Useful Articles in ASP.NET

1)What is a IL?

(IL)Intermediate Language is also known as MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate Language) or CIL
(Common Intermediate Language). All .NET source code is compiled to IL. This IL is then
converted to machine code at the point where the software is installed, or at run-time by a Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler

What is .NET?
.NET is essentially a framework for software development. It is similar in nature to any other software development framework (J2EE etc) in that it provides a set of runtime containers/capabilities, and a rich set of pre-built functionality in the form of class libraries and APIs
The .NET Framework is an environment for building, deploying, and running Web Services and other applications. It consists of three main parts: the Common Language Runtime, the Framework classes, and ASP.NET.

How many languages .NET is supporting now?
When .NET was introduced it came with several languages. VB.NET, C#, COBOL and Perl, etc. The site DotNetLanguages.Net says 44 languages are supported.

How is .NET able to support multiple languages?
A language should comply with the Common Language Runtime standard to become a .NET language. In .NET, code is compiled to Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL for short). This is called as Managed Code. This Managed code is run in .NET environment. So after compilation to this IL the language is not a barrier. A code can call or use a function written in another language.

How ASP .NET different from ASP?
Scripting is separated from the HTML, Code is compiled as a DLL, these DLLs can be executed on the server.

What is smart navigation?
The cursor position is maintained when the page gets refreshed due to the server side validation and the page gets refreshed.

What is view state?
The web is stateless. But in ASP.NET, the state of a page is maintained in the in the page itself automatically. How? The values are encrypted and saved in hidden controls. this is done automatically by the ASP.NET. This can be switched off / on for a single control

How do you validate the controls in an ASP .NET page?
Using special validation controls that are meant for this. We have Range Validator, Email Validator.

Can the validation be done in the server side? Or this can be done only in the Client side?

Client side is done by default. Server side validation is also possible. We can switch off the client side and server side can be done.

How to manage pagination in a page?
Using pagination option in DataGrid control. We have to set the number of records for a page, then it takes care of pagination by itself.

What is ADO .NET and what is difference between ADO and ADO.NET?
ADO.NET is stateless mechanism. I can treat the ADO.Net as a separate in-memory database where in I can use relationships between the tables and select insert and updates to the database. I can update the actual database as a batch.

Observations between VB.NET and VC#.NET?
Choosing a programming language depends on your language experience and the scope of the application you are building. While small applications are often created using only one language, it is not uncommon to develop large applications using multiple languages.

For example, if you are extending an application with existing XML Web services, you might use a scripting language with little or no programming effort. For client-server applications, you would probably choose the single language you are most comfortable with for the entire application. For new enterprise applications, where large teams of developers create components and services for deployment across multiple remote sites, the best choice might be to use several languages depending on developer skills and long-term maintenance expectations.

The .NET Platform programming languages - including Visual Basic .NET, Visual C#, and Visual C++ with managed extensions, and many other programming languages from various vendors - use .NET Framework services and features through a common set of unified classes. The .NET unified classes provide a consistent method of accessing the platform's functionality. If you learn to use the class library, you will find that all tasks follow the same uniform architecture. You no longer need to learn and master different API architectures to write your applications.

In most situations, you can effectively use all of the Microsoft programming languages. Nevertheless, each programming language has its relative strengths and you will want to understand the features unique to each language. The following sections will help you choose the right programming language for your application.

Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic .NET is the next generation of the Visual Basic language from Microsoft. With Visual Basic you can build .NET applications, including Web services and ASP.NET Web applications, quickly and easily. Applications made with Visual Basic are built on the services of the common language runtime and take advantage of the .NET Framework.

Visual Basic has many new and improved features such as inheritance, interfaces, and overloading that make it a powerful object-oriented programming language. Other new language features include free threading and structured exception handling. Visual Basic fully integrates the .NET Framework and the common language runtime, which together provide language interoperability, garbage collection, enhanced security, and improved versioning support. A Visual Basic support single inheritance and creates Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL) as input to native code compilers.

Visual Basic is comparatively easy to learn and use, and Visual Basic has become the programming language of choice for hundreds of thousands of developers over the past decade. An understanding of Visual Basic can be leveraged in a variety of ways, such as writing macros in Visual Studio and providing programmability in applications such as Microsoft Excel, Access, and Word.

Visual Basic provides prototypes of some common project types, including:
• Windows Application.
• Class Library.
• Windows Control Library.
• ASP.NET Web Application.
• ASP.NET Web Service.
• Web Control Library.
• Console Application.
• Windows Service.
• Windows Service.
Visual C# .NET


Visual C# (pronounced C sharp) is designed to be a fast and easy way to create .NET applications, including Web services and ASP.NET Web applications. Applications written in Visual C# are built on the services of the common language runtime and take full advantage of the .NET Framework.

C# is a simple, elegant, type-safe, object-oriented language recently developed by Microsoft for building a wide range of applications. Anyone familiar with C and similar languages will find few problems in adapting to C#. C# is designed to bring rapid development to the C++ programmer without sacrificing the power and control that are a hallmark of C and C++. Because of this heritage, C# has a high degree of fidelity with C and C++, and developers familiar with these languages can quickly become productive in C#. C# provides intrinsic code trust mechanisms for a high level of security, garbage collection, and type safety. C# supports single inheritance and creates Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL) as input to native code compilers.

C# is fully integrated with the .NET Framework and the common language runtime, which together provide language interoperability, garbage collection, enhanced security, and improved versioning support. C# simplifies and modernizes some of the more complex aspects of C and C++, notably namespaces, classes, enumerations, overloading, and structured exception handling. C# also eliminates C and C++ features such as macros, multiple inheritance, and virtual base classes. For current C++ developers, C# provides a powerful, high-productivity language alternative.

Visual C# provides prototypes of some common project types, including:
• Windows Application.
• Class Library.
• Windows Control Library.
• ASP.NET Web Application.
• ASP.NET Web Service.
• Web Control Library.
• Console Application.
• Windows Service.

Advantages of migrating to VB.NET ?
Visual Basic .NET has many new and improved language features — such as inheritance, interfaces, and overloading that make it a powerful object-oriented programming language. As a Visual Basic developer, you can now create multithreaded, scalable applications using explicit multithreading. Other new language features in Visual Basic .NET include structured exception handling, custom attributes, and common language specification (CLS) compliance.

The CLS is a set of rules that standardizes such things as data types and how objects are exposed and interoperate. Visual Basic .NET adds several features that take advantage of the CLS. Any CLS-compliant language can use the classes, objects, and components you create in Visual Basic .NET. And you, as a Visual Basic user, can access classes, components, and objects from other CLS-compliant programming languages without worrying about language-specific differences such as data types.

CLS features used by Visual Basic .NET programs include assemblies, namespaces, and attributes.

These are the new features to be stated briefly:
Inheritance
Visual Basic .NET supports inheritance by allowing you to define classes that serve as the basis for derived classes. Derived classes inherit and can extend the properties and methods of the base class. They can also override inherited methods with new implementations. All classes created with Visual Basic .NET are inheritable by default. Because the forms you design are really classes, you can use inheritance to define new forms based on existing ones.

Exception Handling
Visual Basic .NET supports structured exception handling, using an enhanced version of the Try...Catch...Finally syntax supported by other languages such as C++.

Structured exception handling combines a modern control structure (similar to Select Case or While) with exceptions, protected blocks of code, and filters. Structured exception handling makes it easy to create and maintain programs with robust, comprehensive error handlers.

Overloading
Overloading is the ability to define properties, methods, or procedures that have the same name but use different data types. Overloaded procedures allow you to provide as many implementations as necessary to handle different kinds of data, while giving the appearance of a single, versatile procedure. Overriding Properties and Methods The Overrides keyword allows derived objects to override characteristics inherited from parent objects. Overridden members have the same arguments as the members inherited from the base class, but different implementations. A member's new implementation can call the original implementation in the parent class by preceding the member name with MyBase.

Constructors and Destructors
Constructors are procedures that control initialization of new instances of a class. Conversely, destructors are methods that free system resources when a class leaves scope or is set to Nothing. Visual Basic .NET supports constructors and destructors using the Sub New and Sub Finalize procedures.

Data Types
Visual Basic .NET introduces three new data types. The Char data type is an unsigned 16-bit quantity used to store Unicode characters. It is equivalent to the .NET Framework System. Char data type. The Short data type, a signed 16-bit integer, was named Integer in earlier versions of Visual Basic. The Decimal data type is a 96-bit signed integer scaled by a variable power of 10. In earlier versions of Visual Basic, it was available only within a Variant.

Interfaces
Interfaces describe the properties and methods of classes, but unlike classes, do not provide implementations. The Interface statement allows you to declare interfaces, while the Implements statement lets you write code that puts the items described in the interface into practice.

Delegates
Delegates objects that can call the methods of objects on your behalf are sometimes described as type-safe, object-oriented function pointers. You can use delegates to let procedures specify an event handler method that runs when an event occurs. You can also use delegates with multithreaded applications. For details, see Delegates and the AddressOf Operator.

Shared Members
Shared members are properties, procedures, and fields that are shared by all instances of a class. Shared data members are useful when multiple objects need to use information that is common to all. Shared class methods can be used without first creating an object from a class.

References
References allow you to use objects defined in other assemblies. In Visual Basic .NET, references point to assemblies instead of type libraries. For details, see References and the Imports Statement. Namespaces prevent naming conflicts by organizing classes, interfaces, and methods into hierarchies.

Assemblies
Assemblies replace and extend the capabilities of type libraries by, describing all the required files for a particular component or application. An assembly can contain one or more namespaces.

Attributes
Attributes enable you to provide additional information about program elements. For example, you can use an attribute to specify which methods in a class should be exposed when the class is used as a XML Web service.

Multithreading
Visual Basic .NET allows you to write applications that can perform multiple tasks independently. A task that has the potential of holding up other tasks can execute on a separate thread, a process known as multithreading. By causing complicated tasks to run on threads that are separate from your user interface, multithreading makes your applications more responsive to user input.

Using ActiveX Control in .Net
ActiveX control is a special type of COM component that supports a User Interface. Using ActiveX Control in your .Net Project is even easier than using COM component. They are bundled usually in .ocx files. Again a proxy assembly is made by .Net utility AxImp.exe (which we will see shortly) which your application (or client) uses as if it is a .Net control or assembly.

Making Proxy Assembly For ActiveX Control: First, a proxy assembly is made using AxImp.exe (acronym for ActiveX Import) by writing following command on Command Prompt:

C:> AxImp C:MyProjectsMyControl.ocx
This command will make two dlls, e.g., in case of above command

MyControl.dll
AxMyControl.dll
The first file MyControl.dll is a .Net assembly proxy, which allows you to reference the ActiveX as if it were non-graphical object.

The second file AxMyControl.dll is the Windows Control, which allows u to use the graphical aspects of activex control and use it in the Windows Form Project.

Adding Reference of ActiveX Proxy Assembly in your Project Settings: To add a reference of ActiveX Proxy Assembly in our Project, do this:

o Select Project A Add Reference (Select Add Reference from Project Menu).
o This will show you a dialog box, select .Net tab from the top of window.
o Click Browse button on the top right of window.
o Select the dll file for your ActiveX Proxy Assembly (which is MyControl.dll) and click OK o Your selected component is now shown in the ‘Selected Component’ List Box. Click OK again Some More On Using COM or ActiveX in .Net


.Net only provides wrapper class or proxy assembly (Runtime Callable Wrapper or RCW) for COM or activeX control. In the background, it is actually delegating the tasks to the original COM, so it does not convert your COM/activeX but just imports them.

A good thing about .Net is that when it imports a component, it also imports the components that are publically referenced by that component. So, if your component, say MyDataAcsess.dll references ADODB.dll then .Net will automatically import that COM component too!

The Visual Studio.NET does surprise you in a great deal when u see that it is applying its intellisense (showing methods, classes, interfaces, properties when placing dot) even on your imported COM components!!!! Isn’t it a magic or what?

When accessing thru RCW, .Net client has no knowledge that it is using COM component, it is presented just as another C# assembly.

U can also import COM component thru command prompt (for reference see Professional C# by Wrox)

U can also use your .Net components in COM, i.e., export your .net components (for reference see Professional C# by Wrox)

What is Machine.config?
Machine configuration file: The machine.config file contains settings that apply to the entire computer. This file is located in the %runtime install path%Config directory. There is only one machine.config file on a computer. The Machine.Config file found in the "CONFIG" subfolder of your .NET Framework install directory (c:WINNTMicrosoft.NETFramework{Version Number} CONFIG on Windows 2000 installations). The machine.config, which can be found in the directory $WINDIR$Microsoft.NETFrameworkv1.0.3705CONFIG, is an XML-formatted configuration file that specifies configuration options for the machine. This file contains, among many other XML elements, a browser Caps element. Inside this element are a number of other elements that specify parse rules for the various User-Agents, and what properties each of these parsing supports.

For example, to determine what platform is used, a filter element is used that specifies how to set the platform property based on what platform name is found in the User-Agent string. Specifically, the machine.config file contains:

platform=Win95
platform=Win98
platform=WinNT
...


That is, if in the User-Agent string the string "Windows 95" or "Win95" is found, the platform property is set to Win95. There are a number of filter elements in the browserCaps element in the machine.config file that define the various properties for various User-Agent strings.

Hence, when using the Request.Browser property to determine a user's browser features, the user's agent string is matched up to particular properties in the machine.config file. The ability for being able to detect a user's browser's capabilities, then, is based upon the honesty in the browser's sent User-Agent string. For example, Opera can be easily configured to send a User-Agent string that makes it appear as if it's IE 5.5. In this case from the Web server's perspective (and, hence, from your ASP.NET Web page's perspective), the user is visiting using IE 5.5, even though, in actuality, he is using Opera.

What is Web.config?
In classic ASP all Web site related information was stored in the metadata of IIS. This had the disadvantage that remote Web developers couldn't easily make Web-site configuration changes. For example, if you want to add a custom 404 error page, a setting needs to be made through the IIS admin tool, and you're Web host will likely charge you a flat fee to do this for you. With ASP.NET, however, these settings are moved into an XML-formatted text file (Web.config) that resides in the Web site's root directory. Through Web.config you can specify settings like custom 404 error pages, authentication and authorization settings for the Web sitempilation options for the ASP.NET Web pages, if tracing should be enabled, etc.
The Web.config file is an XML-formatted file. At the root level is the tag. Inside this tag you can add a number of other tags, the most common and useful one being the system.web tag, where you will specify most of the Web site configuration parameters. However, to specify application-wide settings you use the tag.

For example, if we wanted to add a database connection string parameter we could have a Web.config file like so.

What is the difference between ADO and ADO.NET?
ADO uses Recordsets and cursors to access and modify data. Because of its inherent design, Recordset can impact performance on the server side by tying up valuable resources. In addition, COM marshalling - an expensive data conversion process - is needed to transmit a Recordset. ADO.NET addresses three important needs that ADO doesn't address:

1. Providing a comprehensive disconnected data-access model, which is crucial to the Web environment
2. Providing tight integration with XML, and
3. Providing seamless integration with the .NET Framework (e.g., compatibility with the base class library's type system). From an ADO.NET implementation perspective, the Recordset object in ADO is eliminated in the .NET architecture. In its place, ADO.NET has several dedicated objects led by the DataSet object and including the DataAdapter, and DataReader objects to perform specific tasks. In addition, ADO.NET DataSets operate in disconnected state whereas the ADO RecordSet objects operated in a fully connected state.

In ADO, the in-memory representation of data is the RecordSet. In ADO.NET, it is the dataset. A RecordSet looks like a single table. If a RecordSet is to contain data from multiple database tables, it must use a JOIN query, which assembles the data from the various database tables into a single result table. In contrast, a dataset is a collection of one or more tables. The tables within a dataset are called data tables; specifically, they are DataTable objects. If a dataset contains data from multiple database tables, it will typically contain multiple DataTable objects. That is, each DataTable object typically corresponds to a single database table or view. In this way, a dataset can mimic the structure of the underlying database.

In ADO you scan sequentially through the rows of the RecordSet using the ADO MoveNext method. In ADO.NET, rows are represented as collections, so you can loop through a table as you would through any collection, or access particular rows via ordinal or primary key index. A cursor is a database element that controls record navigation, the ability to update data, and the visibility of changes made to the database by other users. ADO.NET does not have an inherent cursor object, but instead includes data classes that provide the functionality of a traditional cursor. For example, the functionality of a forward-only, read-only cursor is available in the ADO.NET DataReader object.

There is one significant difference between disconnected processing in ADO and ADO.NET. In ADO you communicate with the database by making calls to an OLE DB provider. In ADO.NET you communicate with the database through a data adapter (an OleDbDataAdapter, SqlDataAdapter, OdbcDataAdapter, or OracleDataAdapter object), which makes calls to an OLE DB provider or the APIs provided by the underlying data source.

What is the difference between VB and VB.NET?
Now VB.NET is object-oriented language. The following are some of the differences:

Data Type Changes

The .NET platform provides Common Type System to all the supported languages. This means that all the languages must support the same data types as enforced by common language runtime. This eliminates data type incompatibilities between various languages. For example on the 32-bit Windows platform, the integer data type takes 4 bytes in languages like C++ whereas in VB it takes 2 bytes. Following are the main changes related to data types in VB.NET:

. Under .NET the integer data type in VB.NET is also 4 bytes in size.
. VB.NET has no currency data type. Instead it provides decimal as a replacement.
. VB.NET introduces a new data type called Char. The char data type takes 2 bytes and can store Unicode characters.
. VB.NET do not have Variant data type. To achieve a result similar to variant type you can use Object data type. (Since every thing in .NET including primitive data types is an object, a variable of object type can point to any data type).
. In VB.NET there is no concept of fixed length strings.
. In VB6 we used the Type keyword to declare our user-defined structures. VB.NET introduces the structure keyword for the same purpose.
Declaring Variables
Consider this simple example in VB6:
Dim x,y as integer


In this example VB6 will consider x as variant and y as integer, which is somewhat odd behavior. VB.NET corrects this problem, creating both x and y as integers.

Furthermore, VB.NET allows you to assign initial values to the variables in the declaration statement itself:
br> Dim str1 as string = Hello

VB.NET also introduces Read-Only variables. Unlike constants Read-Only variables can be declared without initialization but once you assign a value to it, it cannot be changes.

Initialization here
Dim readonly x as integer
In later code
X=100
Now x can’t be changed
X=200 *********** Error **********
Property Syntax
In VB.NET, we anymore don't have separate declarations for Get and Set/Let. Now, everything is done in a single property declaration. This can be better explained by the following example.
Public [ReadOnly | WriteOnly] Property PropertyName as Datatype
Get
Return m_var
End Get
Set
M_var = value
End Set
End Property
Example:
Private _message as String
Public Property Message As String
Get
Return _message
End Get
Set
_message = Value
End Set
End Property

ByVal is the default - This is a crucial difference betwen VB 6.0 and VB.NET, where the default in VB 6.0 was by reference. But objects are still passed by reference.

Invoking Subroutines In previous versions of VB, only functions required the use of parentheses around the parameter list. But in VB.NET all function or subroutine calls require parentheses around the parameter list. This also applies, even though the parameter list is empty.

