Session Managing Technique(Managing State)

2) Application State

Application State variables are created globally for an application. It works across pages and across different sessions. It is like a multi user global data which is created under root directory. It is created explicitly and the name of this special file is Global.asax. It contains many events which are raised at different events of the application.

Events

Application_Start

Application_Start is an event which is called when the application starts.

        void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Code that runs on application startup

        }

 Application_End

Application_Error is an event which is called just before the application ends.

        void Application_End(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Code that runs on application shutdown
        }

 Application_Error

Application_Error is an event which is raised for an unhandled exception which we can handle it

here. 

        void Application_Error(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Code that runs when an unhandled error occurs

        }

The Global,asax file can be added by right clicking on application name>Add>New Item>Global Application Class.

Global.asax code

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Security;
using System.Web.SessionState;

namespace httpstateless
{
    public class Global : System.Web.HttpApplication
    {

        void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Code that runs on application startup
            Application["User Name"]="Akhil Vijayan";
            Application["Blog Name"] = "ASP.NET Tutorial";
        }

        void Application_End(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            //  Code that runs on application shutdown

        }

        void Application_Error(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Code that runs when an unhandled error occurs

        }

        void Session_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Code that runs when a new session is started

        }

        void Session_End(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Code that runs when a session ends.
            // Note: The Session_End event is raised only when the sessionstate mode
            // is set to InProc in the Web.config file. If session mode is set to StateServer
            // or SQLServer, the event is not raised.

        }

    }
}

In the above Gobal.asax file, we are saving username and blog name in two application object. we now access this in our .aspx page

Application State.aspx Page

Design View

Code View

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

namespace httpstateless
{
    public partial class Application_State : System.Web.UI.Page
    {
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Label1.Text = Convert.ToString(Application["User Name"]);
            Label2.Text = Convert.ToString(Application["Blog Name"]);
        }
    }
}

You may see that i have converted application variables to string. It is needed because as i said application variables are objects and all the controls in asp.net, hold string values so we need to convert it.

Output

Server Side Technique(Managing state)

1) Session State

Session state objects are created when a user request for the ASP.NET when the session state it turned on. Session objects are created different for all the new requests. It can work across all the pages that means we can access the session object in all the pages. This was not possible with viewstate variables.. It is mainly used to store user details like login name. It can also be used to store shopping cart details, customer details etc.

  Session objects consists of session ID's which is uniques for each new requests. Session ID objects are created from HttpSessionState class.

Bydefault, an ASP.NET session state is enabled for all ASP.NET applications. Session variables are called server side technique because they are stored in the web server memory.

In short we can say, session variables are single-user global data stored on the web server which can be accessed across all the web pages.

Let us look at the same example used in viewstate.

Design 

SessionState.aspx page

In this the change i have done is the submit button which will redirect to a new page(i.e. NewPage.aspx). This will help us to show whether it is accessible across all the pages.

NewPage.aspx page

Code Behind

 SessionState.aspx.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

namespace httpstateless
{
    public partial class SessionState : System.Web.UI.Page
    {
        string name, blog;
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
           
        }

        protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            name = TextBox1.Text;
            blog = TextBox2.Text;
            TextBox1.Text = "";
            TextBox2.Text = "";
            Session["name"] = name;
            Session["blog"] = blog;
        }

        protected void Button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            TextBox1.Text = Convert.ToString(Session["name"]);
            TextBox2.Text = Convert.ToString(Session["blog"]);
        }

        protected void Button3_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Response.Redirect("NewPage.aspx");
        }
    }
}

NewPage.aspx.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

namespace httpstateless
{
    public partial class NewPage : System.Web.UI.Page
    {
        string name, blog;
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

        protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            name = TextBox1.Text;
            blog = TextBox2.Text;
            TextBox1.Text = "";
            TextBox2.Text = "";
            Session["name"] = name;
            Session["blog"] = blog;
        }

        protected void Button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            TextBox1.Text = Convert.ToString(Session["name"]);
            TextBox2.Text = Convert.ToString(Session["blog"]);
        }
    }
}

Output

 After entering the details click on save button to save the content in session state variables. You may use the restore button to check whether it is working fine. After that click on submit button to move to the new page.

In the new page click on restore button to restore the content from the session state variable and it will work fine as session state variables can be accessed across pages.

NewPage.aspx page

After clicking on restore button.

Hidden Field

Hidden Field is another client side state management technique. It is mainly used to store small values. It is not rendered in the browser as it is invisible to the browser. It can hold one value for a variable. 

