.NET Tutorial for Beginners

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Welcome friends to the exciting journey of Microsoft .NET. If you are looking for
information about what .NET is all about, what it can do for you or how it can help you
and your customers, you have come to the right place. This section is intended to tell you
about these and many more things. After covering this section you will be ready to delve
into details of .NET.
The section is divided into following sub-sections:
1) Tracing the .NET History
2) Flavors of .NET
3) Features of .NET
4) Installing .NET Framework SDK
The first sub-section will introduce you with how .NET evolved and the path of .NET
since its Beta releases.
The second sub-section will introduce you with various flavors of...NET and their
respective SDKs. It also gives overview of Visual Studio.NET – an excellent IDE for
developing .NET applications.
It is necessary to understand the features of .NET that make it robust, programmer
friendly, powerful and flexible. The third sub-section is intended just for that. It gives
overview of technical features that make .NET shine over traditional programming
environments.
The final sub-section tells you how to install .NET framework SDK, what are the system
requirements and related topics.
1.1 Tracing the .NET History
Sometime in the July 2000, Microsoft announced a whole new software development
framework for Windows called .NET in the Professional Developer Conference (PDC).
Microsoft also released PDC version of the software for the developers to test. After
initial testing and feedback Beta 1 of .NET was announced. Beta 1 of the .NET itself got
lot of attention from the developer community. When Microsoft announced Beta 2, it
incorporated many changes suggested by the community and internals into the software.
The overall ‘Beta’ phase lasted for more than 1 ½ years. Finally, in March 2002
Microsoft released final version of the .NET framework.
One thing to be noted here is the change in approach of Microsoft while releasing this
new platform. Unlike other software where generally only a handful people are involved
in beta testing, .NET was thrown open to community for testing in it’s every pre-release
version. This is one of the reasons why it created so many waves of excitement within the
community and industry as well.
Microsoft has put in great efforts in this new platform. In fact Microsoft says that its
future depends on success of .NET. The development of .NET is such an important event
that Microsoft considers it equivalent to transition from DOS to Windows. All the future
development – including new and version upgrades of existing products – will revolve
around .NET. So, if you want to be at the forefront of Microsoft Technologies, you
should be knowing .NET!
Now, that we know about brief history of .NET let us see what .NET has to offer.
1.2 Flavors of .NET
Contrary to general belief .NET is not a single technology. Rather it is a set of
technologies that work together seamlessly to solve your business problems. The
following sections will give you insight into various flavors and tools of .NET and what
kind of applications you can develop.
• What type of applications can I develop?
When you hear the name .NET, it gives a feeling that it is something to do only
with internet or networked applications. Even though it is true that .NET provides
solid foundation for developing such applications it is possible to create many
other types of applications. Following list will give you an idea about various
types of application that we can develop on .NET.
1. ASP.NET Web applications: These include dynamic and data driven browser
based applications.
2. Windows Form based applications: These refer to traditional rich client
applications.
3. Console applications: These refer to traditional DOS kind of applications like
batch scripts.
4. Component Libraries: This refers to components that typically encapsulate
some business logic.
5. Windows Custom Controls: As with traditional ActiveX controls, you can
develop your own windows controls.
6. Web Custom Controls: The concept of custom controls can be extended to
web applications allowing code reuse and modularization.
7. Web services: They are “web callable” functionality available via industry
standards like HTTP, XML and SOAP.
8. Windows Services: They refer to applications that run as services in the
background. They can be configured to start automatically when the system
boots up.
As you can clearly see, .NET is not just for creating web application but for
almost all kinds of applications that you find under Windows.
• .NET Framework SDK
You can develop such varied types of applications. That’s fine. But how? As with
most of the programming languages, .NET has a complete Software Development
Kit (SDK) - more commonly referred to as .NET Framework SDK - that
provides classes, interfaces and language compilers necessary to program for
.NET. Additionally it contains excellent documentation and Quick Start tutorials
that help you learn .NET technologies with ease. Good news is that - .NET
Framework SDK is available FREE of cost. You can download it from the MSDN
web site. This means that if you have machine with .NET Framework installed
and a text editor such as Notepad then you can start developing for .NET right
now!