User-Defined Types - VB.NET does away with the keyword Type and replaces it with the keyword Structure
Public Structure Student
Dim strName as String
Dim strAge as Short
End Structure
Procedures and Functions

In VB6 all the procedure parameters are passed by reference (ByRef) by default. In VB.NET they are passed by value (ByVal) by default. Parantheses are required for calling procedures and functions whether they accept any parameters or not. In VB6 functions returned values using syntax like: FuntionName = return_value. In VB.NET you can use the Return keyword (Return return_value) to return values or you can continue to use the older syntax, which is still valid.

Scoping VB.NET now supports block-level scoping of variables. If your programs declare all of the variables at the beginning of the function or subroutine, this will not be a problem. However, the following VB 6.0 will cause an issue while upgrading to VB .NET

Do While objRs.Eof
Dim J as Integer
J=0
If objRs("flag")="Y" then
J=1
End If
objRs.MoveNext
Wend
If J Then
Msgbox "Flag is Y"
End If

In the above example the variable J will become out of scope just after the loop, since J was declared inside the While loop.

Exception Handling

The most wanted feature in earlier versions of VB was its error handling mechanism. The older versions relied on error handlers such as "On Error GoTo and On Error Resume Next. VB.NET provides us with a more stuructured approach. The new block structure allows us to track the exact error at the right time. The new error handling mechanism is refered to as Try...Throw...Catch...Finally. The following example will explain this new feature.

Sub myOpenFile()
Try
Open "myFile" For Output As #1
Write #1, myOutput
Catch
Kill "myFile"
Finally
Close #1
End try
End Sub

The keyword SET is gone - Since everything in VB.NET is an object. So the keyword SET is not at all used to differentiate between a simple variable assignment and an object assignment. So, if you have the following statement in VB 6.0

Set ObjConn = Nothing
Should be replaced as
ObjConn = Nothing.
Constructor and Destructor

The constructor procedure is one of the many new object-oriented features of VB.NET. The constructor in VB.NET replaces the Class_Initialize in VB 6.0. All occurance of Class_Initialize in previous versions of VB should now be placed in a class constructor. In VB.NET, a constructor is added to a class by adding a procedure called New. We can also create a class destructor, which is equivalent to Class_Terminate event in VB 6.0, by adding a sub-procedure called Finalize to our class. Usage of Return In VB.NET, we can use the keyword return to return a value from any function. In previous versions, we used to assign the value back with the help of the function name itself. The following example explains this:

Public Function Sum (intNum1 as Integer, intNum2 as Integer) as Integer
Dim intSum as Integer
intSum = intNum1 + intNum2
Return intSum
End Function
Static Methods

VB.NET now allows you to create static methods in your classes. Static methods are methods that can be called without requiring the developer to create instance of the class. For example, if you had a class named Foo with the non-static method NonStatic() and the static method Static(), you could call the Static() method like so:

Foo.Static()

However, non-static methods require than an instance of the class be created, like so:

Create an instance of the Foo class
Dim objFoo as New Foo()
Execute the NonStatic() method
ObjFoo.NonStatic()

To create a static method in a VB.NET, simply prefix the method definition with the keyword Shared.

What is a Strong Name?
A strong name consists of the assembly's identity its simple text name, version number, and culture information (if provided) plus a public key and a digital signature. It is generated from an assembly file (the file that contains the assembly manifest, which in turn contains the names and hashes of all the files that make up the assembly), using the corresponding private key. Assemblies with the same strong name are expected to be identical.

Strong names guarantee name uniqueness by relying on unique key pairs. No one can generate the same assembly name that you can, because an assembly generated with one private key has a different name than an assembly generated with another private key.

When you reference a strong-named assembly, you expect to get certain benefits, such as versioning and naming protection. If the strong-named assembly then references an assembly with a simple name, which does not have these benefits, you lose the benefits you would derive from using a strong-named assembly and revert to DLL conflicts. Therefore, strong-named assemblies can only reference other strong-named assemblies.

There are two ways to sign an assembly with a strong name:

1. Using the Assembly Linker (Al.exe) provided by the .NET Framework SDK.
2. Using assembly attributes to insert the strong name information in your code. You can use either the AssemblyKeyFileAttribute or the AssemblyKeyNameAttribute, depending on where the key file to be used is located.


To create and sign an assembly with a strong name using the Assembly Linker, at the command prompt, type the following command:
al /out: /keyfile:

In this command, assembly name is the name of the assembly to sign with a strong name, module name is the name of the code module used to create the assembly, and file name is the name of the container or file that contains the key pair.

The following example signs the assembly MyAssembly.dll with a strong name using the key file sgKey.snk.

al /out:MyAssembly.dll MyModule.netmodule /keyfile:sgKey.snk

To sign an assembly with a strong name using attributes

In a code module, add the AssemblyKeyFileAttribute or the AssemblyKeyNameAttribute, specifying the name of the file or container that contains the key pair to use when signing the assembly with a strong name. The following code example uses the AssemblyKeyFileAttribute with a key file called sgKey.snk.

[Visual Basic]
[C#]
[assembly:AssemblyKeyFileAttribute(@"....sgKey.snk")]


What is a Manifest?
An assembly manifest contains all the metadata needed to specify the assembly's version requirements and security identity, and all metadata needed to define the scope of the assembly and resolve references to resources and classes. The assembly manifest can be stored in either a PE (Portable Executable) file (an .exe or .dll) with Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL) code or in a standalone PE (Portable Executable) file that contains only assembly manifest information. The following table shows the information contained in the assembly manifest. The first four items the assembly name, version number, culture, and strong name information make up the assembly's identity.

Assembly name: A text string specifying the assembly's name.

Version number: A major and minor version number, and a revision and build number. The common language runtime uses these numbers to enforce version policy.

Culture: Information on the culture or language the assembly supports. This information should be used only to designate an assembly as a satellite assembly containing culture- or language-specific information. (An assembly with culture information is automatically assumed to be a satellite assembly.) Strong name information: The public key from the publisher if the assembly has been given a strong name. List of all files in the assembly:

A hash of each file contained in the assembly and a file name. Note that all files that make up the assembly must be in the same directory as the file containing the assembly manifest.

Type reference information: Information used by the runtime to map a type reference to the file that contains its declaration and implementation. This is used for types that are exported from the assembly.

Information on referenced assemblies: A list of other assemblies that are statically referenced by the assembly. Each reference includes the dependent assembly's name, assembly metadata (version, culture, operating system, and so on), and public key, if the assembly is strong named.

Creating a Key Pair?
You can create a key pair using the Strong Name tool (Sn.exe). Key pair files usually have an .snk extension. To create a key pair At the command prompt, type the following command:

sn k

In this command, file name is the name of the output file containing the key pair. The following example creates a key pair called sgKey.snk.

sn -k sgKey.snk

What is the difference between "using System.Data;" and directly adding the reference from "Add References Dialog Box"?
When u compile a program using command line, u add the references using /r switch. When you compile a program using Visual Studio, it adds those references to our assembly, which are added using "Add Reference" dialog box. While "using" statement facilitates us to use classes without using their fully qualified names.

For example: if u have added a reference to "System.Data.SqlClient" using "Add Reference" dialog box then u can use SqlConnection class like this:

System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection

But if u add a "using System.Data.SqlClient" statement at the start of ur code then u can directly use SqlConnection class.
On the other hand if u add a reference using "using System.Data.SqlClient" statement, but don't add it using "Add Reference" dialog box, Visual Studio will give error message while we compile the program.

What is GAC?
The global assembly cache stores assemblies specifically designated to be shared by several applications on the computer. You should share assemblies by installing them into the global assembly cache only when you need to. Assemblies deployed in the global assembly cache must have a strong name. When an assembly is added to the global assembly cache, integrity checks are performed on all files that make up the assembly. The cache performs these integrity checks to ensure that an assembly has not been tampered with, for example, when a file has changed but the manifest does not reflect the change. Use a developer tool called the Global Assembly Cache tool (Gacutil.exe), provided by the .NET Framework SDK or Use Windows Explorer to drag assemblies into the cache. To install a strong-named assembly into the global assembly cache At the command prompt, type the following command:

gacutil I

In this command, assembly name is the name of the assembly to install in the global assembly cache.

What is a Metadata?
Metadata is information about a PE. In COM, metadata is communicated through non-standardized type libraries.

In .NET, this data is contained in the header portion of a COFF-compliant PE and follows certain guidelines;
it contains information such as the assembly’s name, version, language (spoken, not computera.k.a., culture), what external types are referenced, what internal types are exposed, methods, properties, classes, and much more.

The CLR uses metadata for a number of specific purposes. Security is managed through a public key in the PE’s header.

Information about classes, modules, and so forth allows the CLR to know in advance what structures are necessary. The class loader component of the CLR uses metadata to locate specific classes within assemblies, either locally or across networks.

Just-in-time (JIT) compilers use the metadata to turn IL into executable code.

Other programs take advantage of metadata as well.

A common example is placing a Microsoft Word document on a Windows 2000 desktop. If the document file has completed comments, author, title, or other Properties metadata, the text is displayed as a tool tip when a user hovers the mouse over the document on the desktop. You can use the Ildasm.exe utility to view the metadata in a PE. Literally, this tool is an IL disassembler.

What is managed code and managed data?
Managed code is code that is written to target the services of the Common Language Runtime.
In order to target these services, the code must provide a minimum level of information (metadata) to the runtime.
All C#, Visual Basic .NET, and JScript .NET code is managed by default.
Visual Studio .NET C++ code is not managed by default, but the compiler can produce managed code by specifying a command-line switch (/CLR).
Closely related to managed code is managed data--data that is allocated and de- allocated by the Common Language Runtime's garbage collector. C#, Visual Basic, and JScript .NET data is managed by default.
C# data can, however, be marked as unmanaged through the use of special keywords.
Visual Studio .NET C++ data is unmanaged by default (even when using the /CLR switch), but when using Managed Extensions for C++, a class can be marked as managed using the __gc keyword. As the name suggests, this means that the memory for instances of the class is managed by the garbage collector.
In addition, the class becomes a full participating member of the .NET Framework community, with the benefits and restrictions that it brings. An example of a benefit is proper interoperability with classes written in other languages (for example, a managed C++ class can inherit from a Visual Basic class).
An example of a restriction is that a managed class can only inherit from one base class.

What is .NET / .NET Framework?
It is a Framework in which Windows applications may be developed and run. The Microsoft .NET Framework is a platform for building, deploying, and running Web Services and applications. It provides a highly productive, standards-based, multi-language environment for integrating existing investments with next-generation applications and services as well as the agility to solve the challenges of deployment and operation of Internet-scale applications. The .NET Framework consists of three main parts: the common language runtime, a hierarchical set of unified class libraries, and a componentized version of Active Server Pages called ASP.NET. The .NET Framework provides a new programming model and rich set of classes designed to simplify application development for Windows, the Web, and mobile devices. It provides full support for XML Web services, contains robust security features, and delivers new levels of programming power. The .NET Framework is used by all Microsoft languages including Visual C#, Visual J#, and Visual C++.

What is Reflection?
It extends the benefits of metadata by allowing developers to inspect and use it at runtime. For example, dynamically determine all the classes contained in a given assembly and invoke their methods. Reflection provides objects that encapsulate assemblies, modules, and types. You can use reflection to dynamically create an instance of a type, bind the type to an existing object, or get the type from an existing object. You can then invoke the type's methods or access its fields and properties. Namespace: System.Reflection

What is "Common Type System" (CTS)?
CTS defines all of the basic types that can be used in the .NET Framework and the operations performed on those type.
All this time we have been talking about language interoperability, and .NET Class Framework. None of this is possible without all the language sharing the same data types. What this means is that an int should mean the same in VB, VC++, C# and all other .NET compliant languages. This is achieved through introduction of Common Type System (CTS).

What is "Common Language Specification" (CLS)?
CLS is the collection of the rules and constraints that every language (that seeks to achieve .NET compatibility) must follow. It is a subsection of CTS and it specifies how it shares and extends one another libraries.

What is "Common Language Runtime" (CLR)?
CLR is .NET equivalent of Java Virtual Machine (JVM). It is the runtime that converts a MSIL code into the host machine language code, which is then executed appropriately. The CLR is the execution engine for .NET Framework applications. It provides a number of services, including:

- Code management (loading and execution)
- Application memory isolation
- Verification of type safety
- Conversion of IL to native code.
- Access to metadata (enhanced type information)
- Managing memory for managed objects
- Enforcement of code access security
- Exception handling, including cross-language exceptions
- Interoperation between managed code, COM objects, and pre-existing DLL's (unmanaged code and data)
- Automation of object layout
- Support for developer services (profiling, debugging, and so on).

What are Attributes?
Attributes are declarative tags in code that insert additional metadata into an assembly. There exist two types of attributes in the .NET Framework: Predefined attributes such as AssemblyVersion, which already exist and are accessed through the Runtime Classes; and custom attributes, which you write yourself by extending the System.Attribute class.

What are the Types of Assemblies?
Assemblies are of two types:
1. Private Assemblies
2. Shared Assemblies
Private Assemblies: The assembly is intended only for one application. The files of that assembly must be placed in the same folder as the application or in a sub folder. No other application will be able to make a call to this assembly. The advantage of having a private assembly is that, it makes naming the assembly very easy, since the developer need not worry about name clashes with other assemblies. As long as the assembly has a unique name within the concerned application, there won't be any problems.
Shared Assemblies: If the assembly is to be made into a Shared Assembly, then the naming conventions are very strict since it has to be unique across the entire system. The naming conventions should also take care of newer versions of the component being shipped. These are accomplished by giving the assembly a Shared Name. Then the assembly is placed in the global assembly cache, which is a folder in the file system reserved for shared assemblies.

What is an Intermediate language?
Assemblies are made up of IL code modules and the metadata that describes them. Although programs may be compiled via an IDE or the command line, in fact, they are simply translated into IL, not machine code. The actual machine code is not generated until the function that requires it is called. This is the just-in-time, or JIT, compilation feature of .NET. JIT compilation happens at runtime for a variety of reasons, one of the most ambitious being Microsoft's desire for cross-platform .NET adoption. If a CLR is built for another operating system (UNIX or Mac), the same assemblies will run in addition to the Microsoft platforms. The hope is that .NET assemblies are write-once-run-anywhere applications. This is a .NET feature that works behind-the-scenes, ensuring that developers are not limited to writing applications for one single line of products. No one has demonstrated whether or not this promise will ever truly materialize.

CTS/CLS

The MSIL Instruction Set Specification is included with the .NET SDK, along with the IL Assembly Language Programmers Reference. If a developer wants to write custom .NET programming languages, these are the necessary specifications and syntax. The CTS and CLS define the types and syntaxes that every .NET language needs to embrace. An application may not expose these features, but it must consider them when communicating through IL.

ASP.NET Authentication Providers and IIS Security

ASP.NET implements authentication using authentication providers, which are code modules that verify credentials and implement other security functionality such as cookie generation. ASP.NET supports the following three authentication providers:

Forms Authentication: Using this provider causes unauthenticated requests to be redirected to a specified HTML form using client side redirection. The user can then supply logon credentials, and post the form back to the server. If the application authenticates the request (using application-specific logic), ASP.NET issues a cookie that contains the credentials or a key for reacquiring the client identity. Subsequent requests are issued with the cookie in the request headers, which means that subsequent authentications are unnecessary.

Passport Authentication: This is a centralized authentication service provided by Microsoft that offers a single logon facility and membership services for participating sites. ASP.NET, in conjunction with the Microsoft® Passport software development kit (SDK), provides similar functionality as Forms Authentication to Passport users.

Windows Authentication: This provider utilizes the authentication capabilities of IIS. After IIS completes its authentication, ASP.NET uses the authenticated identity's token to authorize access.

To enable a specified authentication provider for an ASP.NET application, you must create an entry in the application's configuration file as follows:
// web.config file

What is the difference between ASP and ASP.NET?
ASP is interpreted. ASP.NET Compiled event base programming.
Control events for text button can be handled at client javascript only. Since we have server controls events can handle at server side.
More error handling.

ASP .NET has better language support, a large set of new controls and XML based components, and better user authentication.

ASP .NET provides increased performance by running compiled code.

ASP .NET code is not fully backward compatible with ASP.

ASP .NET also contains a new set of object oriented input controls, like programmable list boxes, validation controls. A new data grid control supports sorting, data paging, and everything you expect from a dataset control. The first request for an ASP.NET page on the server will compile the ASP .NET code and keep a cached copy in memory. The result of this is greatly increased performance.

ASP .NET is not fully compatible with earlier versions of ASP, so most of the old ASP code will need some changes to run under ASP .NET. To overcome this problem,

ASP .NET uses a new file extension ".aspx". This will make ASP .NET applications able to run side by side with standard ASP applications on the same server.

Using COM Component in .Net ?
As most of you know that .Net does not encourage the development of COM components and provides a different solution to making reusable components through Assemblies. But, there are a lot of COM components present which our .Net application might need to use. Fortunately, .Net provides an extremely simple approach to achieve this. This is achieved by using ‘Wrapper Classes’ and ‘Proxy Components’. .Net wraps the COM component into .Net assembly technically called ‘Runtime Callable Wrapper’ or RCW. Then u can call and use your COM component just as a .Net (or C#, if u are using C#) Assembly.

What is an assembly?
An assembly is the primary building block of a .NET Framework application. It is a collection of functionality that is built, versioned, and deployed as a single implementation unit (as one or more files). All managed types and resources are marked either as accessible only within their implementation unit, or as accessible by code outside that unit. .NET Assembly contains all the metadata about the modules, types, and other elements it contains in the form of a manifest. The CLR loves assemblies because differing programming languages are just perfect for creating certain kinds of applications. For example, COBOL stands for Common Business-Oriented Language because it’s tailor-made for creating business apps. However, it’s not much good for creating drafting programs. Regardless of what language you used to create your modules, they can all work together within one Portable Executable Assembly. There’s a hierarchy to the structure of .NET code. That hierarchy is Assembly - > Module -> Type -> Method." Assemblies can be static or dynamic. Static assemblies can include .NET Framework types (interfaces and classes), as well as resources for the assembly (bitmaps, JPEG files, resource files, and so on). Static assemblies are stored on disk in portable executable (PE) files. You can also use the .NET Framework to create dynamic assemblies, which are run directly from memory and are not saved to disk before execution. You can save dynamic assemblies to disk after they have executed.

What is a Web Service?
A web service is a software component that exposes itself through the open communication channels of the Internet. Applications running on remote machines, on potentially different platforms, can access these components in a language and platform-independent manner. A Web Service is a group of functions, packaged together for use in a common framework throughout a network.

webFarm Vs webGardens
A web farm is a multi-server scenario. So we may have a server in each state of US. If the load on one server is in excess then the other servers step in to bear the brunt.
How they bear it is based on various models.
1. RoundRobin. (All servers share load equally)
2. NLB (economical)
3. HLB (expensive but can scale up to 8192 servers)
4. Hybrid (of 2 and 3).
5. CLB (Component load balancer).
A web garden is a multi-processor setup. i.e., a single server (not like the multi server above).
How to implement webfarms in .Net:
Go to web.config and Here for mode = you have 4 options.
a) Say mode=inproc (non web farm but fast when you have very few customers).
b) Say mode=StateServer (for webfarm)
c) Say mode=SqlServer (for webfarm)
Whether to use option b or c depends on situation. StateServer is faster but SqlServer is more reliable and used for mission critical applications.
How to use webgardens in .Net:
Go to web.config and Change the false to true. You have one more attribute that is related to webgarden in the same tag called cpuMask.