      To add Hidden Field to the web application we only need to drag and drop the HiddenField component from the ToolBox. Then the source code will have the following code:

  <asp:HiddenField ID="HiddenField1" runat="server" />

This is the way to create a HiddenField. Now we only need to save the value of a variable to this and then access it when required.

Let us look at an example for further clarity.

In this example we just take a TextBox to input the name of the user and two buttons, one for saving the value of the TextBox to the HiddenField and the other button to retrieve the value from it to the TextBox.

Design  

Code Behind

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

namespace httpstateless
{
    public partial class Hidden : System.Web.UI.Page
    {
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
           
        }

        protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)    //Save Button Click method
        {
                HiddenField1.Value = TextBox1.Text;      //Saving the TextBox value in the HiddenField
                TextBox1.Text = "";
        }

        protected void Button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)    //Previous Button Click method 

        {
            if (HiddenField1.Value != null)
            {
                TextBox1.Text = HiddenField1.Value;      //Retrieving the value from the HiddenField
            }
        }
    }
} 

Output

 Before clicking save button:

After clicking save button:

After clicking Previous button:

As you can the username is retrieved from the HiddenField.

Point to Remember

•  It is used for same values.
• It is not rendered in the browser as it is invisible to the browser.
• It is preferable when a variable value changes frequently.

ABOUT ME

I am a Tech Lover. I like to know new tech news and stuffs like that. I am like you all learning and sharing knowledge that i have....

If you like my posts then please like and share and follow me for all the stuffs like these in future.

Thanks for your support. Keep supporting me like this.

Akhil Vijayan

Query String

Query String is used to send data from one page to another page through URL. The Query String are used to start with a "?" sign. If we want to add more Query String we use "&" sign.

Query Strings are mainly used to send small data across pages. In ASP.NET, to move from one page to another we can use Response.Redirect(It is one of the page navigation technique) which redirects the current page to the specified page.Response.Redirect takes URL to specify the path of the new page and with the URL we can pass the Query String and can code to access the value in another page.

I will discuss all the navigation techniques later. Let us stick to the Response.Redirect for now.

Let us take an example to make it clear. We will take the same example which I took for Cookies and ViewState variable. So we will take input name and blog name from the user and will try to move these details to another page and then display it on the new page.

Let us take the name of first page as Page1.aspx and second one as Page2.aspx.

Design

Page1.aspx

Page2.aspx

Code Behind

Page1.aspx.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

namespace httpstateless
{
    public partial class Page1 : System.Web.UI.Page
    {
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

        protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            //Redirecting to Page2.aspx and sending the values with it
            Response.Redirect("Page2.aspx?Name="+TextBox1.Text+"&Blog Name="+TextBox2.Text);
        }
    }
}

Page2.aspx.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

namespace httpstateless
{
    public partial class Page2 : System.Web.UI.Page
    {
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            //Accessing the values send by Page1.aspx
            Label1.Text = Request.QueryString["Name"];
            Label2.Text = Request.QueryString["Blog Name"];
        }
    }
}

Output

Output before clicking the redirect button(current page is Page1.aspx):

Output after clicking the redirect button(loads the Page2.aspx):

Now in the above code when we send the data with the URL we first used "?" sign and gave a name to it and then use an "=" sign. After that a "+" sign and pass the TextBox1 value to the name which we used. To pass more value we have to use & and then the name. After sending the data we access it by Request.QueryString in the new page.

Points to Remember

• It is generally used to send data from one page to another with URL.
• It is not suitable for storing large data.
• It is not suitable to send confidential data like passwords as the new page's URL will also contain the text send by us when we redirect to that page(you refer the Page2 output as it reflects the same).
  

Cookies

Cookies are usually used to store user identity or we can say user data. Cookies are small text files which is created by the client browser and are stored in the hard drive. 

When a user makes an initial request for a page the server creates a cookie for that user and stores it in the hard drive and then again the same user tries to access a page in the same web site, the cookie stored is matched and then it grants the access.  Cookies can be send from one page to another after creation. It is not possible in the case of View State variables as it works for a single page.

There are two types of cookies:

• Persistent Cookie  
• Non-Persistent Cookie

Persistent Cookie

When we set an expiry time to a cookie it is known as Persistent Cookie. It remains stored till the time expires.

Example

Let us take the following example:

Design

 This application will save the details entered in the textbox into the cookie when we will click the save button. When we will click display button it displays the saved cookie in the two labels below the button.