You can download entire .NET Framework SDK (approx 131 Mb) from MSDN
web site at
http://msdn.microsoftdownloads/default.a...le.asp?url
=/msdn-files/027/000/976/msdncompositedoc.xml
• Development Tools
If you are developing applications that require speedy delivery to your customers
and features like integration with some version control software then simple
Notepad may not serve your purpose. In such cases you require some Integrated
Development Environment (IDE) that allows for Rapid Action Development
(RAD). The new Visual Studio.NET is such an IDE. VS.NET is a powerful and
flexible IDE that makes developing .NET applications a breeze. Some of the
features of VS.NET that make you more productive are:
- Drag and Drop design
- IntelliSense features
- Syntax highlighting and auto-syntax checking
- Excellent debugging tools
- Integration with version control software such as Visual Source Safe (VSS)
- Easy project management
Note that when you install Visual Studio.NET, .NET Framework is automatically
installed on the machine.
• Visual Studio.NET Editions
Visual Studio.NET comes in different editions. You can select edition appropriate
for the kind of development you are doing. Following editions of VS.NET are
available:
- Professional
- Enterprise Developer
- Enterprise Architect
Visual Studio .NET Professional edition offers a development tool for
creating various types of applications mentioned previously. Developers can
use Professional edition to build Internet and Develop applications quickly
and create solutions that span any device and integrate with any platform.
Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Developer (VSED) edition contains all the
features of Professional edition plus has additional capabilities for enterprise
development. The features include things such as a collaborative team
development, Third party tool integration for building XML Web services and
built-in project templates with architectural guidelines and spanning
comprehensive project life-cycle.
Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Architect (VSEA) edition contains all the
features of Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Developer edition and additionally
includes capabilities for designing, specifying, and communicating application
architecture and functionality. The additional features include Visual designer
for XML Web services, Unified Modeling Language (UML) support and
enterprise templates for development guidelines and policies.
A complete comparison of these editions can be found at
http://msdn.microsoftvstudio/howtobuy/choosing.asp
In addition to these editions, special language specific editions are available. They
are:
- Visual Basic.NET Standard Edition
- Visual C# Standard Edition
- Visual C++ .NET Standard (soon to be released)
These editions are primarily for hobbyist, student, or beginner who wants to
try their hands on basic language features.
A complete comparison of these standard editions with professional edition of
VS.NET can be found at:
http://msdn.microsoftvcsharp/howtobuy/choosing.asp
http://msdn.microsoftvbasic/howtobuy/choosing.asp
• .NET Redistributable
In order to run application developed using .NET Framework the machine must
have certain ‘runtime’ files installed. They are collectively called as .NET
redistributable. This is analogous to traditional Visual Basic applications that
required Visual Basic runtime installed on target computers. .NET redistributable
provides one redistributable installer that contains the common language runtime
(more on that later) and Microsoft .NET Framework components that are
necessary to run .NET Framework applications. The redistributable is available as
a stand-alone executable and can be installed manually or as a part of your
application setup.
You can download .NET redistributable at
http://msdn.microsoftdownloads/default.a...le.asp?url
=/msdn-files/027/001/829/msdncompositedoc.xml
More technical information about .NET redistributable can be found at
http://msdn.microsoftlibrary/default.asp...rary/enus/
dnnetdep/html/dotnetfxref.asp
Note that if you have installed .NET Framework SDK, there is no need of
installing redistributable separately. Also, note that there is difference between
.NET Framework SDK and .NET redistributable in terms of purpose and tools
and documentation supplied. .NET Framework SDK is intended to ‘develop’
applications where as .NET redistributable is intended to ‘run’ .NET applications.
• .NET and mobile development
Now days the use of mobile and wireless devices is ever increasing. PDAs,
mobile phones, Smartphones, handheld PCs and HTML pagers are becoming
common. As compared to full blown desktop computers, Mobile devices are
generally resource-constrained. There are limitations on what they can display
and in which form. For example you can easily display graphical menus in
desktop applications but the same may not be possible for cell phones.
Today there are many vendors making CPUs and development tools for mobile
devices. However, their standards are much varying. For example devices running
Windows CE will have different tools and standards of development than Palm
OS. Also, programming model for such devices is an issue of debate. For
example, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) was considered a ‘standard’ for
mobile devices but it introduced disadvantages of its own such as requirement of
continuous connectivity, lack in rich user interface and failure to utilize client –
side resources effectively.