What is the difference between a namespace and assembly name?
A namespace is a logical naming scheme for types in which a simple type name, such as MyType, is preceded with a dot-separated hierarchical name. Such a naming scheme is completely under control of the developer. For example, types MyCompany.FileAccess.A and MyCompany.FileAccess.B might be logically expected to have functionally related to file access. The .NET Framework uses a hierarchical naming scheme for grouping types into logical categories of related functionality, such as the ASP.NET application framework, or remoting functionality. Design tools can make use of namespaces to make it easier for developers to browse and reference types in their code. The concept of a namespace is not related to that of an assembly. A single assembly may contain types whose hierarchical names have different namespace roots, and a logical namespace root may span multiple assemblies. In the .NET Framework, a namespace is a logical design-time naming convenience, whereas an assembly establishes the name scope for types at run time.

What’s a Windows process?
It’s an application that’s running and had been allocated memory.

What’s typical about a Windows process in regards to memory allocation?
Each process is allocated its own block of available RAM space, no process can access another process’ code or data. If the process crashes, it dies alone without taking the entire OS or a bunch of other applications down.

Explain what relationship is between a Process, Application Domain, and Application?
Each process is allocated its own block of available RAM space, no process can access another process’ code or data. If the process crashes, it dies alone without taking the entire OS or a bunch of other applications down.
A process is an instance of a running application. An application is an executable on the hard drive or network. There can be numerous processes launched of the same application (5 copies of Word running), but 1 process can run just 1 application.

What are possible implementations of distributed applications in .NET?
.NET Remoting and ASP.NET Web Services. If we talk about the Framework Class Library, noteworthy classes are in System.Runtime.Remoting and System.Web.Services.

What are the consideration in deciding to use .NET Remoting or ASP.NET Web Services?
Remoting is a more efficient communication exchange when you can control both ends of the application involved in the communication process. Web Services provide an open-protocol-based exchange of information. Web Services are best when you need to communicate with an external organization or another (non-.NET) technology.

What’s a proxy of the server object in .NET Remoting?
It’s a fake copy of the server object that resides on the client side and behaves as if it was the server. It handles the communication between real server object and the client object. This process is also known as marshaling.

What are remotable objects in .NET Remoting?
Remotable objects are the objects that can be marshaled across the application domains. You can marshal by value, where a deep copy of the object is created and then passed to the receiver. You can also marshal by reference, where just a reference to an existing object is passed.

What are channels in .NET Remoting?
Channels represent the objects that transfer the other serialized objects from one application domain to another and from one computer to another, as well as one process to another on the same box. A channel must exist before an object can be transferred.

What security measures exist for .NET Remoting in System.Runtime.Remoting?
None. Security should be taken care of at the application level. Cryptography and other security techniques can be applied at application or server level.

What is a formatter?
A formatter is an object that is responsible for encoding and serializing data into messages on one end, and deserializing and decoding messages into data on the other end.

Choosing between HTTP and TCP for protocols and Binary and SOAP for formatters, what are the trade-offs?
Binary over TCP is the most effiecient, SOAP over HTTP is the most interoperable.

What’s SingleCall activation mode used for?
If the server object is instantiated for responding to just one single request, the request should be made in SingleCall mode.

What’s Singleton activation mode?
A single object is instantiated regardless of the number of clients accessing it. Lifetime of this object is determined by lifetime lease.

How do you define the lease of the object?
By implementing ILease interface when writing the class code.

Can you configure a .NET Remoting object via XML file?
Yes, via machine.config and application level .config file (or web.config in ASP.NET). Application-level XML settings take precedence over machine.config.

How can you automatically generate interface for the remotable object in .NET with Microsoft tools?
Use the Soapsuds tool.

What is Delegation?
A delegate acts like a strongly type function pointer. Delegates can invoke the methods that they reference without making explicit calls to those methods.
Delegate is an entity that is entrusted with the task of representation, assign or passing on information. In code sense, it means a Delegate is entrusted with a Method to report information back to it when a certain task (which the Method expects) is accomplished outside the Method's class.

What is "Microsoft Intermediate Language" (MSIL)?
A .NET programming language (C#, VB.NET, J# etc.) does not compile into executable code; instead it compiles into an intermediate code called Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL). As a programmer one need not worry about the syntax of MSIL - since our source code in automatically converted to MSIL. The MSIL code is then send to the CLR (Common Language Runtime) that converts the code to machine language, which is, then run on the host machine. MSIL is similar to Java Byte code. MSIL is the CPU-independent instruction set into which .NET Framework programs are compiled. It contains instructions for loading, storing, initializing, and calling methods on objects. Combined with metadata and the common type system, MSIL allows for true cross- language integration Prior to execution, MSIL is converted to machine code. It is not interpreted.

Differences between Datagrid, Datalist and Repeater?
1. Datagrid has paging while Datalist doesnt.
2. Datalist has a property called repeat. Direction = vertical/horizontal. (This is of great help in designing layouts). This is not there in Datagrid.
3. A repeater is used when more intimate control over html generation is required.
4. When only checkboxes/radiobuttons are repeatedly served then a checkboxlist or radiobuttonlist are used as they involve fewer overheads than a Datagrid.
The Repeater repeats a chunk of HTML you write, it has the least functionality of the three. DataList is the next step up from a Repeater; accept you have very little control over the HTML that the control renders. DataList is the first of the three controls that allow you Repeat-Columns horizontally or vertically. Finally, the DataGrid is the motherload. However, instead of working on a row-by-row basis, you’re working on a column-by-column basis. DataGrid caters to sorting and has basic paging for your disposal. Again you have little contro, over the HTML. NOTE: DataList and DataGrid both render as HTML tables by default. Out of the 3 controls, I use the Repeater the most due to its flexibility w/ HTML. Creating a Pagination scheme isn't that hard, so I rarely if ever use a DataGrid.
Occasionally I like using a DataList because it allows me to easily list out my records in rows of three for instance.

I am constantly writing the drawing procedures with System.Drawing.Graphics, but having to use the try and dispose blocks is too time-consuming with Graphics objects. Can I automate this?
Yes, the code

System.Drawing.Graphics canvas = new System.Drawing.Graphics();
try
{
//some code
}
finally
canvas.Dispose();

is functionally equivalent to

using (System.Drawing.Graphics canvas = new System.Drawing.Graphics())
{
//some code
} //canvas.Dispose() gets called automatically

How do you trigger the Paint event in System.Drawing?
Invalidate the current form, the OS will take care of repainting. The Update method forces the repaint.

With these events, why wouldn’t Microsoft combine Invalidate and Paint, so that you wouldn’t have to tell it to repaint, and then to force it to repaint?
Painting is the slowest thing the OS does, so usually telling it to repaint, but not forcing it allows for the process to take place in the background.

How can you assign an RGB color to a System.Drawing.Color object?
Call the static method FromArgb of this class and pass it the RGB values.

What class does Icon derive from? Isn’t it just a Bitmap with a wrapper name around it?
No, Icon lives in System.Drawing namespace. It’s not a Bitmap by default, and is treated separately by .NET. However, you can use ToBitmap method to get a valid Bitmap object from a valid Icon object.

Before in my VB app I would just load the icons from DLL. How can I load the icons provided by .NET dynamically?
By using System.Drawing.SystemIcons class, for example System.Drawing.SystemIcons.Warning produces an Icon with a warning sign in it.

When displaying fonts, what’s the difference between pixels, points and ems?
A pixel is the lowest-resolution dot the computer monitor supports. Its size depends on user’s settings and monitor size. A point is always 1/72 of an inch. An em is the number of pixels that it takes to display the letter M.

What is the difference between VB 6 and VB.NET?
Answer1
VB

1,Object-based Language
2,Doesnot support Threading
3,Not powerful Exception handling mechanism
4,Doesnot having support for the console based applications
5,Cannot use more than one version of com objects in vb application called DLL error
6,Doesnot support for the Disconnected data source.

VB.Net

1,Object-oriented Language
2,supports Threading
3,powerful Exception handling mechanism
4,having support for the console based applications
5,More than one version of dll is supported
6,supports the Disconnected data source by using Dataset class

Answer2
VB:
1. Object-based language
2. Does not support inheritance
3. ADO.Net does not give support for disconnected data architecture
4. No interoperability function
5. No support for threading

VB.Net
1. Object-Oriented Programming lanugage
2. ADO.Net gives support for disconnected data architecture
3. It provides interoperability
4. It uses managed code
5. supports threading
6. provides access to third-party controls like COM, DCOM


Answer2
1.The concept of the complete flow of execution of a program from start to finish: Visual Basic hides this aspect of programs from you, so that the only elements of a Visual Basic program you code are the event handlers and any methods in class modules. C# makes the complete program available to you as source code. The reason for this has to do with the fact that C# can be seen, philosophically, as next-generation C++. The roots of C++ go back to the 1960s and predate windowed user interfaces and sophisticated operating systems. C++ evolved as a low-level, closeto- the-machine, all-purpose language. To write GUI applications with C++ meant that you had to invoke the system calls to create and interact with the windowed forms. C# has been designed to build on this tradition while simplifying and modernizing C++, to combine the low-level performance benefits of C++ with the ease of coding in Visual Basic. Visual Basic, on the other hand, is designed specifically for rapid application development of Windows GUI applications. For this reason, in Visual Basic all the GUI boilerplate code is hidden, and all the Visual Basic programmer implements are the event handlers. In C# on the other hand, this boilerplate code is exposed as part of your source code.
2. Classes and inheritance: C# is a genuine object-oriented language, unlike Visual Basic, requiring all code to be a part of a class. It also includes extensive support for implementation inheritance. Indeed, most well-designed C# programs will be very much designed around this form of inheritance, which is completely absent in Visual Basic.

.Net Interview Questions and Answers

What are the authentication methods in .NET?
There are 4 types of authentications.
1.WINDOWS AUTHENTICATION
2.FORMS AUTHENTICATION
3.PASSPORT AUTHENTICATION
4.NONE/CUSTOM AUTHENTICATION

The authentication option for the ASP.NET application is specified by using the tag in the Web.config file, as shown below:
other authentication options
1. WINDOWS AUTHENTICATION Schemes
I. Integrated Windows authentication
II. Basic and basic with SSL authentication
III. Digest authentication
IV. Client Certificate authentication

2. FORMS AUTHENTICATION
You, as a Web application developer, are supposed to develop the Web page and authenticate the user by checking the provided user ID and password against some user database

3.PASSPORT AUTHENTICATION
A centralized service provided by Microsoft, offers a single logon point for clients. Unauthenticated users are redirected to the Passport site

4 NONE/CUSTOM AUTHENTICATION:
If we don’t want ASP.NET to perform any authentication, we can set the authentication mode to “none”. The reason behind this decision could be: We don’t want to authenticate our users, and our Web site is open for all to use. We want to provide our own custom authentication

What is Serialization in .NET?
Anwer1
The serialization is the process of converting the objects into stream of bytes.
they or used for transport the objects(via remoting) and persist objects(via files and databases)

Answer2
When developing smaller applications that do not have a database (or other formal storage mechanism) or data that doesn’t need to be stored in a database (such as the state of a web application), you often still would like to save the data for later retrieval. There are many ways to do this, but many of them are subject to a lot of extra code (work) and extra time spent debugging. With .NET, there is now an easy way to add this functionality to your code with only a few lines of easily tested code. This easy way is called serialization.

Serialization is the process of storing an object, including all of its public and private fields, to a stream. Deserialization is the opposite – restoring an object’s field values from a stream. The stream is generally in the form of a FileStream, but does not have to be. It could be a memory stream or any other object that is of type IO.Stream. The format can be anything from XML to binary to SOAP.

What’s the use of System.Diagnostics.Process class?
By using System.Diagnostics.Process class, we can provide access to the files which are presented in the local and remote system.
Example: System.Diagnostics.Process(”c:\mlaks\example.txt”) — local file
System.Diagnostics.Process(”http://www.mlaks.com\example.txt”) — remote file

What are the authentication methods in .NET?
Abstract class: This class has abstract methods (no body). This class cannot be instantiated. One needs to provide the implementation of the methods by overriding them in the derived class. No Multiple Inheritance.
Interfaces: Interface class contains all abstract methods which are public by default. All of these methods must be implemented in the derived class. One can inherit from from more than one interface thus provides for Multiple Inheritance.

re-clarification of object based:
VB6 DOES support polymorphism and interface inheritance. It also supports the “Implements” keyword. What is not supported in vb6 is implementation inheritance.
Also, from above, vb6 DOES “provides access to third-party controls like COM, DCOM ” That is not anything new in .NET.

How to achieve Polymorphism in VB.Net?
We can achieve polymarphism in .Net i.e Compile time polymarphism and Runtime polymarphism. Compiletime Polymarphism achieved by method overloading. Runtime polymarphism achieved by Early Binding or Late Binding. Provide the function pointer to the object at compile time called as Early Binding.
provide the function pointer to the object at runtime called as Late Binding
class emp having the method display()
class dept having the method display()

create objects as in the main function
// Early binding
dim obj as new emp
dim ob as new dept

obj.display()-to call the display method of emp class
ob.display-to call the display method of the dept class
// Late binding

create object in the main class as
object obj
obj=new emp
obj.display()-to call the display of emp class
obj=new dept
obj.display()-to call the display of dept class

Difference between Class And Interface
Class is logical representation of object. It is collection of data and related sub procedures with defination.
Interface is also a class containg methods which is not having any definations.
Class does not support multiple inheritance. But interface can support.

What doesu mean by .NET framework?
The .NET Framework is an environment for building, deploying, and running Web Services and other applications. It consists of three main parts: the Common Language Runtime, the Framework classes, and ASP.NET

What is assembly?
It is a single deployable unit that contains all the information abt the implimentation of classes , stuctures and interfaces

What is namespaces?
It is a logical group of related classes and interfaces and that can be used byany language targeting the .net framework.

.NET framework programming interview questions

.NET framework overview
1. Has own class libraries. System is the main namespace and all other namespaces are subsets of this.
2. It has CLR(Common language runtime, Common type system, common language specification)
3. All the types are part of CTS and Object is the base class for all the types.
4. If a language said to be .net complaint, it should be compatible with CTS and CLS.
5. All the code compiled into an intermediate language by the .Net language compiler, which is nothing but an assembly.
6. During runtime, JIT of CLR picks the IL code and converts into PE machine code and from there it processes the request.
7. CTS, CLS, CLR
8. Garbage Collection
9. Dispose, finalize, suppress finalize, Idispose interface
10. Assemblies, Namespace: Assembly is a collection of class/namespaces. An assembly contains Manifest, Metadata, Resource files, IL code
11. Com interoperability, adding references, web references
12. Database connectivity and providers


Application Domain
1. Class modifiers: public, private, friend, protected, protected friend, mustinherit, NotInheritable
2. Method modifiers: public, private
3. Overridable
4. Shadows
5. Overloadable
6. Overrides
7. Overloads
8. Set/Get Property
9. IIF
10. Inheritance
11. Polymorphism
12. Delegates
13. Events
14. Reflection
15. Boxing
16. UnBoxing


ASP.Net
1. Web Controls: Data grid (templates, sorting, paging, bound columns, unbound columns, data binding), Data list, repeater controls
2. HTML Controls
3. Code behind pages, system.web.ui.page base class
4. Web.config: App settings, identity (impersonate), authentication (windows, forms, anonymous, passport), authorization
5. Databind.eval
6. Trace, Debug
7. Output cache
8. Session management
9. Application, Session
10. Global.asax httpapplication
11. User controls, custom controls, custom rendered controls (postback event, postdatachanged event) usercontrol is the base class
12. Directives


ADO.Net
1. Command object (ExecuteNonquery, ExecuteReader, ExecuteXMLReader, ExecuteScalar)
2. DataAdapter object (Fill)
3. Dataset (collection of tables)
4. CommandBuiler object
5. Transaction Object
6. Isolation levels

To test a Web Service you must create a windows application or web application to consume this service? It is True/False?
FALSE

How many classes can a single.NET DLL contain?
Answer1:
As many

Answer2:
One or more

What are good ADO.NET object(s) to replace the ADO Recordset object?
The differences includes
In ADO, the in-memory representation of data is the Recordset.
In ADO.net, it is the dataset

A recordset looks like a single table in ADO
In contrast, a dataset is a collection of one or more tables in ADO.net

ADO is designed primarily for connected access
ADO.net the disconnected access to the database is used

In ADO you communicate with the database by making calls to an OLE DB provider.
In ADO.NET you communicate with the database through a data adapter (an OleDbDataAdapter, SqlDataAdapter, OdbcDataAdapter, or OracleDataAdapter object), which makes calls to an OLE DB provider or the APIs provided by the underlying data source.

In ADO you cant update the database from the recordset. ADO.NET the data adapter allows you to control how the changes to the dataset are transmitted to the database.

On order to get assembly info which namespace we should import?
System.Reflection Namespace

How do you declare a static variable and what is its lifetime? Give an example.
Answer1
static int Myint–The life time is during the entire application.
br> Answer2
The static modifier is used to declare a static member, which belongs to the type itself rather than to a specific object. The static modifier can be used with fields, methods, properties, operators, events and constructors, but cannot be used with indexers, destructors, or types. In C#, the static keyword indicates a class variable. In VB, the equivalent keyword is Shared. Its scoped to the class in which it occurs.

Example
a. Static int var //in c#.net
b. static void Time( ) //in c#.net

How do you get records number from 5 to 15 in a dataset of 100 records? Write code.
Answer1
DataSet ds1=new DataSet(); String strCon=”data source=IBM-6BC8A0DACEF;initial catalog=pubs;integrated security=SSPI;persist” +” security info=False;user
id=sa;workstation id=IBM-6BC8A0DACEF;packet size=4096?;

String strCom1=”SELECT * FROM employee”;
SqlDataAdapter sqlDa1=new SqlDataAdapter(strCom1,strCon);
ds1.Tables.Add(”employee”);
sqlDa1.Fill(ds1,40,50,ds1.Tables[”employee”].TableName);
DataGrid dg1.DataSource=ds1.Tables[”employee”].DefaultView;
dg1.DataBind();


Answer2
OleDbConnection1.Open()
OleDbDataAdapter1.Fill(DataSet21, 5, 15, “tab”)
This will fill the dataset with the records starting at 5 to 15

How do you call and execute a Stored Procedure in .NET? Give an example.
Answer1
ds1=new DataSet();

sqlCon1=new SqlConnection(connectionstring);

String strCom1=”byroyalty”;

sqlCom1=new SqlCommand(strCom1,sqlCon1);
sqlCom1.CommandType=CommandType.StoredProcedure;
sqlDa1=new SqlDataAdapter(sqlCom1);
SqlParameter myPar=new SqlParameter(”@percentage”,SqlDbType.Int);
sqlCom1.Parameters.Add (myPar);
myPar.Value=40;
sqlDa1.Fill(ds1);
dg1.DataSource=ds1;
dg1.DataBind();

Answer2
Yes

Dim cn as new OleDbConnection ( “Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;”+ _
“Data Source=C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\Visual Studio Projects\1209\db1.mdb”+ _
“User ID=Admin;”+ _
“Password=;”);
Dim cmd As New OleDbCommand(”Products”, cn)
cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure

Dim da As New OleDataAdapter(cmd)
Dim ds As New DataSet()
da.Fill(ds, “Products”)
DataGrid1.DataSource = ds.Tables(”Products”)

What is the maximum length of a varchar in SQL Server?
Answer1
VARCHAR[(n)]
Null-terminated Unicode character string of length n,
with a maximum of 255 characters. If n is not supplied, then 1 is assumed.