Code Behind

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

namespace httpstateless
{
    public partial class WebForm2 : System.Web.UI.Page
    {
       
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

        protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)  //save button
        {
            //Creating cookie and saving the value.
            HttpCookie cookie = new HttpCookie("User Details");
            cookie["Name"] = TextBox1.Text;
            cookie["Blog Name"] = TextBox2.Text;
            //Setting the expire time to 30 days
            cookie.Expires = DateTime.Now.AddDays(30);
            Response.Cookies.Add(cookie);
        }

        protected void Button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)   //display button
        {
            //Cookie request.
            HttpCookie cookie = Request.Cookies["User Details"];
            if (cookie != null)
            {
                Label1.Text = cookie["Name"];
                Label2.Text = cookie["Blog Name"];
            }
        }
    }
}

Output

This is the output after the whole process. Now if you close the browser and then open the page again and display without saving the new cookie, it will display the retained value in the cookie that we saved earlier. This is because we are using the persistent cookie and we gave the expiry time of 30 days. So it will be retained for that period of time.

Non-Persistent Cookie

Non-Persistent Cookies are not saved permanently in the hard drive. It is retain as long as the user is not closing the browser. When the browser is closed all non-persistent cookies are cleared automatically.

Design

Same as above example

Code Behind


using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

namespace httpstateless
{
    public partial class WebForm2 : System.Web.UI.Page
    {
       
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

        protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)  //save button
        {
            //Creating cookie and saving the value.
            HttpCookie cookie = new HttpCookie("User Details");
            cookie["Name"] = TextBox1.Text;               //Note that expiry time is not specified
            cookie["Blog Name"] = TextBox2.Text;
            Response.Cookies.Add(cookie);
        }

        protected void Button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)   //display button
        {
            //Cookie request.
            HttpCookie cookie = Request.Cookies["User Details"];
            if (cookie != null)
            {
                Label1.Text = cookie["Name"];
                Label2.Text = cookie["Blog Name"];
            }
        }
    }
}

Output

Output is also same as that of persistent cookies.But when we close the browser after this all the cookies are cleared. So when we load the page again in the browser and click display without entering the value in the textbox the label will remain empty as cookies are not retained after the browser is closed.

View State

View State is a Client Side management technique which is used to hold values even after the postback. It is mainly used for storing temporary data like small calculations, final results etc. It is a page level state management which means it holds value only for the current page where you have added the view state code. We cannot used this technique to store values across webpages.

View State values are stored in the generated HTML hidden field. View State is enabled by default is every ASP.NET page.

Lets take the same example which we have used in "Chapter 7: Why HTTP protocol is called stateless protocol?"

Design

 Code Behind

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

namespace httpstateless
{
    public partial class ViewState : System.Web.UI.Page    {
        string name, blog;
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

        protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            name = TextBox1.Text;
            blog = TextBox2.Text;
            TextBox1.Text = "";
            TextBox2.Text = "";
            ViewState["name"] = name;
            ViewState["blog"] = blog;
           
        }

        protected void Button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            TextBox1.Text = Convert.ToString(ViewState["name"]);
            TextBox2.Text = Convert.ToString(ViewState["blog"]);
        }
    }
}

Output

Before clicking save:

 

After Clicking save:

After Restore:

If you right click the page and then select view page source you can find an input field which has type="hidden". This is automatically created. All viewstate values are stored here in encrypted format.

Points to remember

• View State is a page level state management technique.
• It can hold any type of data.
• It is stored in the hidden field.
• It is mainly used to store temporary data.
• It is not used to store large data.

Managing State

In previous post i told you about the stateless nature of HTTP protocol. So in order to store a value we need a mechanism which will hold a value even after a button click or a page request.That mechanism should also allow us to access these values later. We have different types of state management techniques these are:

 Client Side Technique

• View State
• Cookies
• Query String
• Hidden Field
• Control State 

Server Side Technique

• Session State
• Application State

These all will be explained in detail in upcoming post.

Why HTTP is called stateless protocol?

Http is called stateless protocol because each user request  for a page is served without storing the previous request. All the request are treated differently.  So after rendering it has no clue of the previous request. It doesn't maintain any state or session by its own.

We may see this with a help of an example.

In our example i will input my name and blog name in two textboxes. After that when i click save button i will store these in two variables and when the restore button is pressed it should restore the value from these variables. Lets see what happens.

Design

Code Behind



Output

After clicking save button:

After clicking restore button:

Surprise.....!! After clicking restore button then also the textboxs are blank. This is because the http protocols are stateless. So the variables used in the program(i.e.  name and blog) cannot retain their values after button click.

So to solve this we have many techniques which will be discussed in the upcoming post.

What is isPostback?

Postback is a way to send information from the client  to the server and after processing it back to the client. So sometimes in our project we need to check whether the page loading is done by the user action(for eg. Button  click) or it is an initial loading of the page. To check this we have a property of the page called isPostback property.