Mobile devices can be broadly divided into two categories:
1) Mobile Devices that have certain client-side resources like PDAs,
Smartphones and Handheld PCs. They can run stand-alone application with
rich user interface.
2) Mobile Devices that lack even these client-side resources such as mobile
phones. They can not run stand alone applications having rich and more
interactive user interface.
In order to encompass all possible devices from above categories Microsoft has
developed two distinct technologies namely:
- Microsoft .NET Compact Framework (.NET CF)
- Microsoft Mobile Internet Toolkit (MMIT)
o Microsoft .NET Compact Framework
.NET compact framework is a sub set of entire .NET framework and is
targeted at mobile devices having some client side resources. It provides
support for managed code and XML Web services. Currently, .NET
Compact Framework is in Beta 1 and is available on devices running the
Windows CE or Windows CE .NET operating systems. However,
Microsoft has promised support for other platforms in the future. As of
now the framework supports Visual Basic.NET and C# as development
languages out of the box. Support for other languages is planned in near
future.
Microsoft is creating a set of extensions for Visual Studio .NET called
Smart Device Extensions that will allow Visual Studio .NET developers to
program for .NET Compact Framework. This means that developers
familiar with Visual Studio.NET can start developing for mobile devices
almost instantly.
More information about .NET Compact Framework can be obtained at
http://msdn.microsoftvstudio/device/compact.asp
o Microsoft Mobile Internet Toolkit
Microsoft Mobile Internet Toolkit (MMIT) is designed to develop server
side applications for mobile devices such as cell phones, PDAs, and
pagers. It is different than .NET compact Framework in that it is a server
side technology. It is ideal for devices that can not run stand alone
applications.
MMIT mainly uses ASP.NET as a technology for delivering markup to a
wide variety of mobile devices. As we know that each mobile device has
its own set of underlying standards and markup. MMIT shields these
details from the developer and allows ‘uniform code’ for any target
device. Based on the capabilities of target device the output is rendered.
More information about MMIT can be obtained from
http://msdn.microsoftvstudio/device/mitdefault.asp
1.3 Features of .NET
Now that we know some basics of .NET, let us see what makes .NET a wonderful
platform for developing modern applications.
• Rich Functionality out of the box
.NET framework provides a rich set of functionality out of the box. It contains
hundreds of classes that provide variety of functionality ready to use in your
applications. This means that as a developer you need not go into low level details
of many operations such as file IO, network communication and so on.
• Easy development of web applications
ASP.NET is a technology available on .NET platform for developing dynamic
and data driven web applications. ASP.NET provides an event driven
programming model (similar to Visual Basic 6 that simplify development of web
pages (now called as web forms) with complex user interface. ASP.NET server
controls provide advanced user interface elements (like calendar and grids) that
save lot of coding from programmer’s side.
• OOPs Support
The advantages of Object Oriented programming are well known. .NET provides
a fully object oriented environment. The philosophy of .NET is – “Object is
mother of all.” Languages like Visual Basic.NET now support many of the OO
features that were lacking traditionally. Even primitive types like integer and
characters can be treated as objects – something not available even in OO
languages like C++.
• Multi-Language Support
Generally enterprises have varying skill sets. For example, a company might have
people with skills in Visual Basic, C++, and Java etc. It is an experience that
whenever a new language or environment is invented existing skills are outdated.
This naturally increases cost of training and learning curve. .NET provides
something attractive in this area. It supports multiple languages. This means that
if you have skills in C++, you need not throw them but just mould them to suit
.NET environment. Currently four languages are available right out of the box
namely – Visual Basic.NET, C# (pronounced as C-sharp), Jscript.NET and
Managed C++ (a dialect of Visual C++). There are many vendors that are
working on developing language compilers for other languages (20+ language
compilers are already available). The beauty of multi language support lies in the
fact that even though the syntax of each language is different, the basic
capabilities of each language remain at par with one another.
• Multi-Device Support
Modern lift style is increasingly embracing mobile and wireless devices such as
PDAs, mobiles and handheld PCs. . . .NET provides promising platform for
programming such devices. .NET Compact Framework and Mobile Internet
Toolkit are step ahead in this direction.
• Automatic memory management
While developing applications developers had to develop an eye on system
resources like memory. Memory leaks were major reason in failure of
applications. .NET takes this worry away from developer by handling memory on
its own. The garbage collector takes care of freeing unused objects at appropriate
intervals.