Answer2
8000

Answer3
The business logic is the aspx.cs or the aspx.vb where the code is being written. The presentation logic is done with .aspx extention.

How do you define an integer in SQL Server?
We define integer in Sql server as
var_name int

How do you separate business logic while creating an ASP.NET application?
There are two level of asp.net debugging
1. Page level debugging
For this we have to edit the page level debugging enable the trace to true in the line in the html format of the page.

%@ Page Language=”vb” trace=”true”AutoEventWireup=”false” Codebehind=”WebForm1.aspx.vb” Inherits=”WebApplication2.WebForm1?>

2. You can enable the debugging in the application level for this
Edit the following trace value in web.config file

Enable trace enabled=true.

If there is a calendar control to be included in each page of your application, and and we do not intend to use the Microsoft-provided calendar control, how do you develop it? Do you copy and paste the code into each and every page of your application?
Create the Calendar User Control
The control we will create will contain a calendar control and a label which has the corresponding date and time written
Steps are:-

Creating a CalenderControl
1) To begin, open Visual Studio .NET and begin a new C# Windows Control Library.
2) You may name it whatever you like, for this sample the project name will be CalenderControl

Using the Calender Control in a Windows Application
It’s just like adding any other control like a button or a label.
1) First, create a new Windows Application project named: CustomControl.
2) Add a reference to the Calender Control DLL named: CalenderControl.dll.
3) Now you a can customize the Toolbox:
Right-Click the Toolbox> .NET Framework Components> Browse> select the CalenderControl.dll.
4)The Calender Control is now added to the Toolbox and can be inserted in Windows Form as any other control. The control itself will take care of the date display

How can you deploy an asp.net application ?
You can deploy an ASP.NET Web application using any one of the following three deployment options.
a) Deployment using VS.NET installer
b) Using the Copy Project option in VS .NET
c) XCOPY Deployment

Explain similarities and differences between Java and .NET?
Comparing Java and .NET is comparing apples and oranges. Either the question needs to be to compare Java and C# or J2EE and .NET.

What are the XML files that are important in developing an ASP.NET application?
The XML file necessary for the for developing an asp.net application is Web.config

Specify the best ways to store variables so that we can access them in various pages of ASP.NET application?
Declare the variables in Global.aspx

How many objects are there in ASP?
Answer1
8 objects, they are request,response, server,application,session,file, dictionary, textstream.

Answer2
There are 6 objects in ASP.net
a) Server
b) Session
c) Application
d) ObjectContext
e) Response
f) Request

Which DLL file is needed to be registered for ASP?
The dll needed for the ASP.net is SYSTEM.WEB.dll


Is there any inbuilt paging (for example shoping cart, which will show next 10 records without refreshing) in ASP? How will you do pating?

Use DataGrid control which has in-built paging features for the purpose.

What does Server.MapPath do?

Answer1
srver.mappath() maps the path given in the argument to the server’s physical path.

Answer2
It returns the complete(absolute) path of the file used in parameter.

Answer3
It returns a string containing the physical path in the server’s file system that corresponds to the virtual or relative path specified by the Path argument.

Name atleast three methods of response object other than Redirect.
Answer1
a) Response.Clear( )
Clears the content of the current output stream.
b) Response.Close( )
Closes the network socket for the current response.
c) Response.End( )
Stops processing the current request and sends all buffered content to the client immediately.

Answer2
methods of Response is Redirect a. Transfer

Name atleast two methods of response object other than Transfer.
a) Response.ClearContent( )
Clears the content of the current output stream.
b) Response.ClearHeaders( )
Clears the HTTP headers from the current output stream.

What is State?
It is the property of the web forms.
ASP.NET provides four types of state:
Application state
Session state
Cookie state
View state.

Explain differences between ADO and DAO.
dao- can access only access database
ado- can access any databases


How many types of cookies are there?

2 types, persistant and impersistant.

How many types of cookies are there?
Answer1
Two type of cookeies.
a) single valued eg request.cookies(”UserName”).value=”Mahesh”
b)Multivalued cookies. These are used in the way collections are used.
e.g.
request.cookies(”CookiName”)(”UserName”)=”Mahesh”
request.cookies(”CookiName”)(”UserID”)=”ABC003?

rember no value method in multivalued cookie

Answer2
There are two types of cookies:
Session cookies
Persistent cookies

Tell few steps for optimizing (for speed and resource) ASP page/application.
Avoid mixing html code with asp code

Which command using Query Analyzer will give you the version of SQL Server and Operating System?
@@VERSION
Returns version, processor architecture, build date, and operating system for the current installation of SQL Server.

How to find the SQL server version from Query Analyzer ?
Answer1
To determine which version of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 is running, connect to SQL Server 2005 by using SQL Server Management Studio, and then run the following Transact-SQL statement:
SELECT SERVERPROPERTY(’productversion’), SERVERPROPERTY (’productlevel’), SERVERPROPERTY (’edition’)
The results are:
• The product version (for example, “9.00.1399.06?)
. • The product level (for example, “RTM”).
• The edition (for example, “Enterprise Edition”).
For example, the result looks similar to:
9.00.1399.06 RTM Enterprise Edition

How to determine which version of SQL Server 2000 is running
To determine which version of SQL Server 2000 is running, connect to SQL Server 2000 by using Query Analyzer, and then run the following code:
SELECT SERVERPROPERTY(’productversion’), SERVERPROPERTY (’productlevel’), SERVERPROPERTY (’edition’)
The results are:
• The product version (for example, 8.00.534).
• The product level (for example, “RTM” or “SP2?).
• The edition (for example, “Standard Edition”). For example, the result looks similar to
:
8.00.534 RTM Standard Edition

Answer2
One can also use SELECT @@Version where the result would look like
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 - 9.00.1399.06 (Intel X86)
Oct 14 2005 00:33:37
Copyright (c) 1988-2005 Microsoft Corporation
Express Edition on Windows NT 5.1 (Build 2600: Service Pack 2)

Using query analyzer, name 3 ways you can get an accurate count of the number of records in a table.
Answer1.
a. Select count(*) from table1
b. SELECT object_name(id) ,rowcnt FROM sysindexes WHERE indid IN (1,0) AND OBJECTPROPERTY(id, ‘IsUserTable’) = 1
c. exec sp_table_validation @table = ‘authors’

Answer2.
SELECT count( * ) as totalrecords FROM employee
This will display total records under the name totalrecords in the table employee

use COUNT_BIG
Returns the number of items in a group.

@@ROWCOUNT
Returns the number of rows affected by the last statement.
Use this statement after an SQL select * statement, to retrieve the total number of rows in the table

What is the purpose of using COLLATE in a query?
Answer1.
Collation refers to a set of rules that determine how data is sorted and compared. Character data is sorted using rules that define the correct character sequence, with options for specifying case-sensitivity, accent marks, kana character types and character width.

Answer2.
COLLATE is a clause that can be applied to a database definition or a column definition to define the collation, or to a character string expression to apply a collation cast.

What is one of the first things you would do to increase performance of a query? For example, a boss tells you that “a query that ran yesterday took 30 seconds, but today it takes 6 minutes”?
Answer1.
Use Storedprocedure for any optimized result, because it is an compiled code.

Answer2.
One of the best ways to increase query performance is to use indexes.

What is an execution plan? When would you use it? How would you view the execution plan?
The Query Analyzer has a feature called Show Execution Plan. This option allows you to view the execution plan used by SQL Server’s Query Optimizer to actually execute the query. This option is available from the Query menu on the main menu of Query Analyzer, and must be turned on before the query is executed. Once the query is executed, the results of the execution plan are displayed in graphical format in a separate window, available from a tab that appears below the query results window on the screen.

What is the STUFF function and how does it differ from the REPLACE function? Answer1:
stuff-> inserts into it without removing any thing. Replace->replace the given text with the new one.

Answer2:
STUFF - it deletes a specified length of characters and inserts another set of characters at a specified starting point. REPLACE -Replaces all occurrences of a specified string value with another string value.

What does it mean to have quoted_identifier on? What are the implications of having it off?
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON- Causes SQL Server to follow the SQL-92 rules regarding quotation mark delimiting identifiers and literal strings. Identifiers delimited by double quotation marks can be either Transact-SQL reserved keywords or can contain characters not usually allowed by the Transact-SQL syntax rules for identifiers.

What is the difference between a Local temporary table and a Global temporary table? How is each one used?
Answer1:
Local templrary table will have a single # (#tablename) appended with the table name.Global templrary table will have Double # (##tablename) appended with the table name.
Ex:create table #table1
local temp. table will be available until the session who created it logs out, but global temp. table is available till the last session gets close in SQLServer.

Answer1:
Local temporary tables are visible only in the current session; global temporary tables are visible to all sessions.Prefix local temporary table names with single number sign (#table_name), and prefix global temporary table names with a double number sign (##table_name).

What are cursors? Name four type of cursors and when each one would be applied?
Opening a cursor on a result set allows processing the result set one row at a time.
The four API server cursor types supported by SQL Server are:
a) Static cursors
b) Dynamic cursors
c) Forward-only cursors
d) Keyset-driven cursors

What is the purpose of UPDATE STATISTICS?
UPDATE STATISTICS- it updates information about the distribution of key values for one or more statistics groups (collections) in the specified table or indexed view.

How do you use DBCC statements to monitor various ASPects of a SQL Server installation?
Database Consistency Checker (DBCC) - Is a statement used to check the logical and physical consistency of a database, check memory usage, decrease the size of a database, check performance statistics, and so on. Database consistency checker (DBCC) ensures the physical and logical consistency of a database, but is not corrective. DBCC can help in repairing or checking the installation in case of any failure.

What is referential integrity and how can we achieve it?
Referential integrity preserves the defined relationships between tables when records are entered or deleted. In SQL Server, referential integrity is based on relationships between foreign keys and primary keys or between foreign keys and unique keys. Referential integrity ensures that key values are consistent across tables. Such consistency requires that there be no references to nonexistent values and that if a key value changes, all references to it change consistently throughout the database.
We can achieve this by using foreign key.

What is indexing?
If we give proper indexes on a table so that any queries written against this table can run efficiently. As your data sets grow over time, SQL Server will continue to rebuild indexes and move data around as efficiently as possible. This property is known as Indexing.

Explain differences between Server.Transfer and server.execute method?
Answer1:
server.transfer-> transfers the server’s control to the requested page given in the parameter.
server.Execute-> executes the requested page from the current page itself, with no change in the address bar. after execution the next line of code is executed in the current page.

Answer2.
Execute method returns control to the page in which it is called once the page specified in the Execute method finishes processing, the Transfer method does not return control to the calling page.

What is de-normalization? When do you do it and how?
De-normalization is the process of attempting to optimize the performance of a database by adding redundant data. It’s used To introduce redundancy into a table in order to incorporate data from a related table. The related table can then be eliminated. De-normalization can improve efficiency and performance by reducing complexity in a data warehouse schema.

Explain features of SQL Server like Scalability , Availability, Integration with Internet.
Scalability - The same Microsoft SQL Server 2000 database engine operates on Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 98, and Windows Millennium Edition. It also runs on all editions of Microsoft Windows NT version 4.0. The database engine is a robust server that can manage terabyte-sized databases accessed by thousands of users. Availability - SQL Server 2000 can maintain the extremely high levels of availability required by large Web sites and enterprise systems. Integration -The SQL Server 2000 TCP/IP Sockets communications support can be integrated with Microsoft Proxy Server to implement secure Internet and intranet communications.

What is DataWarehousing?
A data warehouse is a collection of data gathered and organized so that it can easily by analyzed, extracted, synthesized, and otherwise be used for the purposes of further understanding the data.

What is OLAP?
OLAP is an acronym for On Line Analytical Processing. It is an approach to quickly provide the answer to analytical queries that are dimensional in nature.

How do we upgrade SQL Server 7.0 to 2000?
Run the installation of the SQL Server 2000
In the Existing Installation dialog box, click Upgrade your existing installation, and then click Next.
In the Upgrade dialog box, you are prompted as to whether you want to proceed with the requested upgrade. Click Yes, upgrade my to start the upgrade process, and then click Next. The upgrade runs until finished.
In the Connect to Server dialog box, select an authentication mode, and then click Next.
If you are not sure which mode to use, accept the default: The Windows account information I use to log on to my computer with (Windows). In Start Copying Files dialog box, click Next.
Now your Sql Server would be upgraded.

What is job?
It can be defined as a task performed by a computer system. For example, printing a file is a job. Jobs can be performed by a single program or by a collection of programs.

What is Task?
Whenever you execute a program, the operating system creates a new task for it. The task is like an envelope for the program: it identifies the program with a task number and attaches other bookkeeping information to it.

How do you find the error, how can you know the number of rows affected by last SQL Statement?
Answer1
@@errors->give the last error occurred in the current DB.
Ans. select @@rowcount

Answer2.
Use @@ERROR which returns the error number for the last Transact-SQL statement executed fro knowing the error.
Use @@ROWCOUNT which returns the number of rows affected by the last statement for finding the no of rows affected.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of viewstate?
Disadvantages - Because the view state for a given page must be kept on the server, it is possible for the current state to be out of synchronization with the current page of the browser, if the user uses the Back feature on the browser to go back in the history. Advantages - On ordinary Web Forms pages, their view state is sent by the server as a hidden variable in a form, as part of every response to the client, and is returned to the server by the client as part of a postback. However, to reduce bandwidth demand when using mobile controls, ASP.NET does not send a page’s view state to the client. Instead, the view state is saved as part of a user’s session on the server. Where there is a view state, a hidden field that identifies this page’s view state is sent by the server as part of every response to the client, and is returned to the server by the client as part of the next request.

Describe session handling in webform. How does it work and what are the limits?
Session management in ASP.NET can be done in two ways:
Using Cookies
Encoding of URLs with Session ID

Explain differences between framework 1.0 and framework 1.1?
1. Native Support for Developing Mobile Web Applications
2. Unified Programming Model for Smart Client Application Development
3. Enable Code Access Security for ASP.NET Applications
4. Native Support for Communicating with ODBC and Oracle Databases
5. Supports for IPv6

If we write any code for dataGrid methods, what is the access specifier used for that methods in the code behind file and why and how? Give an example.
We use Friends Modifer for the dataGrid methods. Friend WithEvents DataGrid1 As System.Windows.Forms.DataGrid

What is the use of trace utility?
Tracing is a very important monitoring and debugging tool for distributed, multitier applications. Such applications often contain problems that can only be observed when the application is under a heavy load and the inherent randomness of a real-life environment. Trace utility allows developers and administrators to monitor the health of applications running in real-life settings.

What are the differences between User control and Web control and Custom control?
Answer1:
Usercontrol-> control that is created as u wish.
Web Control-> any control placed in web page (web application page)
Custom Control-> same as user control with some difference.

user control custome control
1.easy to create difficult
2.no full suport for customers using
Visual studio tools Full support
3. Seperate copy of the control in each
assembly only one copy in global assembly.
4. best for static layout best for dynamic layout.


Answer2
User control
1) Reusability web page
2) We can’t add to toolbox
3) Just drag and drop from solution explorer to page (aspx)
4) Good for static layout
5) Easier to create
6) Not complied into DLL

Custom controls
1) Reusability of control (or extend functionalities of existing control)
2) We can add toolbox
3) Just drag and drop from toolbox
4) You can register user control to. Aspx page by Register tag
5) A single copy of the control is required in each application
6) Good for dynamic layout
7) Hard to create
8) Compiled in to dll

Custom controls
1) Reusability of control
2) Pre defined Control
3) Just drag and drop from toolbox

If I have more than one version of one assemblies, then how will I use old version in my application? Give an example.
Change the assembly version number in the AssemblyInfo.vb file

How does you handle this COM components developed in other programming languages in .NET?
Answer1:
add the component in add reference window, click .NETCOM tab.

Answer1:
While adding the refferences we can handle the COM components in other .Net programming languages.

How will you register COM+ services?
Through X-Copy Deployment.

How do u call and execute a stored procedure in .NET?
system.Data;
system.Data.SqlClient;

SqlConnection sqCon = new SqlConnection(”connection string”);
SqlCommand sqCmd = new SqCmd();
sqCmd.Connection = sqCon;
sqCmd.CommandText = procedure_name;
sqCmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
sqComd.ExecuteReader();

What are the different types of replication? How are they used?
Replication is used for distributing data and the execution of stored procedures across an enterprise. The replication technology allows you to make duplicate copies of your data, move those copies to different locations, and synchronize the data automatically so that all copies have the same data values.
The different types of replications are
a) transactional replication
b) merge replication

How do SQL Server 2000 and XML linked? What is SQL Server agent?
Every Request or the Response to or from SQL Server is converted into XML format. Its purpose is to ease the implementation of tasks for the DBA, with its full-function scheduling engine, which allows you to schedule your own jobs and scripts.

How do you create thread in .NET?
1) Import System.Threading
2) Create a new thread using new Thread() and assign the address of the method
3) Use Thread.Start method to start the execution

using System;
using System.Threading;

public class Test
{
static void Main()
{
ThreadStart job = new ThreadStart(ThreadJob);
Thread thread = new Thread(job);
thread.Start();
..............
}

What is the base class of .NET?
Base class provides a base set of methods that all derived classes can use

Explain assemblies.
Answer 1:
Assemblies are similar to dll files. Both has the reusable pieces of code in the form of classes/ functions. Dll needs to be registered but assemblies have its own metadata.

Answer 2:
Assembly is a single deployable unit that contains information about the implementation of classes, structures and interfaces. it also stores the information about itself called metadata and includes name and verison of the assembly, security information, information about the dependencies and the list of files that constitute the assembly.
Assembly also contains namespaces. In the .Net Framework, applications are deployed in the form of assemblies.

Answer 3:
An assembly is a single deployable unit that contains all the information about the implementation of :
- classes
- structures and
- interfaces

An assembly stores all the information about itself. This information is called METADATA and include the name and the verison number of the assembly, security information, information about the dependencies and a lost of files that constitute the assembly.
All the application developed using the .NET framework are made up of assemblies.
Namespaces are also stored in assemblies

Answer 4:
In the Microsoft .NET framework an assembly is a partially compiled code library for use in deployment, versioning and security. In the Microsoft Windows implementation of .NET, an assembly is a PE (portable executable) file. There are two types, process assemblies (EXE) and library assemblies (DLL). A process assembly represents a process which will use classes defined in library assemblies. In version 1.1 of the CLR classes can only be exported from library assemblies; in version 2.0 this restriction is relaxed. The compiler will have a switch to determine if the assembly is a process or library and will set a flag in the PE file. .NET does not use the extension to determine if the file is a process or library. This means that a library may have either .dll or .exe as its extension.

