.NET On A Shoe String

By: Patrick Brannen

Lead Developer

iDevCo, Inc.

http://www.idevco.com

pbrannen@idevco.com

.NET On A Shoe String

• Objective• Introduction• Budget Scenario

– VS.NET Features– What Can You Do Without VS.NET?

• Requirements• Components & Acquisition• Installation• First Project• Object Oriented Programming/ Model View Controller• Coding• Compiling & Deploying• Documenting• Upgrading to VS.NET• Conclusion• Resources

Objective

• Learn what is involved with setting up a development site to begin learning .NET without using Visual Studio.Net

• Learn which components are required and where to obtain them

Introduction

• What is .NET– From http://www.microsoft.com/net/basics/:

Microsoft® .NET is a set of software technologies for connecting information, people, systems, and devices. This new generation of technology is based on Web services—small building-block applications that can connect to each other as well as to other, larger applications over the Internet.

– Developer’s Standpoint: Collection of Classes

Introduction

• The Usual Configuration– Visual Studio.NET– Deployed to Server Running IIS 5.0+ and .NET

SDK

Budget Scenario

• VS.NET Cost*– As of VS.NET 2003’s release, you have to purchase a MSDN Subscription

which will entitle you to a copy of the VS.NET 2003. Levels of MSDN Subscription** include:

• MSDN Universal which includes:– Visual Studio.NET 2003 Architect– Cost $2,799

• MSDN Enterprise which includes:– Visual Studio.NET 2003 Enterprise Developer– Cost $2,199

• MSDN Professional which includes:– Visual Studio.NET 2003 Professional– Cost $1,199

**Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/prodinfo/pricing.asp* Academic pricing available also

Budget Scenario

• What can you do without VS.NET?– Client Story– Using the .NET SDK you can:

• Create Web Pages

• Compile Objects

• Deploy Code

Requirements

• Windows version that supports .NET SDK (for developing)(version 1.1 from http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/productinfo/sysreqs/default.aspx)

– Microsoft Windows® Server 2003 family – Windows 2000, with the latest Windows service

pack and critical updates available from the Microsoft Security Web site

– Windows XP (Windows XP Professional is required to run ASP.NET)

• The Redistributable (for deploying) can be deployed on other Window’s Operating Systems.

• The .NET SDK

Components and Acquisition

• .NET SDK (version 1.1 though 1.0a and its service pack still available from Microsoft’s website)

– http://microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9B3A2CA6-3647-4070-9F41-A333C6B9181D&displaylang=en

• MDAC 2.7– http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9ad000f2-cae7-493d-

b0f3-ae36c570ade8&DisplayLang=en

• NAnt (a .NET compile tool)– http://nant.sourceforge.net

• WebMatrix (a free color coding .NET editor)– http://www.asp.net/webmatrix/

Components and Acquisition

Optionally:

• NDoc (a .NET API Document creator)– http://ndoc.sourceforge.net/– Requires HTML Help Workshop available at:

• http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=14188

• Log4Net (A logging API)– http://log4net.sourceforge.net/

• A Database:– Freely available ones include mysql, postgresql, for a sqlserver

compatible one get MDSE at http://www.asp.net/msde/default.aspx?tabindex=0&tabid=1

• Source Control– CVS http://www.cvshome.org

Components and Acquisition

• Snapshot of directory containing all downloaded components:

Installation

• MDAC– Straight forward, a few dialogs– Reboot required

• .NET– Straight forward, a few dialogs– Check “Register Environment Variables”

• NAnt– Extract Zip to a place on your harddrive– Add the /bin dir to your System Path

Installation

• WebMatrix• Log4Net

– Unzip– The DLL will be included with our project later

in this presentation

• HTML Help Workshop• NDoc

– Unzip (I did to c:\ndoc)

First Project

• Language– The .NET CLR– Language Neutral– C#

• Choose source code location– C:\projects\web2003

• Choose deploy location– C:\inetpub\wwwroot\web2003

First Project

• Create and edit default.build– http://nant.sourceforge.net/help/fundamentals/

fog0000000022.html

– http://nant.sourceforge.net/help/tasks/index.html

• .NET Class Library– http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpref/html/cpref_start.asp

– Object Browser that came with Web Matrix

Object Oriented Programming/Model View

Controller• Type II - Model View Controller

– Three programmatic layers• Model

– Database– Business Logic

• View– Presentation– Web Layer

• Controller– Single component which essentially directs traffic

Object Oriented Programming/model View

Controller• Object Oriented Programming

– Everything is an object– Inheritance– Encapsulation– Promotes code reuse– Promotes modeling business logic objects after

real world objects– Promotes clean/easily maintainable code.

Coding

• Code Behinds– Separate Business Logic (Model) from Markup (View)– The Exception to the following rule

• Difference between semi-compiled code and compiled code– Web pages

• include markup• End with .aspx

– Business logic classes, or Objects• Compiled• Do not contain markup• End in .cs (if programming in c#)

Coding

• Simple Dynamic Webpage– See code

Coding

• Simple Database Webpage– See code

Compiling and Deploying

• NAnt Targets– According to our Default.build

• nant clean• nant dist-clean• nant compile• nant deploy

• Copy log4net-net-1.0.dll to your lib directory (lib defined in default.build)

• Create Virtual Dir in IIS– Reads in all .dll files in the /bin dir

Documenting

• NDoc– nant doc

• Browsing Documentation– default.build compiles doc files to the following

location, so open:• C:\Projects\web2003\doc\web2003\web2003.chm

by double-clicking it in Explorer

Upgrading to VS.NET

• Benefits Gained:– Debugging– Better RAD– Compile from within the IDE– Integration with source control

Conclusion

• Visual Studio.NET has its place

• Entry into the .NET platform can be made without a major financial investment

• Learning the framework without having to rely on the VS.NET will give you a more intimate understanding of the .NET classes.

Resources

• Books– Learn the framework, don’t worry about syntax– Programming ASP.NET (O’Reily)– Professional ASP.NET 1.0 (WROX)

• Online– www.gotdotnet.com– http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpref/html/cpref_start.asp

– Google Groups (*dotnet*)

• Me:– pbrannen@idevco.com– 703.298.0218