A Beginner's Guide to Asp.Net Programming for Delphi developers

This free online course is perfect for beginner Delphi ASP.NET developers as well as for those who want a broad overview of the art of Asp.Net Web programming with Borland Delphi.

Developers will learn how to design, develop and debug Asp.Net web application using Borland Delphi for .Net. The chapters will cover the fundamental elements of creating Web applications (working with Web Forms, Web Services and User Controls) using Delphi, including the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and the Delphi for .Net language.
Developers will get up to speed quickly through real world, practical example. The entire course is build arround the DBSWebExample asp.net web sample application that comes as a demo project with the Delphi 8 / 2005 installation.

This course is aimed to those who are new to programming, come from some other development environment (like MS Visual Basic, or Java) or are new to Delphi.

Prerequisites:
Readers should have at least a working knowledge of the Delphi language. No previous (web) programming experience is required; being fluent in HTML and general Web development terminology as well as JavaScript should help you be more productive with the chapters.
Ah, yes. You'll need to have Delphi for .Net installed on your computer!

The chapters of this course are being created and updated dynamically, chapters (for now) include:

CHAPTER 1:
An introduction to Asp.Net programming with Delphi. Configuring the Cassini web server
What is Asp.Net from the perspective of a Delphi developer? How to set up the Cassini sample web server.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 2:
Setting up the BDSWebExample Delphi 8 (Asp.Net) demo application
Getting started with the Delphi 8 BDSWebExample: restoring the database, preparing the virtual directory. Running BDSWebExample for the first time!
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 3:
What makes an Delphi 8 Asp.Net application
Let's see what are the main parts of an asp.net application; what are all those .aspx, .ascx, .dcuil, bdsproj, etc files.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 4:
Your first "Hello World" ASP.Net Delphi application
Let's see how to build a simple web application using Delphi for .Net.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 5:
Web Forms - building blocks of an Asp.Net application (Part 1)
Examining Web Form Pages - the central elements of development in Asp.Net. A point of look from a Delphi developer perspective: What is a Web Form? Designing a Web Form, The link between the aspx file and the code-behind file, ...
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 6:
Implementing Dialog Boxes in Asp.net web applications
Producing a simple message box (like ShowMessage; or even an InputBox) in an asp.net application can be quite difficult - as you need to mess with DHTML, JavaScript and IE object model. It would be much better if we could write only one line of code (as in traditional desktop applications) to display a MessageBox ... let's see how.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 7:
Web Forms - building blocks of an Asp.Net application (Part 2)
Introducing Web Form properties, methods and events. Taking a look at the IsPostback property and postback processing
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 8:
An introduction to server-side HTML controls and HTML tags in ASP.NET applications
Taking a look at the use of standard HTML tags and elements and the use of server-side HTML controls - from a perspective of a Delphi developer.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 9:
Uploading files to a web server with ASP.Net
Let's enable uploading of binary files from a client browser to the web server in ASP.Net web applications. Delphi for .Net and ASP.NET provide an easy way to accept files from the client using HTMLInputFile ("HTML File Upload" HTML server control) and HTTPPostedFile classes.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 10:
Web Forms navigation in ASP.NET
Exploring navigation techniques between Web Form pages: postbacks, direct navigation (using the <a> tag) and code-based navigation (using Server.Transfer and Response.Redirect).
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 11:
Web Forms navigation in ASP.NET - Part 2
Setting up the startup Web Form page for an ASP.NET application under IIS, deciding which navigation technique to use in various scenarios.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 12:
An introduction to ASP.NET Web Server controls
Web Server controls are specifically designed to work with Web Forms pages. Find about the basic concepts, benefits and limitations of using Web Server controls in ASP.NET.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 13:
Examining Control-Passing ASP.NET Web Controls: Button, ImageButton and LinkButton
There are several web controls that enable passing of control back to the Web Server. This chapter explores web buttons - specific components that allow users to indicate that they are finished with the Web Form (post the data) or want to perform a particular command (on the server). Learn about ASP.NET's Button, LinkButton and ImageButton web controls.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 14:
Understanding the TextBox ASP.NET control
Taking a quick look at the TextBox ASP.NET web server control - the only control designed for user input. TextBox has several faces: single-line text entry, password entry or multi-line text entry.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 15:
Understanding Web Controls for Selecting Choices in Delphi ASP.NET Applications
ASP.NET selection controls allow users to select from a series of predefined values. This chapter explores list-type controls: CheckBox, CheckBoxList, RadioButton, RadioButtonList, DropDownList and ListBox from the perspective of a Delphi ASP.NET web developer.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 16:
Working with Container type ASP.NET controls in Delphi ASP.NET Applications
Introducing ASP.NET web server controls designed for visually grouping other controls together on a Web Form: Panel, Placeholder and Table (along with TableRow and TableCell).
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 17:
Using Validators in Delphi ASP.NET applications
Introducing client-side and server-side data validation using Validation Controls: RequiredFieldValidator, RangeValidator and ValidationSummary.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 18:
Understanding ViewState and Postback Processing in ASP.NET applications
Find out what events (and in what order) are generated when ASP.NET receives a request for a Web Form. Learn about the ViewState - a technique ASP.NET uses to maintain page state changes across postbacks.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 19:
An Introduction to Data Binding in Delphi ASP.NET Applications
Learn how to add information to a Web Form, by binding controls to a source of data. Learn about data binding Web Controls for selecting choices (ListBox, DropDownList, RadioButtonList, CheckBoxList, etc). Find out about IEnumerable and IList .NET interfaces.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 20:
Using Binding Expressions in Delphi ASP.NET Applications
Find out about data-binding individual properties of a web control. Learn how to data bind "plain" HTML. Explore the magic of <%# BindingExpression %> in ASP.NET.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 21:
An introduction to Data-Bound ASP.NET List Controls
First steps in using the Repeater ASP.NET web server control. Learn how to data bind multi-record controls. Understanding the DataBinder class and the DataBinder.Eval method.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 22:
Binding the DataList ASP.NET Control with Dynamic Templates
Learn how to programmatically implement the ITemplate interface to dynamically create the ItemTemplate content for a DataList Web Server control.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

CHAPTER 23:
Developing and Using Custom User Controls in ASP.NET
Very similar to Win32 Delphi's TFrame objects, an ASP.NET User Control is a container for components; it can be nested within Web Forms or other User Controls. User controls offer you an easy way to split and reuse common user interface functionality across the pages of your ASP.NET Web application.
Discuss about questions, comments, problems and solutions related to this chapter!

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