The code in an assembly is partially compiled into CIL, which is then fully compiled into machine language at runtime by the CLR.

An assembly can consist of one or more files. Code files are called modules. An assembly can contain more than one code module and since it is possible to use different languages to create code modules this means that it is technically possible to use several different languages to create an assembly. In practice this rarely happens, principally because Visual Studio only allows developers to create assemblies that consist of a single code module.

Name some of the languages .NET support?
Some of the languages that are supported by .NET
1. Visual Basic.NET
2. Visual C#
3. Visual C++

ADO.NET features? Benefits? Drawbacks?
Answer 1:
1. Data will be retrieved through Datasets
2. Scalability

Answer 2:
1. Disconnected Data Architecture
2. Data cached in Datasets
3. Data transfer in XML format
4. Interaction with the database is done through data commands

How many types of exception handlers are there in .NET?
Answer 1:
From
MSDN>gt; “How the Runtime Manages Exceptions”
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpguide/html/cpconexceptionsoverview.asp
The exception information table represents four types of exception handlers for protected blocks:
A finally handler that executes whenever the block exits, whether that occurs by normal control flow or by an unhandled exception.
A fault handler that must execute if an exception occurs, but does not execute on completion of normal control flow.
A type-filtered handler that handles any exception of a specified class or any of its derived classes.
A user-filtered handler that runs user-specified code to determine whether the exception should be handled by the associated handler or should be passed to the next protected block.

Answer 2:
1. Unstructured Exception Handling
2. Structured Exception Handling

Difference between Panel and GroupBox classes?

Answer 1:
Panel and Group box both can used as container for other controls like radio buttons and check box.
the difference in panel and group box are Panel
1) In case of panel captions cannot be displayed
2) Can have scroll bars.

Group box
1) Captions can be displayed.
2) Cannot have a scroll bar

Answer 2:
Panel is scrollable. In panel you can’t set caption like Group box.

What is the base class of Button control?
Listing from visual studio .net > Button Class
System.Object
System.MarshalByRefObject
System.ComponentModel.Component
System.Windows.Forms.Control
System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase
System.Windows.Forms.Button

What is Response object? How is it related to ASP’s Response object?
Response object allows the server to communicate with the client(browser). It is useful for displaying information to the user (or) redirecting the client.
Eg: Response.Write(”Hello World”)

hat is IIS? Have you used it?
IIS - Internet Information Server
IIS is used to access the ASP.Net web applications
Yes, I used in ASP.NET web applications.

Main differences between ASP and ASP.NET.
Answer 1:
1. ASP: Code is Interpreted
ASP.NET: Code is Compiled

2. ASP: Business Logic and Presentation Logic are in a single file
ASP.NET: Business Logic and Presentation Logic are in separate files (.cs or .vb) and (.aspx) respectively.
3. ASP: No Web Server Controls
ASP.NET: Web Server Controls supported by strong .NET Framework
4. ASP: No RAD in Classic ASP
ASP.NET: Supports RAD

Answer 2:
1.Asp is interpreted
Asp.net is compiled which is faster than asp.
2 Asp.net maintains its own CLR and is managed as it runs by CLR
Where as asp is unmanaged
3 We can mainatin sessions in state server and sql server which is Outproc,
where in asp sessions will be last if we restart webserver or make changes.
4 In asp.net we can configure each application using web.config file which is availble in application itself and we have machine.config wherer we can configure all applications.
In asp we cannot configure single aplication
5 Asp.net we have autopostback event which is not in asp
6 In asp.net we have global.asax where can hadle some global things which is not in asp.
7 We have well built GUI to work in asp.net
8 We have ado.net and as well as disconnected architecture in asp.net
9 We have Xcopy deployment in asp.net
10. We can work with any language as code behind technique in asp.net that supports .net frame work

Answer 3:
a) asp.net is compiled but ASP is a interpretor or script only.
b) asp.net is supported more control then the asp.
c) asp.net is more supported even control then the asp.
d) In asp.net if update any component then no need to shutdown the computer but in asp if loaded any component then need tobe shutdown the computer.
d) So lastly an asp.net is faster then asp .

What are the advantages and drawbacks of using ADO.NET?
Pros
====
ADO.NET is rich with plenty of features that are bound to impress even the most skeptical of programmers. If this weren’t the case, Microsoft wouldn’t even be able to get anyone to use the Beta. What we’ve done here is come up with a short list of some of the more outstanding benefits to using the ADO.NET architecture and the System.Data namespace.

* Performance – there is no doubt that ADO.NET is extremely fast. The actual figures vary depending on who performed the test and which benchmark was being used, but ADO.NET performs much, much faster at the same tasks than its predecessor, ADO. Some of the reasons why ADO.NET is faster than ADO are discussed in the ADO versus ADO.NET section later in this chapter.

* Optimized SQL Provider – in addition to performing well under general circumstances, ADO.NET includes a SQL Server Data Provider that is highly optimized for interaction with SQL Server. It uses SQL Server’s own TDS (Tabular Data Stream) format for exchanging information. Without question, your SQL Server 7 and above data access operations will run blazingly fast utilizing this optimized Data Provider.

* XML Support (and Reliance) – everything you do in ADO.NET at some point will boil down to the use of XML. In fact, many of the classes in ADO.NET, such as the DataSet, are so intertwined with XML that they simply cannot exist or function without utilizing the technology. You’ll see later when we compare and contrast the “old” and the “new” why the reliance on XML for internal storage provides many, many advantages, both to the framework and to the programmer utilizing the class library.

* Disconnected Operation Model – the core ADO.NET class, the DataSet, operates in an entirely disconnected fashion. This may be new to some programmers, but it is a remarkably efficient and scalable architecture. Because the disconnected model allows for the DataSet class to be unaware of the origin of its data, an unlimited number of supported data sources can be plugged into code without any hassle in the future.

* Rich Object Model – the entire ADO.NET architecture is built on a hierarchy of class inheritance and interface implementation. Once you start looking for things you need within this namespace, you’ll find that the logical inheritance of features and base class support makes the entire system extremely easy to use, and very customizable to suit your own needs. It is just another example of how everything in the .NET framework is pushing toward a trend of strong application design and strong OOP implementations.

Cons
====
Hard as it may be to believe, there are a couple of drawbacks or disadvantages to using the ADO.NET architecture. I’m sure others can find many more faults than we list here, but we decided to stick with a short list of some of the more obvious and important shortcomings of the technology.

* Managed-Only Access – for a few obvious reasons, and some far more technical, you cannot utilize the ADO.NET architecture from anything but managed code. This means that there is no COM interoperability allowed for ADO.NET. Therefore, in order to take advantage of the advanced SQL Server Data Provider and any other feature like DataSets, XML internal data storage, etc, your code must be running under the CLR.

* Only Three Managed Data Providers (so far) – unfortunately, if you need to access any data that requires a driver that cannot be used through either an OLEDB provider or the SQL Server Data Provider, then you may be out of luck. However, the good news is that the OLEDB provider for ODBC is available for download from Microsoft. At that point the down-side becomes one of performance, in which you are invoking multiple layers of abstraction as well as crossing the COM InterOp gap, incurring some initial overhead as well.

* Learning Curve – despite the misleading name, ADO.NET is not simply a new version of ADO, nor should it even be considered a direct successor. ADO.NET should be thought of more as the data access class library for use with the .NET framework. The difficulty in learning to use ADO.NET to its fullest is that a lot of it does seem familiar. It is this that causes some common pitfalls. Programmers need to learn that even though some syntax may appear the same, there is actually a considerable amount of difference in the internal workings of many classes. For example (this will be discussed in far more detail later), an ADO.NET DataSet is nothing at all like a disconnected ADO RecordSet. Some may consider a learning curve a drawback, but I consider learning curves more like scheduling issues. There’s a learning curve in learning anything new; it’s just up to you to schedule that curve into your time so that you can learn the new technology at a pace that fits your schedule.

Why The JavaScript Validation Not Run on the Asp.Net Button But Run SuccessFully On The HTML Button
The Asp.Net Button Is post backed on the server & not yet Submit & when It goes to the server its states is lost So if we r using javascript in our application so we always use the Input Button in the asp Button

what is the difference between user control an custom control? advantages/disadvantages?
Web user controls Vs Web custom controls
Easier to create Vs Harder to create
Limited support for consumers who use a visual design tool Vs Full visual design tool support for consumers
A separate copy of the control is required in each application Vs Only a single copy of the control is required, in the global assembly cache
Cannot be added to the Toolbox in Visual Studio Vs Can be added to the Toolbox in Visual Studio
Good for static layout Vs Good for dynamic layout

What’s the difference between Response.Write() andResponse.Output.Write()?
Response.Output.Write() allows you to write formatted output

What is the use of ErrorProvider Control?
The ErrorProvider control is used to indicate invalid data on a data entry form. Using this control, you can attach error messages that display next to the control when the data is invalid, as seen in the following image. A red circle with an exclamation point blinks, and when the user mouses over the icon, the error message is displayed as a tooltip.

What is CLR?
Answer 1:
CLR(Common Language Runtime) is the main resource of .Net Framework. it is collection of services like garbage collector, exception handler, jit compilers etc. with the CLR cross language integration is possible.

Answer 2:
The .NET Framework provides a runtime environment which runs the code and provides services that make the development process easier. This runtime environment in .NET Framework is known as Common Language Runtime (CLR). The CLR sits at the very heart of managed code. Common Language Runtime is the generalized multi-language, reflective execution engine on which code originally written in various languages runs. At a higher level, CLR is simply an engine that takes in Intermediate Language (IL) instructions, translates them into machine instructions, and executes them. Although the common language runtime provides many standard runtime services, managed code is never interpreted. A feature called just-in-time (JIT) compiling enables all managed code to run in the native machine language of the system on which it is executing. The CLR shares much in common with a traditional operating system.

Quote:
Managed code is the term used for any code that is running on .NET Framework.

The CLR provides the infrastructure that enables managed code to execute as well provides variety of services during execution. When a method, for which IL has been generated, is called for the first time the CLR compiles the IL into native code that is specific to the processor the Environment it is running on (This process is known as Just in Time Compilation or JIT). If the same method is called next time, the existing JIT compiled code is reused. During execution managed code receives variety of services from the runtime environment.

Quote:
When compiling to managed code, the compiler translates your source code into Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL), which is a CPU-independent set of instructions that can be efficiently converted to native code. Intermediate Language is a binary assembly language that is compiled at runtime down to whatever machine language is appropriate for the host CPU. This runtime compilation is called Just-In-Time Compiling or JIT-compiling.

Advantages of Managed Execution Environments
In unmanaged environments the compiler and linker directly compile the source code in to native instructions that are targeted at a specific processor. The disadvantage of this process is that each time you want to run your executable on a different platform you will have to re-compile the code using a compiler and linker that will compile the code that is targeted at the specific hardware. This means that each time you want your application to run on a different platform, you will have to ship the compiled instructions again and again. As this leads to compiling and maintaining multiple versions of the same application, the companies try to create a more generalized compiled version in order to target most of the environments. This process is known as the Lowest Common Denominator approach. This leads to a more generalized program which is not optimized properly and does not take advantages of the underlying hardware infrastructure (processor, cache, etc). Because the CLR supplies one or more Just in Time Compiler for each computer architecture it supports, the same set of MSIL can be JIT-compiled and run on any supported architecture. This

CLR provides the following benefits for developers:
Vastly simplified development.
Seamless integration of code written in various languages.
Evidence-based security with code identity.
Assembly-based deployment that eliminates DLL Hell.
Side-by-side versioning of reusable components.
Code reuse through implementation inheritance.
Automatic object lifetime management.
Code access security.
Cross Language Integration.
Self describing objects.

The CLR automatically handles object layout and manages references to objects, releasing them when they are no longer being used. This automatic memory management resolves the two most common application errors, memory leaks and invalid memory references. This process is known as Garbage Collection. The CLR also manages thread execution, code execution, code safety verification, compilation, and other system services.

The CLR is designed for the software of the future, and it also supports software of today and yesterday. Interoperability between managed and unmanaged code provided by CLR helps developers continue to use necessary COM components and DLLs.

What is Delegate and what is it used for ?
Delegate is kinda like a pointer to a function in C++ or like an event handler in Java
You can use it to “multicast” which means running multiple functions in different instances of object already created.
This is useful when you want your objects to “register” to an event raised by another object.
The way it works is the object you are registered to listen to recieves the delegate of the function it is supposed to run in your object, the delegate is then run from it. (if you switch the word delegate for pointer, this would be much simpler)

How is meant by DLL ?
A DLL (Dynamic Link Library) is a file that can be loaded and executed by programs dynamically. Basically it’s an external code repository for programs. Since usually several different programs reuse the same DLL instead of having that code in their own file, this dramatically reduces required storage space. A synonym for a DLL would be library.

Which DLL translate XML to SQL in IIS?
Sqlisapi.dll

Can anyone tell me about Secure Socket Layer? How to make use of the technology?
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS), its successor, are cryptographic protocols which provide secure communications on the Internet. There are slight differences between SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.0, but the protocol remains substantially the same. The term “SSL” as used here applies to both protocols unless clarified by context.

What is the Differnce Between Response.write & response.output.Write
In ASP.NET the Response object is of type HttpResponse and when you say Response.Write you’re really saying (basically) HttpContext.Current.Response.Write and calling one of the many overloaded Write methods of HttpResponse.
Response.Write then calls .Write() on it’s internal TextWriter object:
public void Write(object obj){ this._writer.Write(obj);}
HttpResponse also has a Property called Output that is of type, yes, TextWriter, so:
public TextWriter get_Output(){ return this._writer; }
Which means you can to the Response whatever a TextWriter will let you. Now, TextWriters support a Write() method ala String.Format, so you can do this:
Response.Output.Write(”Scott is {0} at {1:d}”, “cool”,DateTime.Now);
But internally, of course, this this is happening:
public virtual void Write(string format, params object[] arg)
{
this.Write(string.Format(format, arg));
}

Which dll is required to translate XML to SQL in IIS ?
Microsoft.data.sqlxml.dll

What is an interface and what is an abstract class? Please, expand by examples of using both. Explain why.
Answers1:
In a interface class, all methods are abstract without implementation where as in an abstract class some methods we can define concrete. In interface, no accessibility modifiers are allowed. An abstract class may have accessibility modifiers. Interface and abstract class are basically a set of rules which u have to follow in case u r using them(inheriting them).

Answers2:
Abstract classes are closely related to interfaces. They are classes that cannot be instantiated, and are frequently either partially implemented, or not at all implemented. One key difference between abstract classes and interfaces is that a class may implement an unlimited number of interfaces, but may inherit from only one abstract (or any other kind of) class. A class that is derived from an abstract class may still implement interfaces. Abstract classes are useful when creating components because they allow you specify an invariant level of functionality in some methods, but leave the implementation of other methods until a specific implementation of that class is needed. They also version well, because if additional functionality is needed in derived classes, it can be added to the base class without breaking code.

Answers3:
Abstract Classes
An abstract class is the one that is not used to create objects. An abstract class is designed to act as a base class (to be inherited by other classes). Abstract class is a design concept in program development and provides a base upon which other classes are built. Abstract classes are similar to interfaces. After declaring an abstract class, it cannot be instantiated on it’s own, it must be inherited. Like interfaces, abstract classes can specify members that must be implemented in inheriting classes. Unlike interfaces, a class can inherit only one abstract class. Abstract classes can only specify members that should be implemented by all inheriting classes.

Answers4:
An interface looks like a class, but has no implementation. They’re great for putting together plug-n-play like architectures where components can be interchanged at will. Think Firefox Plug-in extension implementation. If you need to change your design, make it an interface. However, you may have abstract classes that provide some default behavior. Abstract classes are excellent candidates inside of application frameworks.

Answers5:
One additional key difference between interfaces and abstract classes (possibly the most important one) is that multiple interfaces can be implemented by a class, but only one abstract class can be inherited by any single class.
Some background on this: C++ supports multiple inheritance, but C# does not. Multiple inheritance in C++ has always be controversial, because the resolution of multiple inherited implementations of the same method from different base classes is hard to control and anticipate. C# decided to avoid this problem by allowing a class to implement multiple interfaces, which do not contain method implementations, but restricting a class to have at most a single parent class. Although this can result in redundant implementations of the same method when different classes implement the same interface, it is still an excellent compromise.
Another difference between interfaces and abstract classes is that an interface can be implemented by an abstract class, but no class, abstract or otherwise, can be inherited by an interface.

Answers6:
What is an Abstract class?
An abstract class is a special kind of class that cannot be instantiated. So the question is why we need a class that cannot be instantiated? An abstract class is only to be sub-classed (inherited from). In other words, it only allows other classes to inherit from it but cannot be instantiated. The advantage is that it enforces certain hierarchies for all the subclasses. In simple words, it is a kind of contract that forces all the subclasses to carry on the same hierarchies or standards.
What is an Interface?
An interface is not a class. It is an entity that is defined by the word Interface. An interface has no implementation; it only has the signature or in other words, just the definition of the methods without the body. As one of the similarities to Abstract class, it is a contract that is used to define hierarchies for all subclasses or it defines specific set of methods and their arguments. The main difference between them is that a class can implement more than one interface but can only inherit from one abstract class. Since C# doesn’t support multiple inheritance, interfaces are used to implement multiple inheritance.

What is serialization, how it works in .NET?
Serialization is when you persist the state of an object to a storage medium so an exact copy can be re-created at a later stage.
Serialization is used to save session state in ASP.NET.
Serialization is to copy objects to the Clipboard in Windows Forms
Serialization is used by remoting to pass objects by value from one application domain to another

What should one do to make class serializable?
Answers1:
To make a class serializable is to mark it with the Serializable attribute as follows.
[Serializable]
public class MyObject {
public int n1 = 0;
public int n2 = 0;
public String str = null;
}

What exactly is being serialized when you perform serialization?
The object’s state (values)

How does output caching work in ASP.NET?
Output caching is a powerful technique that increases request/response throughput by caching the content generated from dynamic pages. Output caching is enabled by default, but output from any given response is not cached unless explicit action is taken to make the response cacheable.
To make a response eligible for output caching, it must have a valid expiration/validation policy and public cache visibility. This can be done using either the low-level OutputCache API or the high-level @ OutputCache directive. When output caching is enabled, an output cache entry is created on the first GET request to the page. Subsequent GET or HEAD requests are served from the output cache entry until the cached request expires.
The output cache also supports variations of cached GET or POST name/value pairs.
The output cache respects the expiration and validation policies for pages. If a page is in the output cache and has been marked with an expiration policy that indicates that the page expires 60 minutes from the time it is cached, the page is removed from the output cache after 60 minutes. If another request is received after that time, the page code is executed and the page can be cached again. This type of expiration policy is called absolute expiration - a page is valid until a certain time.

What is connection pooling and how do you make your application use it?
Opening database connection is a time consuming operation.
Connection pooling increases the performance of the applications by reusing the active database connections instead of create new connection for every request.
Connection pooling Behaviour is controlled by the connection string parameters.
Follwing the the 4 parameters that control most of the connection pooling behaviour.
1. Connect Timeout
2. Max Pool Size
3. Min Pool Size
4. Pooling

What are different methods of session maintenance in ASP.NET?
3 types:
In-process storage.
Session State Service.
Microsoft SQL Server.

