C# 6 and the .NET 4.

6 Framework

Chapter 31: ADO.NET Part II: The

Disconnected Layer
 Outline
• The role of HTTP, HTML, Client-Side Scripting
• Posting back to the Web Server
• Building an ASP.NET Web Site
• Interacting with the Incoming HTTP Request
• Interacting with the Outgoing HTTP Response
• The Life Cycle of an ASP.NET Web Page
• The Role of the Web.config File
• Loading data from a database
The HTTP Request/Response Cycle
 HTTP Is a Stateless Protocol
• HTTP is stateless
– Different from Desktop development
– As soon as the web server sends a response to the
client browser, everything about the previous
interaction is forgotten
• You need to take specific steps to "remember"
information
– E.g., shopping cart, credit card numbers, and
home addresses of the users currently logged in
 Understanding Web Applications and
Web Servers
• A web application
– A collection of files (e.g., *.html, *.aspx, image files, XML-based
file data) and related components (such as a .NET code library)
– Stored within a particular set of directories on a web server.
• A web server
– A software product in charge of hosting your web applications;
– Typically provides a number of related services e.g., integrated
security, FTP, mail exchange services, etc.
• Internet Information Services (IIS)
– Is the Microsoft enterprise-level web server product, and it
offers intrinsic support for Web Forms applications
– When you install Visual Studio, there is an Express version of IIS
installed too
AN OVERVIEW OF THE WEB FORMS
API
An Overview of the Web Forms API
• The following features are commonplace for ASP.NET
Web Forms-based applications:
– It provides code-behind, to separate presentation logic
(HTML) from business logic (C# code)
– The pages are coded using .NET programming language
(compiled into valid *.dll)
– Its controls can be used to build a web UI similar to that of
building a desktop windows application
– They can make use of any of the assemblies within the
.NET base class libraries
• Web Forms are built using various controls
– Controls are executed on the web server and will emit
back HTML tags
The Inheritance Chain of the Page Type
• All .NET web pages eventually derive from
System.Web.UI.Page
• Page has following important properties
 Interacting with the Incoming HTTP
Request
• Page supports the Request property
– Provides access to an instance of the HttpRequest
 Useful methods of HttpRequest
• MapPath()
– Maps the virtual path in the requested URL to a
physical path on the server for the current request
• SaveAs()
– Saves details of the current HTTP request to a file on
the web server
• ValidateInput()
– If the validation feature is enabled via the Validate
attribute of the Page directive, this method can be
called to check all user input data (including cookie
data) against a predefined list of potentially
dangerous input data.
 Create new website
1
2

1. Click File > New

2. Click Website
3. Select Empty Web
4. Input webname
5. Click OK 5
4
 Access to Incoming Form Data
1. Right click on the web
2. Click Add
3. Select Web Form 1
4. Input the name
5. Click OK

4 5
 Adding a control
1. Click on Toolbox
2. Drag the TextBox
3. Drop it to the form
Similarly drag and
drop a Button and a 1
Label to the form 3

2
 Split view
1. Click on Split view
2. Is the design view
3. Is the code view
4. Add a new <br/>
tag 4

1
 Change the properties
1. Click on the TextBox
2. Click on Properties
3. Locate the ID property, type the name
Similarly,
- Change the ID of the Button to btnDisplay and its 3
text to Display
- Change the Label ID to lblMsg and its text to “”
Note:
You could also change these properties from the code 2

