Should I be using Response.Write?
• What is FireBug?
• How do I separate code into different tiers, UI, BLL, DAL?
• What is the trace.axd?

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ViewState

• What is ViewState?

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Session

• What is Session?

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QueryString

• What is the QueryString?

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Using the web.config file

• What is the web.config?
• How can I encrypt/decrypt sections within the web.config file?

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Using the global.asax file

• What is the global.asax file?

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Logging

• How do I add logging to my Web Application using Debug/Trace?
• How do I add logging to my Web Application using log4net?
• How do I add logging to my Web Application using NLog?
• How do I add logging to my Web Application using ELMAH?

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Installation

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Deployment

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Hosting

• Where can I find a good Web Host?
• Where can I find a free Web Host?

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Event Handling

• How do I add event handlers for the events raised by my application?

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AJAX

• How do I add an AJAX Form to my Web Application?

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Commenting your code

• Why should I comment my code?
• How do I add XML Comments to my code?

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Databases

• Where can I find the correct connection string for my database?
• Can ASP.Net Communicate with Databases other than SQL Server?
• Why should I use Parameters in my program instead of putting values directly into my SQL string?
  (aka "how do I protect against SQL Injection attacks")
• How do I connect to MySql Database?
• How do I connect to an Oracle Database?
• What is Connection Pooling?

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Screen Scraping

• What is Screen Scraping?
• How can I screen scrape a Web Page using WebClient?
• How can I screen scrape a Web Page using HttpWebRequest?
• What is the HTML Agility Pack?

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Http Modules

• What is an Http Module?

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Http Handlers

• What is an Http Handler?

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Data Input Validation

• What are the ASP.NET Validation Controls?
• How can I create Custom Validation Controls?
• How can I validate, for example, an email address from the user?

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General

• Why does the ASPX markup that I create change when sent to the client?
• What is the ClientID?
• How can I access the ClientID of a Server Side control on the Client side?

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GridView

• How can I change the look and feel of my GridView?
• How do I display the sum of a column in a GridView?

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