In-Process Storage
The default location for session state storage is in the ASP.NET process itself.

Session State Service
As an alternative to using in-process storage for session state, ASP.NET provides the ASP.NET State Service. The State Service gives you an out-of-process alternative for storing session state that is not tied quite so closely to ASP. Net's own process.

To use the State Service, you need to edit the sessionState element in your ASP.NET application’s web.config file:
You’ll also need to start the ASP.NET State Service on the computer that you specified in the stateConnectionString attribute. The .NET Framework installs this service, but by default it’s set to manual startup. If you’re going to depend on it for storing session state, you’ll want to change that to automatic startup by using the Services MMC plug-in in the Administrative Tools group.

If you make these changes, and then repeat the previous set of steps, you’ll see slightly different behavior: session state persists even if you recycle the ASP.NET process.

There are two main advantages to using the State Service. First, it is not running in the same process as ASP.NET, so a crash of ASP.NET will not destroy session information. Second, the stateConnectionString that’s used to locate the State Service includes the TCP/IP address of the service, which need not be running on the same computer as ASP.NET. This allows you to share state information across a web garden (multiple processors on the same computer) or even across a web farm (multiple servers running the application). With the default in-process storage, you can’t share state information between multiple instances of your application.

The major disadvantage of using the State Service is that it’s an external process, rather than part of ASP.NET. That means that reading and writing session state is slower than it would be if you kept the state in-process. And, of course, it’s one more process that you need to manage. As an example of the extra effort that this can entail, there is a bug in the initial release of the State Service that allows a determined attacker to crash the ASP.NET process remotely. If you’re using the State Service to store session state, you should install the patch from Microsoft Security Bulletin MS02-66, or install SP2 for the .NET Framework.

Microsoft SQL Server
The final choice for storing state information is to save it in a Microsoft SQL Server database. To use SQL Server for storing session state, you need to perform several setup steps:

Run the InstallSqlState.sql script on the Microsoft SQL Server where you intend to store session state. This script will create the necessary database and database objects. The .NET Framework installs this script in the same folder as its compilers and other tools–for example, C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.0.3705 on a Windows 2000 computer with the 1.0 version of the Framework. Edit the sessionState element in the web.config file for your ASP.NET application as follows:

Supply the server name, user name, and password for a SQL Server account that has access to the session state database in the sqlConnectionString attribute.
Like the State Service, SQL Server lets you share session state among the processors in a web garden or the servers in a web farm. But you also get the additional benefit of persistent storage. Even if the computer hosting SQL Server crashes and is restarted, the session state information will still be present in the database, and will be available as soon as the database is running again. That’s because SQL Server, being an industrial-strength database, is designed to log its operations and protect your data at (almost) all costs. If you’re willing to invest in SQL Server clustering, you can keep the session state data available transparently to ASP.NET even if the primary SQL Server computer crashes.

Like the State Service, SQL Server is slower than keeping session state in process. You also need to pay additional licensing fees to use SQL Server for session state in a production application. And, of course, you need to worry about SQL Server-specific threats such as the “Slammer” worm.

What is Viewstate?
A server control’s view state is the accumulation of all its property values. In order to preserve these values across HTTP requests, ASP.NET server controls use this property, which is an instance of the StateBag class, to store the property values.

Can any object be stored in a Viewstate?
An object that either is serializable or has a TypeConverter defined for it can be persisted in ViewState

What should you do to store an object in a Viewstate?
Do serialization of convert the object to string

Explain how Viewstate is being formed and how it’s stored on client.
The type of ViewState is System.Web.UI.StateBag, which is a dictionary that stores name/value pairs. ViewState is persisted to a string variable by the ASP.NET page framework and sent to the client and back as a hidden variable. Upon postback, the page framework parses the input string from the hidden variable and populates the ViewState property of each control. If a control uses ViewState for property data instead of a private field, that property automatically will be persisted across round trips to the client. (If a property is not persisted in ViewState, it is good practice to return its default value on postback.)

What do you know about ADO.NET’s objects and methods?
ADO.NET provides consistent access to data sources such as Microsoft SQL Server, as well as data sources exposed through OLE DB and XML.
Data-sharing consumer applications can use ADO.NET to connect to these different data sources and retrieve, manipulate, and update data.
ADO.NET provides first-class support for the disconnected, n-tier programming environment for which many new applications are written.

Explain DataSet.AcceptChanges and DataAdapter.Update methods.
DataAdapter.Update method Calls the respective INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statements for each inserted, updated, or deleted row in the DataSet.
DataSet.AcceptChanges method Commits all the changes made to this row since the last time AcceptChanges was called.

When we go for html server controls and when we go for web server controls?
Server controls are a part of ASP.net. When a server control is used there will be an extra overhead on the server to create the control at runtime and accordingly set the values. HTML controls are static controls and are easy to use. They are supported is ASP.net.
As a rule, if there is a corresponding HTML control available instead of the server control, you should always go for the HTML control as it enhances the server performance and ensures faster response. Server controls should be used when it is found that the available HTML controls are not sufficient to achieve the task.

1• What is view state and what is the use of it?

The current property settings of an ASP.NET page and those of any ASP.NET server controls contained within the page. ASP.NET can detect when a form is requested for the first time versus when the form is posted (sent to the server), which allows you to program accordingly.

2 • What are user controls and custom controls?

Custom controls:

A control authored by a user or a third-party software vendor that does not belong to the .NET Framework class library. This is a generic term that includes user controls. A custom server control is used in Web Forms (ASP.NET pages). A custom client control is used in Windows Forms applications.

User Controls:

In ASP.NET: A user-authored server control that enables an ASP.NET page to be re-used as a server control. An ASP.NET user control is authored declaratively and persisted as a text file with an .ascx extension. The ASP.NET page framework compiles a user control on the fly to a class that derives from the System.Web.UI.UserControl class.

3 • What are the validation controls?

A set of server controls included with ASP.NET that test user input in HTML and Web server controls for programmer-defined requirements. Validation controls perform input checking in server code. If the user is working with a browser that supports DHTML, the validation controls can also perform validation using client script.

4• What's the difference between Response.Write() andResponse.Output.Write()?

The latter one allows you to write formattedoutput.

5• What methods are fired during the page load? Init()

When the page is instantiated, Load() - when the page is loaded into server memory,PreRender () - the brief moment before the page is displayed to the user as HTML, Unload() - when page finishes loading.

6• Where does the Web page belong in the .NET Framework class hierarchy?

System.Web.UI.Page

7 • Where do you store the information about the user's locale?
System.Web.UI.Page.Culture

8 • What's the difference between Codebehind="MyCode.aspx.cs" and Src="MyCode.aspx.cs"?

CodeBehind is relevant to Visual Studio.NET only.

9 • What's a bubbled event?

When you have a complex control, likeDataGrid, writing an event processing routine for each object (cell, button,row, etc.) is quite tedious. The controls can bubble up their eventhandlers, allowing the main DataGrid event handler to take care of its constituents.

Suppose you want a certain ASP.NET function executed on MouseOver over a certain button.

10 • Where do you add an event handler?

It's the Attributesproperty, the Add function inside that property.
e.g. btnSubmit.Attributes.Add("onMouseOver","someClientCode();")

11 • What data type does the RangeValidator control support?

Integer,String and Date.

12 • What are the different types of caching?

Caching is a technique widely used in computing to increase performance by keeping frequently accessed or expensive data in memory. In context of web application, caching is used to retain the pages or data across HTTP requests and reuse them without the expense of recreating them.ASP.NET has 3 kinds of caching strategiesOutput CachingFragment CachingData

CachingOutput Caching:

Caches the dynamic output generated by a request. Some times it is useful to cache the output of a website even for a minute, which will result in a better performance. For caching the whole page the page should have OutputCache directive.<%@ OutputCache Duration="60" VaryByParam="state" %>

Fragment Caching: Caches the portion of the page generated by the request. Some times it is not practical to cache the entire page, in such cases we can cache a portion of page<%@ OutputCache Duration="120" VaryByParam="CategoryID;SelectedID"%>
Data Caching: Caches the objects programmatically. For data caching asp.net provides a cache object for eg: cache["States"] = dsStates;

13 • What do you mean by authentication and authorization?

Authentication is the process of validating a user on the credentials (username and password) and authorization performs after authentication. After Authentication a user will be verified for performing the various tasks, It access is limited it is known as authorization.

14 • What are different types of directives in .NET?

Page:

Defines page-specific attributes used by the ASP.NET page parser and compiler. Can be included only in .aspx files <%@ Page AspCompat="TRUE" language="C#" %>

Control:

Defines control-specific attributes used by the ASP.NET page parser and compiler. Can be included only in .ascx files. <%@ Control Language="VB" EnableViewState="false" %>

Import:

Explicitly imports a namespace into a page or user control. The Import directive cannot have more than one namespace attribute. To import multiple namespaces, use multiple @Import directives. <% @ Import Namespace="System.web" %>

Implements:

Indicates that the current page or user control implements the specified .NET framework interface.<%@ Implements Interface="System.Web.UI.IPostBackEventHandler" %>
@Register: Associates aliases with namespaces and class names for concise notation in custom server control syntax.<%@ Register Tagprefix="Acme" Tagname="AdRotator" Src="AdRotator.ascx" %>

Assembly:

Links an assembly to the current page during compilation, making all the assembly's classes and interfaces available for use on the page. <%@ Assembly Name="MyAssembly" %><%@ Assembly Src="MySource.vb" %>

OutputCache:

Declaratively controls the output caching policies of an ASP.NET page or a user control contained in a page<%@ OutputCache Duration="#ofseconds" Location="Any | Client | Downstream | Server | None" Shared="True | False" VaryByControl="controlname" VaryByCustom="browser | customstring" VaryByHeader="headers" VaryByParam="parametername" %>
@Reference: Declaratively indicates that another user control or page source file should be dynamically compiled and linked against the page in which this directive is declared.

15• How do I debug an ASP.NET application that wasn't written with Visual Studio.NET and that doesn't use code-behind?

Start the DbgClr debugger that comes with the .NET Framework SDK, open the file containing the code you want to debug, and set your breakpoints. Start the ASP.NET application. Go back to DbgClr, choose Debug Processes from the Tools menu, and select aspnet_wp.exe from the list of processes. (If aspnet_wp.exe doesn't appear in the list,check the "Show system processes" box.) Click the Attach button to attach to aspnet_wp.exe and begin debugging.

Be sure to enable debugging in the ASPX file before debugging it with DbgClr. You can enable tell ASP.NET to build debug executables by placing a
<%@ Page Debug="true" %> statement at the top of an ASPX file or a statement in a Web.config file.

16 • Can a user browsing my Web site read my Web.config or Global.asax files?

No. The section of Machine.config, which holds the master configuration settings for ASP.NET, contains entries that map ASAX files, CONFIG files, and selected other file types to an HTTP handler named HttpForbiddenHandler, which fails attempts to retrieve the associated file. You can modify it by editing Machine.config or including an section in a local Web.config file.

17 • What's the difference between Page.RegisterClientScriptBlock and Page.RegisterStartupScript?

RegisterClientScriptBlock is for returning blocks of client-side script containing functions. RegisterStartupScript is for returning blocks of client-script not packaged in functions-in other words, code that's to execute when the page is loaded. The latter positions script blocks near the end of the document so elements on the page that the script interacts are loaded before the script runs.<%@ Reference Control="MyControl.ascx" %>

18 • Is it necessary to lock application state before accessing it?

Only if you're performing a multistep update and want the update to be treated as an atomic operation. Here's an example:
Application.Lock ();
Application["ItemsSold"] = (int) Application["ItemsSold"] + 1;
Application["ItemsLeft"] = (int) Application["ItemsLeft"] - 1;
Application.UnLock ();

19 • How do I send e-mail from an ASP.NET application?

MailMessage message = new MailMessage ();
message.From = ;
message.To = ;
message.Subject = "Scheduled Power Outage";
message.Body = "Our servers will be down tonight.";
SmtpMail.SmtpServer = "localhost";
SmtpMail.Send (message);

MailMessage and SmtpMail are classes defined in the .NET Framework Class Library's System.Web.Mail namespace. Due to a security change made to ASP.NET just before it shipped, you need to set SmtpMail's SmtpServer property to "localhost" even though "localhost" is the default. In addition, you must use the IIS configuration applet to enable localhost (127.0.0.1) to relay messages through the local SMTP service.


What are VSDISCO files?

VSDISCO files are DISCO files that support dynamic discovery of Web services. If you place the following VSDISCO file in a directory on your Web server, for example, it returns references to all ASMX and DISCO files in the host directory and any subdirectories not noted in elements:

2• How does dynamic discovery work?

ASP.NET maps the file name extension VSDISCO to an HTTP handler that scans the host directory and subdirectories for ASMX and DISCO files and returns a dynamically generated DISCO document. A client who requests a VSDISCO file gets back what appears to be a static DISCO document.

Note that VSDISCO files are disabled in the release version of ASP.NET. You can reenable them by uncommenting the line in the section of Machine.config that maps *.vsdisco to System.Web.Services.Discovery.DiscoveryRequestHandler and granting the ASPNET user account permission to read the IIS metabase. However, Microsoft is actively discouraging the use of VSDISCO files because they could represent a threat to Web server security.

3• Is it possible to prevent a browser from caching an ASPX page?

Just call SetNoStore on the HttpCachePolicy object exposed through the Response object's Cache property, as demonstrated here:

<%@ Page Language="C#" %>

<% Response.Cache.SetNoStore (); Response.Write (DateTime.Now.ToLongTimeString ()); %>

SetNoStore works by returning a Cache-Control: private, no-store header in the HTTP response. In this example, it prevents caching of a Web page that shows the current time.

4• What does AspCompat="true" mean and when should I use it?

AspCompat is an aid in migrating ASP pages to ASPX pages. It defaults to false but should be set to true in any ASPX file that creates apartment-threaded COM objects--that is, COM objects registered ThreadingModel=Apartment. That includes all COM objects written with Visual Basic 6.0. AspCompat should also be set to true (regardless of threading model) if the page creates COM objects that access intrinsic ASP objects such as Request and Response. The following directive sets AspCompat to true:

<%@ Page AspCompat="true" %>

Setting AspCompat to true does two things. First, it makes intrinsic ASP objects available to the COM components by placing unmanaged wrappers around the equivalent ASP.NET objects. Second, it improves the performance of calls that the page places to apartment- threaded COM objects by ensuring that the page (actually, the thread that processes the request for the page) and the COM objects it creates share an apartment. AspCompat="true" forces ASP.NET request threads into single-threaded apartments (STAs).

If those threads create COM objects marked ThreadingModel=Apartment, then the objects are created in the same STAs as the threads that created them. Without AspCompat="true," request threads run in a multithreaded apartment (MTA) and each call to an STA-based COM object incurs a performance hit when it's marshaled across apartment boundaries.

Do not set AspCompat to true if your page uses no COM objects or if it uses COM objects that don't access ASP intrinsic objects and that are registered ThreadingModel=Free or ThreadingModel=Both.

5 • Explain the differences between Server-side and Client-side code?

Server side scripting means that all the script will be executed by the server and interpreted as needed. ASP doesn't have some of the functionality like sockets, uploading, etc. For these you have to make a custom components usually in VB or VC++. Client side scripting means that the script will be executed immediately in the browser such as form field validation, clock, email validation, etc.

Client side scripting is usually done in VBScript or JavaScript. Download time, browser compatibility, and visible code - since JavaScript and VBScript code is included in the HTML page, then anyone can see the code by viewing the page source. Also a possible security hazards for the client computer.

6 • Should validation (did the user enter a real date) occur server-side or client-side? Why?

Client-side validation because there is no need to request a server side date when you could obtain a date from the client machine.

7 • What are ASP.NET Web Forms? How is this technology different than what is available though ASP?

Web Forms are the heart and soul of ASP.NET. Web Forms are the User Interface (UI) elements that give your Web applications their look and feel. Web Forms are similar to Windows Forms in that they provide properties, methods, and events for the controls that are placed onto them. However, these UI elements render themselves in the appropriate markup language required by the request, e.g. HTML. If you use Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, you will also get the familiar drag-and-drop interface used to create your UI for your Web application.

8 • What is the difference between Server.Transfer and Response.Redirect? Why would I choose one over the other?

In earlier versions of IIS, if we wanted to send a user to a new Web page, the only option we had was Response.Redirect. While this method does accomplish our goal, it has several important drawbacks. The biggest problem is that this method causes each page to be treated as a separate transaction. Besides making it difficult to maintain your transactional integrity, Response.Redirect introduces some additional headaches. First, it prevents good encapsulation of code.

Second, you lose access to all of the properties in the Request object. Sure, there are workarounds, but they're difficult. Finally, Response.Redirect necessitates a round trip to the client, which, on high-volume sites, causes scalability problems.
As you might suspect, Server.Transfer fixes all of these problems. It does this by performing the transfer on the server without requiring a roundtrip to the client.

9 • How can you provide an alternating color scheme in a Repeater control?

AlternatingItemTemplate Like the ItemTemplate element, but rendered for every other row (alternating items) in the Repeater control. You can specify a different appearance for the AlternatingItemTemplate element by setting its style properties.

10 • Which template must you provide, in order to display data in a Repeater control?

ItemTemplate

11• What is different b/w webconfig.xml & Machineconfig.xml

Web.config & machine.config both are configuration files.Web.config contains settings specific to an application where as machine.config contains settings to a computer. The Configuration system first searches settings in machine.config file & then looks in application configuration files.Web.config, can appear in multiple directories on an ASP.NET Web application server. Each Web.config file applies configuration settings to its own directory and all child directories below it. There is only Machine.config file on a web server.

12 • How do you turn off cookies for one page in your site?

Since no Page Level directive is present, I am afraid that cant be done.

13 • How do you create a permanent cookie?

Permanent cookies are available until a specified expiration date, and are stored on the hard disk.So Set the 'Expires' property any value greater than DataTime.MinValue with respect to the current datetime. If u want the cookie which never expires set its Expires property equal to DateTime.maxValue.

14 • Which method do you use to redirect the user to another page without performing a round trip to the client?

Server.Transfer and Server.Execute

15 • What property do you have to set to tell the grid which page to go to when using the Pager object?

CurrentPageIndex

16• Should validation (did the user enter a real date) occur server-side or client-side? Why?

It should occur both at client-side and Server side.By using expression validator control with the specified expression ie.. the regular expression provides the facility of only validatating the date specified is in the correct format or not. But for checking the date where it is the real data or not should be done at the server side, by getting the system date ranges and checking the date whether it is in between that range or not.

17 • What does the "EnableViewState" property do? Why would I want it on or off?

Enable ViewState turns on the automatic state management feature that enables server controls to re-populate their values on a round trip without requiring you to write any code. This feature is not free however, since the state of a control is passed to and from the server in a hidden form field. You should be aware of when ViewState is helping you and when it is not.

For example, if you are binding a control to data on every round trip, then you do not need the control to maintain it's view state, since you will wipe out any re-populated data in any case. ViewState is enabled for all server controls by default. To disable it, set the EnableViewState property of the control to false.

18 • What is the difference between Server.Transfer and Response.Redirect? Why would I choose one over the other?

