Contact Manager - An ASP.Net 2.0 AJAX Enabled Application
I've had a lot of questions lately around starting an ASP.Net 2.0 Website. I have been quoted often to say that anyone can develop a website using ASP.Net 2.0, and often get very strange looks from others. So I've decided to take a step back and show how simple it really is to build an application. This series of tutorials will focus on the complete development of a Contact Manager. It will cover every aspects of the development in various parts, each focus on a single important step in the process. Along with this hopefully it will also teach people some small trick around development, and design.
To complete this project we are first going to need to get the right tools. Microsoft has been kind enough to provide all the tools we need for this project free.
Microsoft Visual Web Developer Express
Built on the power of Visual Studio 2005, Web Developer provides everything that is required to build a powerful web application with. Registered users even receive some cool free components and other tools to make their experiences even better. The software can be downloaded here or alternatively you can collect a copy from your nearest Community Distribution Agent.
Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition
Built on the tried and tested SQL Server Platform, SQL Server Express offers powerful database design functionality as well as easy integration into Visual Web Developer. SQL Server is provided free of charge by Microsoft, however does have some limitations regarding database size and concurrent connections. For a development environment it provides the perfect solution for database integration. SQL Server Express is available from Microsoft here. While your there also get a copy of Microsoft SQL Server Manager Express, the graphical interface to SQL Server which will allow you to create, view, and manage database created on SQL Server Express. The Manager is available for download here and both are available for from your nearest Community Distribution Agent.
Once we have all the required tools downloaded and installed we can start developing the system. The tutorial series will be broken up as follows:
- Creation of Contact Manager Database
- Creation of Database Tables
- Creation of Views
- Creation of Contact List Page (With AJAX)
- Creation of Contact Add Page (With AJAX)
- Creation of Stored Procedures
Further updates to this will be made as the series progresses. So while everyone runs off to get their bits and pieces together, Part 1 will be made ready available shortly!