It is mainly used in pageloads to check whether the page loading is done by the initial request or not. 

Let  us look one example to make this more clear.

For example, if we want to  display a name as "guest" in a label on the initial loading of the page and then take a username from the user and display it in that label.

To do this we need to keep in mind that we need the name "guest" only when the page is first loaded and after the button  click we need to show the name of the user that is entered in the textbox.

Design

Code Behind

Output

On initial load:

After entering my name and clicking the display button:

ASP.NET Page Life Cycle Events

In previous post i told you about Button_Click() event. This event was called when we click a button. In the similar way, ASP.NET page has life cycle events and methods which are called when the page is executed. When a page is requested by the user it will first load it into the server memory and then process it and displays it into the browser. When we close the browser it unloads the content from the memory. All these steps events are called to perform each take. This happens automatically. We can even override these events for our application.

Page Life Cycle Events

• PreInit

It is the first event in the life cycle. It checks the IsPostBack property i.e the page is loaded for the first time or not. This event also sets the master page if it is used in the application(Details of Master page will be covered later).

        protected void Page_PreInit(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

• Init

 This event initialize all the controls and its control properties.

         protected void Page_Init(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

• InitComplete

It is raised when the initialization is complete. Here viewstate variables are loaded.

        protected void Page_InitComplete(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

• PreLoad

 In this event postback data and viewstate are loaded.

        protected void Page_PreLoad(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

• Load

In this event the page is loaded. We can add code in this event if we want something to be done when the page is loaded. For example, if we want to check the IsPostback() property we can write it here.

        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

•  Control Events

 This event handles the postback events like button click, TextBox control's TextChanged events.

        protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

• LoadComplete

 This event show the end of page loading.

        protected void Page_LoadComplete(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

• PreRender

This event is called just before the output in rendered. 

        protected void Page_PreRender(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

• PreRenderComplete

It ensures the completion of PreRender event.

        protected void Page_PreRenderComplete(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

• SaveStateComplete

 All control's state are saved. Viewstate information is also saved.

        protected void Page_SaveStateComplete(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

• UnLoad

This event is the last event called to unload all the controls recursively and at last the page itself.

        protected void Page_UnLoad(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

        }

Now let us code these things.

Create a page having one label and a button for button click event.

Design

 

CodeBehind

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

namespace page_life_cycle_event
{
    public partial class WebForm1 : System.Web.UI.Page
    {
       
        protected void Page_PreInit(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Label1.Text = Label1.Text + "</br>" + "PreInit";
        }
        protected void Page_Init(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Label1.Text = Label1.Text + "</br>" + "Init";
        }
        protected void Page_InitComplete(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Label1.Text = Label1.Text + "</br>" + "InitComplete";
        }
        protected void Page_PreLoad(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Label1.Text = Label1.Text + "</br>" + "PreLoad";
        }
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Label1.Text = Label1.Text + "</br>" + "Load";
        }

        protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Label1.Text = Label1.Text + "</br>" + "Button Click";
        }
        protected void Page_LoadComplete(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Label1.Text = Label1.Text + "</br>" + "LoadComplete";
        }
        protected void Page_PreRender(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Label1.Text = Label1.Text + "</br>" + "PreRender";
        }
        protected void Page_PreRenderComplete(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Label1.Text = Label1.Text + "</br>" + "PreRenderComplete";
        }
        protected void Page_SaveStateComplete(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Label1.Text = Label1.Text + "</br>" + "SaveStateComplete";
        }
        protected void Page_UnLoad(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Label1.Text = Label1.Text + "</br>" + "Unload";
        }
    }
}

Now just run the application.

When page loads and the output will be:

After Button Click:

Creating a simple Web Application

Now let us look at a simple example in which we will make three TextBoxs(textbox are use to take input from user) and a button(buttons are used to submit a page to the server). We will input 2 number in the first two TextBoxs and the last textbox will contain the sum of two numbers when we will click on the button.

Now let us begin by designing the page.

• So first we need to open an asp.net web application which i already explain you how to do it in my chapter 1 please refer it if needed. After that a default.aspx page display. It is the default page which is loaded when you open a new web application. This page already contains some default styling. Follow picture shows the design and code view of default.aspx.

       DESIGN VIEW

        CODE VIEW

• If you need a blank web page/form then you can simply add it by going to the solution explorer in that you can find the web application name(here it is Web Application7) right click on that then click on add then new item as show below.

 

• A new dialog box opens up where you can find Web Form. Just click on that give a name to the webpage below(here i am keeping WebForm1.aspx and the click on add.

 

•  A new page will display in the middle of the screen. And if you click on the design view button you can see that it is a blank page which has nothing on it. 