Server.Transfer() :

client is shown as it is on the requesting page only, but the all the content is of the requested page. Data can be persist accros the pages using Context.Item collection, which is one of the best way to transfer data from one page to another keeping the page state alive.

Response.Dedirect() :

client know the physical location (page name and query string as well). Context.Items loses the persisitance when nevigate to destination page. In earlier versions of IIS, if we wanted to send a user to a new Web page, the only option we had was Response.Redirect. While this method does accomplish our goal, it has several important drawbacks.

The biggest problem is that this method causes each page to be treated as a separate transaction. Besides making it difficult to maintain your transactional integrity, Response.Redirect introduces some additional headaches. First, it prevents good encapsulation of code. Second, you lose access to all of the properties in the Request object.

Sure, there are workarounds, but they're difficult. Finally, Response.Redirect necessitates a round trip to the client, which, on high-volume sites, causes scalability problems. As you might suspect, Server.Transfer fixes all of these problems. It does this by performing the transfer on the server without requiring a roundtrip to the client.

19 • Can you give an example of when it would be appropriate to use a web service as opposed to a non-serviced .NET component?

Communicating through a Firewall When building a distributed application with 100s/1000s of users spread over multiple locations, there is always the problem of communicating between client and server because of firewalls and proxy servers. Exposing your middle tier components as Web Services and invoking the directly from a Windows UI is a very valid option.

Application Integration When integrating applications written in various languages and running on disparate systems. Or even applications running on the same platform that have been written by separate vendors.

Business-to-Business Integration This is an enabler for B2B intergtation which allows one to expose vital business processes to authorized supplier and customers. An example would be exposing electronic ordering and invoicing, allowing customers to send you purchase orders and suppliers to send you invoices electronically.

Software Reuse This takes place at multiple levels. Code Reuse at the Source code level or binary componet-based resuse.

The limiting factor here is that you can reuse the code but not the data behind it. Webservice overcome this limitation. A scenario could be when you are building an app that aggregates the functionality of serveral other Applicatons. Each of these functions could be performed by individual apps, but there is value in perhaps combining the the multiple apps to present a unifiend view in a Portal or Intranet.

When not to use Web Services: Single machine Applicatons When the apps are running on the same machine and need to communicate with each other use a native API. You also have the options of using component technologies such as COM or .NET Componets as there is very little overhead.

Homogeneous Applications on a LAN If you have Win32 or Winforms apps that want to communicate to their server counterpart. It is much more efficient to use DCOM in the case of Win32 apps and .NET Remoting in the case of .NET Apps.


1 • How do you turn off cookies for one page in your site?

Use Cookie.Discard property, Gets or sets the discard flag set by the server. When true, this property instructs the client application not to save the Cookie on the user's hard disk when a session ends.

2 • Which two properties are on every validation control?

We have two common properties for every validation controls

1. Control to Validate,
2. Error Message.

3 • What tags do you need to add within the asp:datagrid tags to bind columns manually?


< id="dgCart" autogeneratecolumns="False" cellpadding="4" width="448px" runat="server">
<>
< headertext="SELECT" text="SELECT" commandname="select">< /asp:ButtonColumn >
< datafield="ProductId" headertext="Product ID">< /asp:BoundColumn >
< datafield="ProductName" headertext="Product Name">< /asp:BoundColumn >
< datafield="UnitPrice" headertext="UnitPrice">< /asp:BoundColumn >
< /Columns >
< /asp:DataGrid >

4 • How do you create a permanent cookie?

Permanent cookies are the ones that are most useful. Permanent cookies are available until a specified expiration date, and are stored on the hard disk. The location of cookies differs with each browser, but this doesn’t matter, as this is all handled by your browser and the server. If you want to create a permanent cookie called Name with a value of Nigel, which expires in one month, you’d use the following code
Response.Cookies ("Name") = "Nigel"
Response.Cookies ("Name"). Expires = DateAdd ("m", 1, Now ())

5 • How do you register JavaScript for webcontrols ?

You can register javascript for controls using Attribtues.Add(scriptname,scripttext) method.

6 • When do you set "" ?

Identity is a webconfig declaration under System.web, which helps to control the application Identity of the web applicaton. Which can be at any level(Machine,Site,application,subdirectory,or page), attribute impersonate with "true" as value specifies that client impersonation is used.

7 • What are different templates available in Repeater,DataList and Datagrid ?
Templates enable one to apply complicated formatting to each of the items displayed by a control.Repeater control supports five types of templates.HeaderTemplate controls how the header of the repeater control is formatted.

ItemTemplate controls the formatting of each item displayed.AlternatingItemTemplate controls how alternate items are formatted and the SeparatorTemplate displays a separator between each item displyed.FooterTemplate is used for controlling how the footer of the repeater control is formatted.The DataList and Datagrid supports two templates in addition to the above five.SelectedItem Template controls how a selected item is formatted and EditItemTemplate controls how an item selected for editing is formatted.

8 • What is ViewState ? and how it is managed ?

ASP.NET ViewState is a new kind of state service that developers can use to track UI state on a per-user basis. Internally it uses an an old Web programming trick-roundtripping state in a hidden form field and bakes it right into the page-processing framework.It needs less code to write and maintain state in your Web-based forms.

9 • What is web.config file ?

Web.config file is the configuration file for the Asp.net web application. There is one web.config file for one asp.net application which configures
the particular application. Web.config file is written in XML with specific tags having specific meanings.It includes databa which includes
connections,Session States,Error Handling,Security etc.

For example :
<>
<>
< key="ConnectionString" value="server=localhost;uid=sa;pwd=;database=MyDB">
< /appSettings >
< /configuration >


10• What is advantage of viewstate and what are benefits?

When a form is submitted in classic ASP, all form values are cleared. Suppose you have submitted a form with a lot of information and the server comes back with an error. You will have to go back to the form and correct the information. You click the back button, and what happens.......ALL form values are CLEARED, and you will have to start all over again! The site did not maintain your ViewState.With ASP .NET, the form reappears in the browser window together with all form values.This is because ASP .NET maintains your ViewState. The ViewState indicates the status of the page when submitted to the server.

11• What tags do you need to add within the asp:datagrid tags to bind columns manually?

Set AutoGenerateColumns Property to false on the datagrid tag and then use Column tag and an ASP:databound tag
< runat="server" id="ManualColumnBinding" autogeneratecolumns="False">
<>
< headertext="Column1" datafield="Column1">
< headertext="Column2" datafield="Column2">
< /Columns >
< /asp:DataGrid >

12 • Which property on a Combo Box do you set with a column name, prior to setting the DataSource, to display data in the combo box?

DataTextField and DataValueField


1• Which control would you use if you needed to make sure the values in two different controls matched?

CompareValidator is used to ensure that two fields are identical.

2• What is validationsummary server control?where it is used?.

The ValidationSummary control allows you to summarize the error messages from all validation controls on a Web page in a single location. The summary can be displayed as a list, a bulleted list, or a single paragraph, based on the value of the DisplayMode property. The error message displayed in the ValidationSummary control for each validation control on the page is specified by the ErrorMessage property of each validation control.

If the ErrorMessage property of the validation control is not set, no error message is displayed in the ValidationSummary control for that validation control. You can also specify a custom title in the heading section of the ValidationSummary control by setting the HeaderText property.

You can control whether the ValidationSummary control is displayed or hidden by setting the ShowSummary property. The summary can also be displayed in a message box by setting the ShowMessageBox property to true.

3 • What is the sequence of operation takes place when a page is loaded?

1. BeginTranaction - only if the request is transacted
2. Init - every time a page is processed
3. LoadViewState - Only on postback
4. ProcessPostData1 - Only on postback
5. Load - every time
6. ProcessData2 - Only on Postback
7. RaiseChangedEvent - Only on Postback
8. RaisePostBackEvent - Only on Postback
9. PreRender - everytime
10. BuildTraceTree - only if tracing is enabled
11. SaveViewState - every time
12. Render - Everytime
13. End Transaction - only if the request is transacted
14. Trace.EndRequest - only when tracing is enabled
15. UnloadRecursive - Every request


4• Difference between asp and asp.net?.

"ASP (Active Server Pages) and ASP.NET are both server side technologies for building web sites and web applications, ASP.NET is Managed compiled code - asp is interpreted. and ASP.net is fully Object oriented. ASP.NET has been entirely re-architected to provide a highly productive programming experience based on the .NET Framework, and a robust infrastructure for building reliable and scalable web
applications."

5 • Name the validation control available in asp.net?.

RequiredField, RangeValidator,RegularExpression,Custom validator,compare Validator

6• What are the various ways of securing a web site that could prevent from hacking etc .. ?

1) Authentication/Authorization
2) Encryption/Decryption
3) Maintaining web servers outside the corporate firewall. etc.,

7• What is the difference between in-proc and out-of-proc?

An inproc is one which runs in the same process area as that of the client giving tha advantage of speed but the disadvantage of stability becoz if it crashes it takes the client application also with it.Outproc is one which works outside the clients memory thus giving stability to the client, but we have to compromise a bit on speed.

8• When you’re running a component within ASP.NET, what process is it running within on Windows XP? Windows 2000? Windows 2003?

On Windows 2003 (IIS 6.0) running in native mode, the component is running within the w3wp.exe process associated with the application pool which has been configured for the web application containing the component.

On Windows 2003 in IIS 5.0 emulation mode, 2000, or XP, it's running within the IIS helper process whose name I do not remember, it being quite a while since I last used IIS 5.0.

9• What does aspnet_regiis -i do ?

Aspnet_regiis.exe is The ASP.NET IIS Registration tool allows an administrator or installation program to easily update the script maps for an ASP.NET application to point to the ASP.NET ISAPI version associated with the tool. The tool can also be used to display the status of all installed versions of ASP. NET, register the ASP.NET version coupled with the tool, create client-script directories, and perform other configuration operations.

When multiple versions of the .NET Framework are executing side-by-side on a single computer, the ASP.NET ISAPI version mapped to an ASP.NET application determines which version of the common language runtime is used for the application.

The tool can be launched with a set of optional parameters. Option "i" Installs the version of ASP.NET associated with Aspnet_regiis.exe and updates the script maps at the IIS metabase root and below. Note that only applications that are currently mapped to an earlier version of ASP.NET are affected.

10• What is a PostBack?

The process in which a Web page sends data back to the same page on the server.

11• What is ViewState? How is it encoded? Is it encrypted? Who uses ViewState?

ViewState is the mechanism ASP.NET uses to keep track of server control state values that don't otherwise post back as part of the HTTP form. ViewState Maintains the UI State of a Page

ViewState is base64-encoded.

It is not encrypted but it can be encrypted by setting EnableViewStatMAC="true" & setting the machineKey validation type to 3DES. If you want to NOT maintain the ViewState, include the directive < %@ Page EnableViewState="false" % > at the top of an .aspx page or add the attribute EnableViewState="false" to any control.

12• What is the <> element and what two ASP.NET technologies is it used for?

Configures keys to use for encryption and decryption of forms authentication cookie data and view state data, and for verification of out-of-process session state identification.There fore 2 ASP.Net technique in which it is used are Encryption/Decryption & Verification

13• What three Session State providers are available in ASP.NET 1.1? What are the pros and cons of each?

ASP.NET provides three distinct ways to store session data for your application: in-process session state, out-of-process session state as a Windows service, and out-of-process session state in a SQL Server database. Each has it advantages.

1.In-process session-state mode

Limitations:

* When using the in-process session-state mode, session-state data is lost if aspnet_wp.exe or the application domain restarts.
* If you enable Web garden mode in the <> element of the application's Web.config file, do not use in-process session-state mode. Otherwise, random data loss can occur.

Advantage:

* in-process session state is by far the fastest solution. If you are storing only small amounts of volatile data in session state, it is recommended that you use the in-process provider.

2. The State Server simply stores session state in memory when in out-of-proc mode. In this mode the worker process talks directly to the State Server

3. SQL mode, session states are stored in a SQL Server database and the worker process talks directly to SQL. The ASP.NET worker processes are then able to take advantage of this simple storage service by serializing and saving (using .NET serialization services) all objects within a client's Session collection at the end of each Web request

Both these out-of-process solutions are useful primarily if you scale your application across multiple processors or multiple computers, or where data cannot be lost if a server or process is restarted.

14 • What is the difference between HTTP-Post and HTTP-Get?

As their names imply, both HTTP GET and HTTP POST use HTTP as their underlying protocol. Both of these methods encode request parameters as name/value pairs in the HTTP request.

The GET method creates a query string and appends it to the script's URL on the server that handles the request.

The POST method creates a name/value pairs that are passed in the body of the HTTP request message.

15 • Name and describe some HTTP Status Codes and what they express to the requesting client.

When users try to access content on a server that is running Internet Information Services (IIS) through HTTP or File Transfer Protocol (FTP), IIS returns a numeric code that indicates the status of the request.

This status code is recorded in the IIS log, and it may also be displayed in the Web browser or FTP client. The status code can indicate whether a particular request is successful or unsuccessful and can also reveal the exact reason why a request is unsuccessful. There are 5 groups ranging from 1xx - 5xx of http status codes exists.

101 - Switching protocols.
200 - OK. The client request has succeeded
302 - Object moved.
400 - Bad request.
500.13 - Web server is too busy.


16 • Explain < @OutputCache% > and the usage of VaryByParam, VaryByHeader.

OutputCache is used to control the caching policies of an ASP.NET page or user control. To cache a page @OutputCache directive should be defined as follows < %@ OutputCache Duration="100" VaryByParam="none" % >

VaryByParam:

A semicolon-separated list of strings used to vary the output cache. By default, these strings correspond to a query string value sent with GET method attributes, or a parameter sent using the POST method. When this attribute is set to multiple parameters, the output cache contains a different version of the requested document for each specified parameter. Possible values include none, *, and any valid query string or POST parameter name.

VaryByHeader:

A semicolon-separated list of HTTP headers used to vary the output cache. When this attribute is set to multiple headers, the output cache contains a different version of the requested document for each specified header.

17 • What is the difference between repeater over datalist and datagrid?

The Repeater class is not derived from the WebControl class, like the DataGrid and DataList. Therefore, the Repeater lacks the stylistic properties common to both the DataGrid and DataList. What this boils down to is that if you want to format the data displayed in the Repeater, you must do so in the HTML markup.

The Repeater control provides the maximum amount of flexibility over the HTML produced. Whereas the DataGrid wraps the DataSource contents in an HTML <>, and the DataList wraps the contents in either an HTML <> or <> tags (depending on the DataList's RepeatLayout property), the Repeater adds absolutely no HTML content other than what you explicitly specify in the templates.

While using Repeater control, If we wanted to display the employee names in a bold font we'd have to alter the "ItemTemplate" to include an HTML bold tag, Whereas with the DataGrid or DataList, we could have made the text appear in a bold font by setting the control's ItemStyle-Font-Bold property to True.

The Repeater's lack of stylistic properties can drastically add to the development time metric. For example, imagine that you decide to use the Repeater to display data that needs to be bold, centered, and displayed in a particular font-face with a particular background color.

While all this can be specified using a few HTML tags, these tags will quickly clutter the Repeater's templates. Such clutter makes it much harder to change the look at a later date. Along with its increased development time, the Repeater also lacks any built-in functionality to assist in supporting paging, editing, or editing of data. Due to this lack of feature-support, the Repeater scores poorly on the usability scale.

However, The Repeater's performance is slightly better than that of the DataList's, and is more noticeably better than that of the DataGrid's. Following figure shows the number of requests per second the Repeater could handle versus the DataGrid and DataList.


1• Can we handle the error and redirect to some pages using web.config?

Yes, we can do this, but to handle errors, we must know the error codes; only then we can take the user to a proper error message page, else it may confuse the user.
CustomErrors Configuration section in web.config file:

The default configuration is:

< mode="RemoteOnly" defaultredirect="Customerror.aspx">
< statuscode="404" redirect="Notfound.aspx">
< /customErrors >

If mode is set to Off, custom error messages will be disabled. Users will receive detailed exception error messages.

If mode is set to On, custom error messages will be enabled.

If mode is set to RemoteOnly, then users will receive custom errors, but users accessing the site locally will receive detailed error messages.

Add an <> tag for each error you want to handle. The error tag will redirect the user to the Notfound.aspx page when the site returns the 404 (Page not found) error.

[Example]

There is a page MainForm.aspx

Private Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

'Put user code to initialize the page here
Dim str As System.Text.StringBuilder

str.Append("hi") ' Error Line as str is not instantiated
Response.Write(str.ToString)
End Sub
[Web.Config]

< mode="On" defaultredirect="Error.aspx">
' a simple redirect will take the user to Error.aspx [user defined] error file.
< mode="RemoteOnly" defaultredirect="Customerror.aspx">
< statuscode="404" redirect="Notfound.aspx">
< /customErrors >

'This will take the user to NotFound.aspx defined in IIS.

2• How do you implement Paging in .Net?

The DataGrid provides the means to display a group of records from the data source (for example, the first 10), and then navigate to the "page" containing the next 10 records, and so on through the data.

Using Ado.Net we can explicit control over the number of records returned from the data source, as well as how much data is to be cached locally in the DataSet.

1. Using DataAdapter.fill method give the value of 'Maxrecords' parameter
2. (Note: - Don't use it because query will return all records but fill the dataset based on value of 'maxrecords' parameter).
3. For SQL server database, combines a WHERE clause and a ORDER BY clause with TOP predicate.
4. If Data does not change often just cache records locally in DataSet and just take some records from the DataSet to display.


3• What is the difference between Server.Transfer and Response.Redirect?

Server.Transfer() :

client is shown as it is on the requesting page only, but the all the content is of the requested page. Data can be persist across the pages using Context.Item collection, which is one of the best way to transfer data from one page to another keeping the page state alive.

Response.Dedirect() :

client knows the physical location (page name and query string as well). Context.Items loses the persistence when navigate to destination page. In earlier versions of IIS, if we wanted to send a user to a new Web page, the only option we had was Response.Redirect. While this method does accomplish our goal, it has several important drawbacks. The biggest problem is that this method causes each page to be treated as a separate transaction.

Besides making it difficult to maintain your transactional integrity, Response.Redirect introduces some additional headaches. First, it prevents good encapsulation of code. Second, you lose access to all of the properties in the Request object. Sure, there are workarounds, but they're difficult. Finally, Response.Redirect necessitates a round trip to the client, which, on high-volume sites, causes scalability problems.

As you might suspect, Server.Transfer fixes all of these problems. It does this by performing the transfer on the server without requiring a roundtrip to the client.
Response.Redirect sends a response to the client browser instructing it to request the second page. This requires a round-trip to the client, and the client initiates the Request for the second page. Server.Transfer transfers the process to the second page without making a round-trip to the client. It also transfers the HttpContext to the second page, enabling the second page access to all the values in the HttpContext of the first page.

4 • Can you create an app domain?

Yes, We can create user app domain by calling on of the following overload static methods of the System.AppDomain class

1. Public static AppDomain CreateDomain(String friendlyName)
2. Public static AppDomain CreateDomain(String friendlyName, Evidence securityInfo)
3. Public static AppDomain CreateDomain(String friendlyName, Evidence securityInfo,
4. AppDomainSetup info)
5. Public static AppDomain CreateDomain(String friendlyName, Evidence securityInfo, String appBasePath, String appRelativeSearchPath, bool shadowCopyFiles)


5 • What are the various security methods which IIS Provides apart from .NET ?


