Building Web Applications with ASP.NET and Ajax: Hands-On

Architecture of Scalable Applications

• N-tier applications
• Distributed objects vs. clustering
• Communication between layers
• Challenges of a Web farm environment

Building the Data Layer

Designing for data independence

• Working with business objects
• Maximising efficiency with ADO.NET

Exploiting Microsoft ORM tools

• Utilising the Entity Framework
• Simplifying data access with LINQ to SQL

Constructing the Presentation Layer

Working with ASP.NET controls

• Handling control events
• Binding business components with ObjectDataSource
• Exploiting simple and complex data binding

Implementing Web security

• Authenticating anonymous Internet users
• Achieving role-based Web security
• Integrating Microsoft security tables with an existing database

Building Web Forms

• Inheriting from a base page
• Dynamically switching themes and master pages

Managing state for Web farms

• Sticky sessions vs. dynamic load balancing
• Implementing distributed session state
• Leveraging caching for performance and scalability
• Filtering, sorting and aggregating with LINQ to Objects

Implementing the Business Layer

Programming the middle tier

• Encapsulating business logic in business entity objects
• Managing concurrency
• Employing promotable .NET transactions
• Distributing transactions across multiple transaction servers

Sending Asynchronous Distributed Messages

• Utilising Microsoft Message Queue (MSMQ)
• Reading from and writing to queues using the System.Messaging namespace

Building More Responsive ASP.NET Pages with Ajax

Creating a richer UI with Ajax extensions

• Integrating Ajax and existing pages
• Increasing responsiveness with the UpdatePanel
• Utilising AsyncPostBack Triggers for conditional updates
• Using Ajax with Master Pages via ScriptManagerProxy

Leveraging the Ajax Control Toolkit

• Linking DropDownLists with CascadingDropDown controls
• Writing and calling an Ajax-enabled WCF Web service
• Implementing the Ajax Accordion control

Enhancing Web Form controls with Ajax control extenders

• Creating modal dialogs with the ModalPopup control
• Simplifying dates with the CalendarExtender
• Responding to user input with the AutoComplete extender
• Guiding the user with TextBoxWatermark

Developing with jQuery

Manipulating HTML with jQuery

• Investigating jQuery syntax
• Returning wrapped sets with the jQuery function
• Responding to DOM loading with the .ready() function
• Traversing the DOM with selectors

Creating DHTML with jQuery

• Manipulating JSON and HTML
• Updating client HTML pages with jQuery and Ajax
• Traversing XML Ajax returns with .find() and .each()
• Animating changes to HTML

Implementing Microsoft Official jQuery Plugins

• Building DHTML with Ajax and client-side templates
• Displaying preformatted HTML inside client templates
• Localising formats with the Globalisation plugin

Delivering JavaScript efficiently

• Improving performance with Microsoft's Content Delivery Network
• Reducing script size with the Microsoft Minifier

Deploying Web Packages

• Packaging for deployment
• Transforming the Web.config for release
• Importing Web packages in IIS