On The Web With ASP.NET

Quite an interesting way to put the Journey of ASP.NET (developers). Hope I am not taking it out of context.

 

Building software designed for change requires more upfront effort. Implementing software design principles and patterns takes thought and effort. Writing tests takes time. However, the idea is that the initial effort required to build software the right way will pay huge dividends in the future.

There are two ways to be a developer. You can be a cowboy or you can be a craftsman. A cowboy jumps right in and starts coding. A cowboy can build a software application quickly. The problem with being a cowboy is that software must be maintained over time.

A craftsman is patient. A craftsman builds software carefully by hand. A craftsman is careful to build unit tests that cover all the code in an application. It takes longer for a craftsman to create an application. However, after the application is created, it is easier to fix bugs in the application and add new features to the application.

Most software developers start their programming careers as cowboys. At some point, however, you must hang up your saddle and start building software that will stand the test of time.

Google is really obsessed with "Speed". Google’s browser Chrome is already the fastest browser in the world (2X the nearest competitor) and here is some news that will just blow your mind. The web could get 2X faster.

Today we’d like to share with the web community information about SPDY, pronounced "SPeeDY", an early-stage research project that is part of our effort to make the web faster. SPDY is at its core an application-layer protocol for transporting content over the web. It is designed specifically for minimizing latency through features such as multiplexed streams, request prioritization and HTTP header compression.

…

So far we have only tested SPDY in lab conditions. The initial results are very encouraging: when we download the top 25 websites over simulated home network connections, we see a significant improvement in performance – pages loaded up to 55% faster.

Source:Chromium Blog: A 2x Faster Web

Step 1 : Create a Database

1. Start SQL Management Studio
2. Right Click on Databases and click on “New Database ..”
3. Enter the Database Name and click OK to create database.
4. Click on Security –> Logins
5. Right Click on Logins and Click on “New Login”
6. Enter “Login Name”, Choose “Sql Server Authentication”, Enter a “Password” and Enter the same password in “Confirm Password” textbox. Unselect “User must change password at next login”. Optionally select “Default Database” to your newly created database.
7. Click on “User Mapping”. Select the Database from the top databases lists. And select db_owner role in the roles list.  Click OK to finish.

Step 2 : Install Database Schema

Steps to create all Database Schema and stored procedures required to support ASP.NET Membership.

1. Start Visual Studio Command Prompt or visit C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727
2. Run aspnet_regsql.exe
3. Click on “Next” to continue on “Welcome to the ASP.NET SQL Server Setup Wizard”
4. Select “Configure SQL Server For Applications Services” and click on “Next”
5. Enter the “Server name” and SQL Server Authentication ( Username and Password). Also enter the Database name.
6. All database schema required will be installed. Click on Finish to close the application.

Step 3 : Setting up Roles For SQL User

1. Start SQL Management Studio
2. Click on Security –> Logins
3. Right click on Username and click on properties.
4. Click on User Mapping
5. Select the Database in the list of databases.
6. Select aspnet_Membership_xxx, aspnet_Personalization_xxx, aspnet_Profiles_xxx, aspnet_Roles_xx, aspnet_WebEvent_xxx.

If you are using different User IDs for different roles, you can specify roles accordingly.

Well, it depends.

Want to know what options are available and how to choose one for your own application, read this wonderful article by James Hamilton. Though this article does not include all possible options (particularly those on the cloud), but its a nice introduction to classify databases based on what you need.

Relational databases have become so ubiquitous that the term “database” is often treated as synonymous with relational databases like Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, or DB2. However, the term preceded the invention and implementation of the relational model and non-relational data stores remain important today.

Relational databases are incredibly rich and able to support a very broad class of applications but with incredible breadth comes significant complexity. Many applications don’t need the rich programming model of relational systems and some applications are better serviced by lighter-weight, easier-to-administer, and easier-to-scale solutions. Both relational and non-relational structured storage systems are important and no single solution is appropriate for all applications.

Source: One Size Does Not Fit All by James Hamilton (b:Perspectives)

Good to know. But before you start researching for a perfect Database for your App ..

Keep this great suggestion from 37signals in mind. I am big fan of “Getting Real”. The team behind “Getting Real” @ 37Signals suggest that you don’t worry too much about Scalability aspects early in the design of your application, as you will have lots of time later on to figure out.

In the beginning, make building a solid core product your priority instead of obsessing over scalability and server farms.Create a great app and then worry about what to do once it’s wildly successful. Otherwise you may waste energy, time, and money fixating on something that never even happens.

Believe it or not, the bigger problem isn’t scaling, it’s getting to the point where you have to scale. Without the first problem you won’t have the second.

Source: Getting Real – Scale Later

Its quite easy to start developing an ASP.NET Web application. Now, it got even better to jump start a Web application with Toolkits. Just download a toolkit, quickly load in Visual Studio and just run it. And then extend it to fit your needs.

Web Application Toolkits are designed to enable Web Developers to simply extend their web application capabilities by providing them with a packaged set of running samples, templates and documentation.

The goal for the Web Application Toolkits is to provide Web Developers with resources such as project templates, controls, and code samples along with simplified documentation all in a consistent packaged format that is easy to download and run in a very short period of time.

http://misfitgeek.com/blog/aspnet/microsoft-web-application-toolkits/