ASP.NET in a nutshell appeals to two audiences: beginners and advanced developers. The middle group is neglected. The samples were easily coded and worked. However, the object model describing the objects were referenced as complex schematics in the appendix. Another set of examples needed to be included that showed how to interact with the object methods and properties of the .net components. I had to go to the web and read numerous articles to discover how to manipulate the components through their object model. I've included a few samples on my site.



Configuration Settings was not clearly described. The custom error handling was difficult to understand.



The tree control view was initialized using an xml structure. The OnTreeNodePopulate event was need a sample code demonstration. I create a treenode called Industry which loads the children nodes on demand using the PopulateOnDemand callback.



The Datalist control has a number of important attributes which must be attended too: Datakeyfield (Primary Index), Datasource (the Oledb database connection-a AccessDataSource type). ASP.net carries the Visual C++ tradition of event mapping. I've chosen to use OnItemCommand event to capture the e.commandname for "Insert","Edit","Update", and "Delete". Insert requires a special routine of making visible a panel with an input form embedded and upon clicking the save button mapping to the AddNewRecord function which creates a insert into sql string and assigns it to the datasource insertcommand attribute and transacts the dml then resets the input variable and hides the panel.



ASP.NET System.Data.OleDB (connection, command object) active Server Pages. The oledb coverage is highly neglected in the ASP.NET in a nutshell book. I used the internet to discover how to open a MS access oledb connection and execute an Update DML using the oledbcommand object.



Validators were very interest. I create an input form has three types of validation routines: required validator, custom validator, and range validator.

If the validation rule is not met than an custom error message will appear to the right of the textbox. You can force validation by calling the validator method validate. The result can be returned to the calling program by invoking the IsValid method. I've used a regular expression to check for valid email, currency, and other patterns. There are a number of helpful sites for regular expression that are searchable from my site from "active server pages" query.





ASP.NET Calendar Control - Changing Display Years - Updating a Textbox with selection - Active Server Pages I coded a codeset of interaction between a textbox, dropdown combo box, and a calendar. I started by populating a drop down combo box with plus and minus 20 years from the current year and selecting the current year. An event handler is defined for the OnSelectedIndexChanged value which called "Set_Calendar" eventhandler. "Set_Calendar" event handler uses the selected value for year from the drpCalYear control to initialize the calendar using the VisibleDate property of the calendar control. The autopostback attribute of the drop down combobox must be set to true allowing a postback when index selection change has occurred.



Other topics that were of interest:

Understanding the system.array

Using .net collections

working with arraylists and hashtables

Using the application object

Using the session object

reading and writing cookies

using the query string

understanding VB classes

formating Numbers, dates, and times

Using the datareader

overriding producings

raising events and implement callbacks