• Compatibility with COM and COM+
Before the introduction of .NET, COM was the de-facto standard for
componentized software development. Companies have invested lot of money and
efforts in developing COM components and controls. The good news is – you can
still use COM components and ActiveX controls under .NET. This allows you to
use your existing investment in .NET applications. .NET still relies on COM+ for
features like transaction management and object pooling. In fact it provides
enhanced declarative support for configuring COM+ application right from your
source code. Your COM+ knowledge still remains as a valuable asset.
• No more DLL Hell
If you have worked with COM components, you probably are aware of “DLL
hell”. DLL conflicts are a common fact in COM world. The main reason behind
this was the philosophy of COM – “one version of component across machine”.
Also, COM components require registration in the system registry. .NET ends this
DLL hell by allowing applications to use their own copy of dependent DLLs.
Also, .NET components do not require any kind of registration in system registry.
• Strong XML support
Now days it is hard to find a programmer who is unaware of XML. XML has
gained such a strong industry support that almost all the vendors have released
some kind of upgrades or patches to their existing software to make it “XML
compatible”. Currently, .NET is the only platform that has built with XML right
into the core framework. .NET tries to harness power of XML in every possible
way. In addition to providing support for manipulating and transforming XML
documents, .NET provides XML web services that are based on standards like
HTTP, XML and SOAP.
• Ease of deployment and configuration
Deploying windows applications especially that used COM components were
always been a tedious task. Since .NET does not require any registration as such,
much of the deployment is simplified. This makes XCOPY deployment viable.
Configuration is another area where .NET – especially ASP.NET – shines over
traditional languages. The configuration is done via special files having special
XML vocabulary. Since, most of the configuration is done via configuration files,
there is no need to sit in front of actual machine and configure the application
manually. This is more important for web applications; simply FTPing new
configuration file makes necessary changes.
• Security
Windows platform was always criticized for poor security mechanisms. Microsoft
has taken great efforts to make .NET platform safe and secure for enterprise
applications. Features such as type safety, code access security and role based
authentication make overall application more robust and secure.
1.4 Installing the .NET Framework SDK
Now that you have fare idea of what .NET I and what it can do for you, it is time to
install .NET framework SDK on your machine. Following sections will tell you
everything you need to know for installing .NET framework.
• Hardware Requirements
In order to install .NET framework SDK following hardware is required:
- Computer/Processor : Intel Pentium class, 133 megahertz (MHz) or higher
- Minimum RAM Requirements : 128 megabytes (MB) (256 MB or higher
recommended)
- Hard Disk :
o Hard disk space required to install: 600 MB
o Hard disk space required: 370 MB
- Display : Video: 800x600, 256 colors
- Input Device : Microsoft mouse or compatible pointing device
• Software Requirements
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or later is required
- Microsoft Data Access Components 2.6 is also required (Microsoft Data
Access Components 2.7 is recommended)
- Operating System :
o Microsoft Windows® 2000, with the latest Windows service pack and
critical updates available from the Microsoft Security Web page
o Microsoft Windows XP – (Microsoft Windows XP Professional if you
want to run ASP.NET)
o Microsoft Windows NT® 4.0
Note: If you want to simply run .NET applications then you can also run them on
Microsoft Windows XP Home edition, Windows Millennium Edition (Windows
ME) and Windows 98.
Here are some URLs that you will find handy in making your system up-to-date
for above software requirements.
Internet Explorer 6 can be downloaded from
http://microsoftwindows/ie/downloads/ie6/default.asp
Microsoft Data Access Components 2.7 can be downloaded from
http://microsoftdata/download_270RTM.htm
Various Windows service packs and patches can be obtained from
http://microsoftdownloads/search.asp
• Where to get .NET Framework SDK
As mentioned earlier .NET framework SDK is freely downloadable from MSDN
site. Visit
http://msdn.microsoftdownloads/default.a...le.asp?url
=/msdn-files/027/000/976/msdncompositedoc.xml and download it now.
The total download size is 137,363,456 bytes (approximately 131 Mb). For your
convenience Microsoft has provided multi-part version of the entire download. If
you are unable to download the SDK from MSDN web site, check out popular PC
magazines around. Many of them contain .NET Framework SDK on their
companion CD.