        DESIGN VIEW

        

• Now in the design view type anything like "First Number" after that simply drag and drop a textbox from the toolbox present on your left side of the screen. Repeat it for the "Second Number" after that add a button for the page submission(If Toolbox is not present then you can add it by going to View -> Toolbox or simple pressing Ctrl+Alt+X). After doing that the design would look like this.

•   Now in order to manipulate any property of the controls we can do it in the property window. For example if we need to change the name of the Button to "Calculate", first click on the button which need the change after that go to property window which is on the right side. There you can find a field named Text, there you can change the name for Button to Calculate.

• Now our design is complete. Lets move onto the code behind part where we will do a little bit of coding. This is needed because if we will run this page without coding the page will not do the task which we want on button click. The page will display as it is as we made in the design view. It will also take values in textbox but the button click event will not work and also the result will not be displayed in the third textbox. 
• Now in order to move to the code behind double click on the button in the design view. The code behind will look like this.

• You can see the code behind named WebForm.aspx.cs. This is where we write the C# code. In this page you may see a function like this.

           protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
         {

          }

This is the button click event. This is called when the button is click. Leave the rest part on the code in this page as i will cover it in the upcoming posts. 

• Now in this function we have to perform addition operation and display the result in the third TextBox. So in order to do that we have to fetch the values entered in the textbox. This can be done by simply writing the "ID of the Textbox".Text (ID can be found of the textbox just by click the textbox which you want to find the ID and go to property window and you may check the Id from the ID field). The following is the code.

       protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            int res=Convert.ToInt32(TextBox1.Text) + Convert.ToInt32(TextBox2.Text);
            TextBox3.Text = Convert.ToString(res);
        }

I think some of you are surprised with this code as some are thinking why did i use Convert.ToInt. We can simple write the following code.

     protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            TextBox3.Text =TextBox1.Text + TextBox2.Text;
        }

Sorry to say the above code will not work as expected because Textboxs always return string values. So if we right the above code it will concatenate the two string and show the result in the third textbox but we don't want that. That is why we converted both the textboxs to int and stored in the res variable which is also an integer type. After that we convert the integer to string as Textboxs accepts string values only.

• Now the are done with the program. Now just run the program by clicking on the play button on the to of the page. The output will look like this.

To stop the running application close the browser and then click on stop present in the upper portion of the application.

• Now we are left with one more thing. We can see that the third textbox value can be manipulated by changing the vale from 24 to any other value but we don't want that. We can solve the problem by changing the property of that textbox. Set the Enabled property to false. This will do it. Now when we run the application we are disabled with the privilege of changing the value of the third TextBox. and that TextBox turns to grey in colour. After the change it will look like this.

  

• Now to save the application press Ctrl+Shift+S or go to File -> Save All.

Visual Studio IDE Basic Components

There are several windows found when you open a new project in Visual Studio they are as follows:

• Toolbox on the left
• Property window on the right
• Solution Explorer also on the right
• Design/Code in the middle

Toolbox

Toolbox consists of many different controls that can be used by the developer on the webpage to design it in the desired manner that he likes. It ease the developer from hard coding the controls as this toolbox allows a developer to just drag and drop controls from the toolbox to the webpage. Source code will be effected automatically when the design is changed. Examples of controls found in toolbox are TextBox control,Buttons,Labels etc.

Property Window

The properties windows shows all the properties of each control of the toolbox which are added to the design of the web application. For example, we can change the TextMode property of the TextBox from singleline to password for login purposes.

Solution Explorer

The Solution Explorer window is used to manage your projects and the files that are created and opened in the visual basic tool. The following are the most common tasks that can be done by using Solution Explorer:

• Rename an existing solution.
• Rename, add, and remove a project.
• Rename, add, and remove files.
• Add and remove References.
• Add a folder and manage contents inside it.

Design/Code View

It is the middle part of the screen. Design view is the place where we add controls from the toolbox. Here we design the page according to our needs. It also contain a source view where the code is automatically added when we make changes to the design view. Source view contains html codes. There is a split view which shows both design and source view in a split screen. Code view(also called Codebehind) is the place where we can add the coding content for a page inorder to perform a particular task on runtime. This view is based on a specific language like vb or c#.
  
You may see the IDE components below:

Opening an asp web page

• First, click on Microsoft Visual Studio.
• Then a window will open up Click on File ->New->Project.
• Click on Visual C# which will be present in the left of the popup window.
• Under Visual C# Click on Web.
• List of web contents will be shown in the popup window.
• Now click on ASP.NET Web Application.
• Give the name you want and then Click OK.
• Then you will see a Default.aspx page.

Further will be explained in next post.