Chapter 20. ASP.NET 3.5 Advanced Features

ASP.NET is an exciting technology. It enables the creation and delivery of remotely generated applications (Web applications) accessible via a simple browser — a container that many are rather familiar with. The purpose of Web-based applications (in our case, ASP.NET applications) is to deliver only a single instance of the application to the end user over HTTP. This means that the end users viewing your application will always have the latest and greatest version at their disposal. Because of this, many companies today are looking at ASP.NET to not only deliver the company's website, but also to deliver some of their latest applications for their employees, partners, and customers.

The last chapter looked at some of the basics of ASP.NET 3.5. This chapter continues that exploration, showing you some additional and exciting technologies that you will find in ASP.NET 3.5, including master pages, configuration, data access, and more.

This chapter touches upon many topics, as ASP.NET has become a rather large offering with many possibilities and capabilities. Sit back, pull up that keyboard, and enjoy!

Applications and Pages

The previous chapter looked at the structure of ASP.NET pages and their life cycle. You can do quite a bit with the applications and pages in ASP.NET to change how they behave or how you compile and deliver them. This section looks at some of these possibilities.

Cross-Page Posting

In Active Server Pages 2.0/3.0 (also called ...

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