The various security methods which IIS provides are

a) Authentication Modes
b) IP Address and Domain Name Restriction
c) DNS Lookups DNS Lookups
d) The Network ID and Subnet Mask
e) SSL

6 • What is Web Gardening? How would using it affect a design?

The Web Garden Model

The Web garden model is configurable through the section of the machine.config file. Notice that the section is the only configuration section that cannot be placed in an application-specific web.config file. This means that the Web garden mode applies to all applications running on the machine. However, by using the node in the machine.config source, you can adapt machine-wide settings on a per-application basis.

Two attributes in the section affect the Web garden model. They are webGarden and cpuMask. The webGarden attribute takes a Boolean value that indicates whether or not multiple worker processes (one per each affinitized CPU) have to be used. The attribute is set to false by default.

The cpuMask attribute stores a DWORD value whose binary representation provides a bit mask for the CPUs that are eligible to run the ASP.NET worker process. The default value is -1 (0xFFFFFF), which means that all available CPUs can be used. The contents of the cpuMask attribute is ignored when the webGarden attribute is false. The cpuMask attribute also sets an upper bound to the number of copies of aspnet_wp.exe that are running.

Web gardening enables multiple worker processes to run at the same time. However, you should note that all processes will have their own copy of application state, in-process session state, ASP.NET cache, static data, and all that is needed to run applications. When the Web garden mode is enabled, the ASP.NET ISAPI launches as many worker processes as there are CPUs, each a full clone of the next (and each affinitized with the corresponding CPU).

To balance the workload, incoming requests are partitioned among running processes in a round-robin manner. Worker processes get recycled as in the single processor case. Note that ASP.NET inherits any CPU usage restriction from the operating system and doesn't include any custom semantics for doing this.

All in all, the Web garden model is not necessarily a big win for all applications. The more stateful applications are, the more they risk to pay in terms of real performance. Working data is stored in blocks of shared memory so that any changes entered by a process are immediately visible to others.

However, for the time it takes to service a request, working data is copied in the context of the process. Each worker process, therefore, will handle its own copy of working data, and the more stateful the application, the higher the cost in performance. In this context, careful and savvy application benchmarking is an absolute must.

Changes made to the section of the configuration file are effective only after IIS is restarted. In IIS 6, Web gardening parameters are stored in the IIS metabase; the webGarden and cpuMask attributes are ignored.

7• What is view state?.where it stored?.can we disable it?

The web is state-less protocol, so the page gets instantiated, executed, rendered and then disposed on every round trip to the server. The developers code to add "statefulness" to the page by using Server-side storage for the state or posting the page to itself. When require to persist and read the data in control on webform, developer had to read the values and store them in hidden variable (in the form), which were then used to restore the values.

With advent of .NET framework, ASP.NET came up with ViewState mechanism, which tracks the data values of server controls on ASP.NET webform. In effect,ViewState can be viewed as "hidden variable managed by ASP.NET framework!". When ASP.NET page is executed, data values from all server controls on page are collected and encoded as single string, which then assigned to page's hidden atrribute "< type="hidden">", that is part of page sent to the client.

ViewState value is temporarily saved in the client's browser.ViewState can be disabled for a single control, for an entire page orfor an entire web application. The syntax is:

Disable ViewState for control (Datagrid in this example)
< enableviewstate="false">
Disable ViewState for a page, using Page directive
< %@ Page EnableViewState="False" ... % >
Disable ViewState for application through entry in web.config
< enableviewstate="false">

Explain what a diffgram is and its usage ?

A DiffGram is an XML format that is used to identify current and original versions of data elements. The DataSet uses the DiffGram format to load and persist its contents, and to serialize its contents for transport across a network connection.

When a DataSet is written as a DiffGram, it populates the DiffGram with all the necessary information to accurately recreate the contents, though not the schema, of the DataSet, including column values from both the Original and Current row versions, row error information, and row order.

When sending and retrieving a DataSet from an XML Web service, the DiffGram format is implicitly used. Additionally, when loading the contents of a DataSet from XML using the ReadXml method, or when writing the contents of a DataSet in XML using the WriteXml method, you can select that the contents be read or written as a DiffGram.

The DiffGram format consists of the following blocks of data:

The name of this element, DataInstance, is used for explanation purposes in this documentation. A DataInstance element represents a DataSet or a row of a DataTable. Instead of DataInstance, the element would contain the name of the DataSet or DataTable. This block of the DiffGram format contains the current data, whether it has been modified or not. An element, or row, that has been modified is identified with the diffgr:hasChanges annotation.

This block of the DiffGram format contains the original version of a row. Elements in this block are matched to elements in the DataInstance block using the diffgr:id annotation.

This block of the DiffGram format contains error information for a particular row in the DataInstance block. Elements in this block are matched to elements in the DataInstance block using the diffgr:id annotation.

Which method do you invoke on the DataAdapter control to load your generated dataset with data?

You have to use the Fill method of the DataAdapter control and pass the dataset object as an argument to load the generated data.

Which are the different IsolationLevels ?

1. • Serialized Data read by a current transaction cannot be changed by another transaction until the current transaction finishes. No new data can be inserted that would affect the current transaction. This is the safest isolation level and is the default.
2. • Repeatable Read Data read by a current transaction cannot be changed by another transaction until the current transaction finishes. Any type of new data can be inserted during a transaction.
3. • Read Committed A transaction cannot read data that is being modified by another transaction that has not committed. This is the default isolation level in Microsoft® SQL Server.
4. • Read Uncommitted A transaction can read any data, even if it is being modified by another transaction. This is the least safe isolation level but allows the highest concurrency.
5. • Any Any isolation level is supported. This setting is most commonly used by downstream components to avoid conflicts. This setting is useful because any downstream component must be configured with an isolation level that is equal to or less than the isolation level of its immediate upstream component.

Therefore, a downstream component that has its isolation level configured as Any always uses the same isolation level that its immediate upstream component uses. If the root object in a transaction has its isolation level configured to Any, its isolation level becomes Serialized.

How xml files and be read and write using dataset?

DataSet exposes method like ReadXml and WriteXml to read and write xml.

What are the different rowversions available?

There are four types of Rowversions.

Current:

The current values for the row. This row version does not exist for rows with a RowState of Deleted.

Default :

The row the default version for the current DataRowState. For a DataRowState value of Added, Modified or Current, the default version is Current. For a DataRowState of Deleted, the version is Original. For a DataRowState value of Detached, the version is Proposed.

Original:

The row contains its original values.

Proposed:

The proposed values for the row. This row version exists during an edit operation on a row, or for a row that is not part of a DataRowCollection

Explain acid properties?

The term ACID conveys the role transactions play in mission-critical applications. Coined by transaction processing pioneers, ACID stands for atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability.

These properties ensure predictable behavior, reinforcing the role of transactions as all-or-none propositions designed to reduce the management load when there are many variables.

Atomicity

A transaction is a unit of work in which a series of operations occur between the BEGIN TRANSACTION and END TRANSACTION statements of an application. A transaction executes exactly once and is atomic — all the work is done or none of it is.
Operations associated with a transaction usually share a common intent and are interdependent. By performing only a subset of these operations, the system could compromise the overall intent of the transaction. Atomicity eliminates the chance of processing a subset of operations.

Consistency

A transaction is a unit of integrity because it preserves the consistency of data, transforming one consistent state of data into another consistent state of data.

Consistency requires that data bound by a transaction be semantically preserved. Some of the responsibility for maintaining consistency falls to the application developer who must make sure that all known integrity constraints are enforced by the application. For example, in developing an application that transfers money, you should avoid arbitrarily moving decimal points during the transfer.

Isolation

A transaction is a unit of isolation — allowing concurrent transactions to behave as though each were the only transaction running in the system.

Isolation requires that each transaction appear to be the only transaction manipulating the data store, even though other transactions may be running at the same time. A transaction should never see the intermediate stages of another transaction.

Transactions attain the highest level of isolation when they are serializable. At this level, the results obtained from a set of concurrent transactions are identical to the results obtained by running each transaction serially. Because a high degree of isolation can limit the number of concurrent transactions, some applications reduce the isolation level in exchange for better throughput.

Durability

A transaction is also a unit of recovery. If a transaction succeeds, the system guarantees that its updates will persist, even if the computer crashes immediately after the commit. Specialized logging allows the system's restart procedure to complete unfinished operations, making the transaction durable.

Whate are different types of Commands available with DataAdapter ?

The SqlDataAdapter has

SelectCommand,
InsertCommand,
DeleteCommand and
UpdateCommand

What is a Dataset?

Datasets are the result of bringing together ADO and XML. A dataset contains one or more data of tabular XML, known as DataTables, these data can be treated separately, or can have relationships defined between them. Indeed these relationships give you ADO data SHAPING without needing to master the SHAPE language, which many people are not comfortable with.


DataTableCollection:

As we say that a DataSet is an in-memory database. So it has this collection, which holds data from multiple tables in a single DataSet object.
DataTable: In the DataTableCollection, we have DataTable objects, which represents the individual tables of the dataset.

DataView:

The way we have views in database, same way we can have DataViews. We can use these DataViews to do Sort, filter data.

Explain the ADO . Net Architecture ( .Net Data Provider) ?

ADO.Net is the data access model for .Net –based applications. It can be used to access relational database systems such as SQL SERVER 2000, Oracle, and many other data sources for which there is an OLD DB or ODBC provider. To a certain extent, ADO.NET represents the latest evolution of ADO technology. However, ADO.NET introduces some major changes and innovations that are aimed at the loosely coupled and inherently disconnected – nature of web applications.


A .Net Framework data provider is used to connecting to a database, executing commands, and retrieving results. Those results are either processed directly, or placed in an ADO.NET DataSet in order to be exposed to the user in an ad-hoc manner, combined with data from multiple sources, or remoted between tiers. The .NET Framework data provider is designed to be lightweight, creating a minimal layer between the data source and your code, increasing performance without sacrificing functionality.

Following are the 4 core objects of .Net Framework Data provider:

1. • Connection: Establishes a connection to a specific data source
2. • Command: Executes a command against a data source. Exposes Parameters and can execute within the scope of a Transaction from a Connection.
3. • DataReader: Reads a forward-only, read-only stream of data from a data source.
4. • DataAdapter: Populates a DataSet and resolves updates with the data source.
5. The .NET Framework includes the .NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server (for Microsoft SQL Server version 7.0 or later), the .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB, and the .NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC.


The .NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server: The .NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server uses its own protocol to communicate with SQL Server. It is lightweight and performs well because it is optimized to access a SQL Server directly without adding an OLE DB or Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) layer. The following illustration contrasts the .NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server with the .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB.

The .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB communicates to an OLE DB data source through both the OLE DB Service component, which provides connection pooling and transaction services, and the OLE DB Provider for the data source.


The .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB: The .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB uses native OLE DB through COM interoperability to enable data access. The .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB supports both local and distributed transactions. For distributed transactions, the .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB, by default, automatically enlists in a transaction and obtains transaction details from Windows 2000 Component Services.


The .NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC: The .NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC uses native ODBC Driver Manager (DM) through COM interoperability to enable data access. The ODBC data provider supports both local and distributed transactions. For distributed transactions, the ODBC data provider, by default, automatically enlists in a transaction and obtains transaction details from Windows 2000 Component Services.

The .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle:

The .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle enables data access to Oracle data sources through Oracle client connectivity software. The data provider supports Oracle client software version 8.1.7 and later. The data provider supports both local and distributed transactions (the data provider automatically enlists in existing distributed transactions, but does not currently support the EnlistDistributedTransaction method).


The .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle requires that Oracle client software (version 8.1.7 or later) be installed on the system before you can use it to connect to an Oracle data source.

.NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle classes are located in the System.Data.OracleClient namespace and are contained in the System.Data.OracleClient.dll assembly. You will need to reference both the System.Data.dll and the System.Data.OracleClient.dll when compiling an application that uses the data provider.

Choosing a .NET Framework Data Provider

.NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server: Recommended for middle-tier applications using Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 or later. Recommended for single-tier applications using Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) or Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 or later.
Recommended over use of the OLE DB Provider for SQL Server (SQLOLEDB) with the .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB. For Microsoft SQL Server version 6.5 and earlier, you must use the OLE DB Provider for SQL Server with the .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB.

.NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB: Recommended for middle-tier applications using Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 or earlier, or any OLE DB provider. For Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 or later, the .NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server is recommended. Recommended for single-tier applications using Microsoft Access databases. Use of a Microsoft Access database for a middle-tier application is not recommended.

.NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC: Recommended for middle-tier applications using ODBC data sources. Recommended for single-tier applications using ODBC data sources.
.NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle: Recommended for middle-tier applications using Oracle data sources. Recommended for single-tier applications using Oracle data sources. Supports Oracle client software version 8.1.7 and later. The .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle classes are located in the System.Data.OracleClient namespace and are contained in the System.Data.OracleClient.dll assembly. You need to reference both the System.Data.dll and the System.Data.OracleClient.dll when compiling an application that uses the data provider.

Can you explain the difference between an ADO.NET Dataset and an ADO Recordset?

Let’s take a look at the differences between ADO Recordset and ADO.Net DataSet:

1. Table Collection:

ADO Recordset provides the ability to navigate through a single table of information. That table would have been formed with a join of multiple tables and returning columns from multiple tables. ADO.NET DataSet is capable of holding instances of multiple tables. It has got a Table Collection, which holds multiple tables in it. If the tables are having a relation, then it can be manipulated on a Parent-Child relationship. It has the ability to support multiple tables with keys, constraints and interconnected relationships. With this ability the DataSet can be considered as a small, in-memory relational database cache.

2. Navigation:

Navigation in ADO Recordset is based on the cursor mode. Even though it is specified to be a client-side Recordset, still the navigation pointer will move from one location to another on cursor model only. ADO.NET DataSet is an entirely offline, in-memory, and cache of data. All of its data is available all the time. At any time, we can retrieve any row or column, constraints or relation simply by accessing it either ordinarily or by retrieving it from a name-based collection.

3. Connectivity Model:

The ADO Recordset was originally designed without the ability to operate in a disconnected environment. ADO.NET DataSet is specifically designed to be a disconnected in-memory database. ADO.NET DataSet follows a pure disconnected connectivity model and this gives it much more scalability and versatility in the amount of things it can do and how easily it can do that.

4. Marshalling and Serialization:

In COM, through Marshalling, we can pass data from 1 COM component to another component at any time. Marshalling involves copying and processing data so that a complex type can appear to the receiving component the same as it appeared to the sending component. Marshalling is an expensive operation. ADO.NET Dataset and DataTable components support Remoting in the form of XML serialization. Rather than doing expensive Marshalling, it uses XML and sent data across boundaries.

5. Firewalls and DCOM and Remoting:

Those who have worked with DCOM know that how difficult it is to marshal a DCOM component across a router. People generally came up with workarounds to solve this issue. ADO.NET DataSet uses Remoting, through which a DataSet / DataTable component can be serialized into XML, sent across the wire to a new AppDomain, and then Desterilized back to a fully functional DataSet. As the DataSet is completely disconnected, and it has no dependency, we lose absolutely nothing by serializing and transferring it through Remoting.

How do you handle data concurrency in .NET ?

One of the key features of the ADO.NET DataSet is that it can be a self-contained and disconnected data store. It can contain the schema and data from several rowsets in DataTable objects as well as information about how to relate the DataTable objects-all in memory. The DataSet neither knows nor cares where the data came from, nor does it need a link to an underlying data source. Because it is data source agnostic you can pass the DataSet around networks or even serialize it to XML and pass it across the Internet without losing any of its features. However, in a disconnected model, concurrency obviously becomes a much bigger problem than it is in a connected model.

In this column, I'll explore how ADO.NET is equipped to detect and handle concurrency violations. I'll begin by discussing scenarios in which concurrency violations can occur using the ADO.NET disconnected model. Then I will walk through an ASP.NET application that handles concurrency violations by giving the user the choice to overwrite the changes or to refresh the out-of-sync data and begin editing again. Because part of managing an optimistic concurrency model can involve keeping a timestamp (rowversion) or another type of flag that indicates when a row was last updated, I will show how to implement this type of flag and how to maintain its value after each database update.

Managing what happens when users try to modify the same data at the same time: pessimistic, optimistic, and last-in wins. They each handle concurrency issues differently.


The pessimistic approach says: "Nobody can cause a concurrency violation with my data if I do not let them get at the data while I have it." This tactic prevents concurrency in the first place but it limits scalability because it prevents all concurrent access. Pessimistic concurrency generally locks a row from the time it is retrieved until the time updates are flushed to the database. Since this requires a connection to remain open during the entire process, pessimistic concurrency cannot successfully be implemented in a disconnected model like the ADO.NET DataSet, which opens a connection only long enough to populate the DataSet then releases and closes, so a database lock cannot be held.


Another technique for dealing with concurrency is the last-in wins approach. This model is pretty straightforward and easy to implement-whatever data modification was made last is what gets written to the database. To implement this technique you only need to put the primary key fields of the row in the UPDATE statement's WHERE clause.

No matter what is changed, the UPDATE statement will overwrite the changes with its own changes since all it is looking for is the row that matches the primary key values. Unlike the pessimistic model, the last-in wins approach allows users to read the data while it is being edited on screen.

However, problems can occur when users try to modify the same data at the same time because users can overwrite each other's changes without being notified of the collision. The last-in wins approach does not detect or notify the user of violations because it does not care. However the optimistic technique does detect violations.

In optimistic concurrency models, a row is only locked during the update to the database. Therefore the data can be retrieved and updated by other users at any time other than during the actual row update operation.

Optimistic concurrency allows the data to be read simultaneously by multiple users and blocks other users less often than its pessimistic counterpart, making it a good choice for ADO.NET. In optimistic models, it is important to implement some type of concurrency violation detection that will catch any additional attempt to modify records that have already been modified but not committed.

You can write your code to handle the violation by always rejecting and canceling the change request or by overwriting the request based on some business rules. Another way to handle the concurrency violation is to let the user decide what to do. The sample application that is shown in Figure 1 illustrates some of the options that can be presented to the user in the event of a concurrency violation.

Simply using the primary key (in this case the EmployeeID) in the UPDATE statement's WHERE clause will not cause a violation to be detected because it still updates the row (in fact, this technique has the same outcome as the last-in wins technique). Instead, more conditions must be specified in the WHERE clause in order for ADO.NET to detect the violation.

What is the difference between Server.Transfer and Response.Redirect? Why would I choose one over the other?
In earlier versions of IIS, if we wanted to send a user to a new Web page, the only option we had was Response.Redirect. While this method does accomplish our goal, it has several important drawbacks. The biggest problem is that this method causes each page to be treated as a separate transaction. Besides making it difficult to maintain your transactional integrity, Response.Redirect introduces some additional headaches. First, it prevents good encapsulation of code. Second, you lose access to all of the properties in the Request object. Sure, there are workarounds, but they're difficult. Finally, Response.Redirect necessitates a round trip to the client, which, on high-volume sites, causes scalability problems.
As you might suspect, Server.Transfer fixes all of these problems. It does this by performing the transfer on the server without requiring a roundtrip to the client.