Learning ASP.NET isn’t difficult. Not only are the concepts straightforward, but also the Visual Studio and Visual Web Developer environments radically simplify the process of building powerful Web applications. Yet learning how to weave the many pieces together to assemble a robust, flexible, and efficient application can be challenging.

Fortunately O’Reilly’s newest title — Learning ASP.NET 2.0 with AJAX — shows you how to take advantage of Microsoft’s latest Web development tools to construct captivating sites and appealing applications.

“One of the wonderful characteristics of the tools (Visual Web Developer or Visual Studio) and the technology you’ll be using (ASP.NET and ASP.NET AJAX) is that you’ll be able to create your applications with drag and drop programming and just a little bit of hand coding to handle ‘events,’” explain authors Jesse Liberty, Dan Hurwitz, and Brian MacDonald.

Guided by this expert team, you learn how to construct dynamic applications sporting all the winning, must-have tricks seen on today’s most admired commercial Web sites. So whether you hope to create easy-to-use order forms and interactive databases, build pages that display information interactively without a page refresh, or create dynamic navigation tools, this reference shows you how. “The best part is you’ll do it all with minimal coding,” add the authors.

Annotated examples, VB mini-tutorials, illustrations, and chapter summaries help you master the concepts and techniques of Microsoft’s tools. Each chapter also contains a unique Workshop section with practical exercises and review quizzes, so you can practice new skills and test your understanding as you go. With this book, you’ll learn to:

• Master the fundamental skills of ASP.NET 2.0 to build professional-quality Web applications
• Integrate new Ajax tools and CSS with ASP.NET 2.0 for flashier and more interactive sites
• Build applications with minimal coding using Visual Studio or its free counterpart, Visual Web Developer
• Connect your site with a database so that users can retrieve, interact, and save data
• Debug your application, deal with unexpected problems, and protect your site from malicious users
• Use the community-maintained ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit to extend the controls that come with ASP.NET AJAX
• Use personalization tools to give your site a customized look for each user

Ideal for beginning Web developers or those who are new to ASP.NET, this book gets you involved with your own learning through hands-on lessons that are clear and direct. Want to join the world of modern Web development? This book will get you started.

Tags: asp, .net, ajax, web development