1
Access to Incoming Form Data
1. Double click on the button Display
2. Go to the code behind
1 3. Code the event

3
 The IsPostBack Property
• IsPostBack is aproperty of Page
– Will be true if the current HTTP request has been sent by a
user currently in session
– Will be false if this is the user's first interaction with the
page
• Is most helpful to execute a block of code only when
the user first accesses a given page
– E.g., to populate an ADO.NET DataSet when the user first
accesses an *.aspx file and cache the object for later use
– This can avoid the need to hit the database unnecessarily
(of course, some pages might require that the DataSet
always be updated upon each request, but that is another
issue).
Example of use of IsPostBack
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Fill Data only the very first time
// the user comes to this page.
if (!IsPostBack)
{
// Populate Data and cache it!
}
// Use cached Data.
}
 Interacting with the Outgoing HTTP
Response
• The Response property of the Page class
– Provides access to an instance of the
HttpResponse type
Main Properties/Method of a Request
 Redirecting Users
protected void btnWasteTime_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Response.Redirect("http://www.facebook.com");
}
THE LIFE CYCLE OF AN ASP.NET WEB
PAGE
The Life Cycle of an ASP.NET Web Page
• Every Web Forms page has a fixed life cycle
– Create the Page object using default constructor
– Then automatically fire a series of events
– By default, the Load event is the place you can
add your custom code
• Beyond the Load event, a given Page is able to
intercept any of the core events
– Will be listed in next page in order
Core events of the Page type
 The Error Event
void Page_Error(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Response.Clear();
Response.Write("I am sorry...I can't find a required file.<br>");
Response.Write($"The error was: <b>{ Server.GetLastError().Message }</b>");
Server.ClearError();
}
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Response.Write("Load event fired!");
}
protected void Page_Unload(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// No longer possible to emit data to the HTTP
// response at this point, so we will write to a local file.
System.IO.File.WriteAllText(@"C:\MyLog.txt", "Page unloading!");
}
protected void btnPostback_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Nothing happens here. This is just to ensure a
// postback to the page.
}
protected void btnTriggerError_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
System.IO.File.ReadAllText(@"C:\IDontExist.txt");
}
 The Role of the Web.config File
• Web Forms Application can leverage an XML-
based configuration file to instruct CLR how to
– Handle binding requests
– Handle assembly probing,
– Handle other runtime details
Core elements of Web.config file
LOADING DATA FROM A DATABASE
USING ENTITY FRAMEWORK
 Loading data from a database
• Create a Library Project for Data Access Layer
• Use Entity Framework to load data
• Create new Web Site
• Add the Library Project to the Web Site
• Set the loaded data to a GridView
Create new Library Project

When creating new Project

1. Select Visual C#
2. Select Class Library (.NET Framework)
3. Input Project Name
4. Click OK

4
 Using Entity Framework

2
1

When adding new Item

1. Select Data
2. Select ADO.NET Entity Data Model
3. Input the name for the model
4. Click Add

3
4
EF Designer from database

After clicking next from previous step

1. Select EF Designer from database
2. Click Next
1

2
Configure the connection string
While creating new Entity Data Model
1. Click on New Connection
2. Select Microsoft SQL Server
3. Click Continue

3
Creating the connection

2
While creating new Connection
1. Select the SQL Server
2. Select appropriate Authentication method
3. Select Database
3 4. Test connection (optional)
5. Click OK

4 5
 3

1. Save the connection string

2. Click Next
3. Select Entity Framework
4. Click Next

1 4

2
Select the Tables

1
1. Select the tables
2. Click Finish

2
The Entity Diagram
 Adding the InventoryRepo class
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

namespace InventoryDAL
{
public class InventoryRepo
{
public IEnumerable<Inventory> GetAll() {
using (var context = new AutoLotEntities()) {
return context.Inventories.ToList<Inventory>();
}
}
}
}
 Create new website
1
2

1. Right click on the solution > Add

2. Click Website
3. Select the Empty Website
4. Input web name 4
5. Click OK 5
 Add a web form
2
1. Right click on the project
2. Click Add
3. Select Web Form
4. Input File name
5. Click OK

4 5
 Adding a GridView
1

3
Make sure that you are in the
Design view (Press Shift + F7 if
you are not)
1. Click on Toolbox
2. Drag the GridView
2
3. Drop it to the form
Setting the Select Method

1. Click on the grid

2. Click Properties
3. Look for SelectMethod and
type GetAll
Add the InventoryDAL project

1. Right click on the web

2. Click Add
3. Select References
Add the InventoryDAL project

2
1

1. Select Solution
2. Select the Project
3. Click OK

3
 Adding the GetAll() method
using InventoryDAL;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page
{
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e){}
public IEnumerable<Inventory> GetAll() {
return new InventoryRepo().GetAll();
}
}
Run and we will see this error
 Adding connection string
1
3
2

1. Select the InventoryDAL

2. Click on the App.Config
3. Copy the connection strings
4. Select the web site
5. Click on the Web.config
6. Paste the connection strings
 Summary
• The role of HTTP, HTML, Client-Side Scripting
• Posting back to the Web Server
• Building an ASP.NET Web Site
• Interacting with the Incoming HTTP Request
• Interacting with the Outgoing HTTP Response
• The Life Cycle of an ASP.NET Web Page
• The Role of the Web.config File
• Loading data from a database
 References
Troelsen, A. & Japikse, P., 2015. C# 6 and the
.NET 4.6 Framework. 7th ed. Apress.