Introduction

ASP.NET supplies ASP.NET programmers with a much-needed solution to an age-old problem HTML form controls. Up until .NET, ASP programmers had to move back and forth between HTML and ASP in order to provide interactivity between Web pages. This also meant that an ASP page was not as dynamic as it could be if it were done through Java or through some extensive JavaScript/Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) coding.

In short, ASP had the short end of the stick as far as Web interactivity went. With the advent of ASP server controls, all that will change. Imagine being able to do real-time value verification and having the Web page instantly spit out an error when someone tries to skip a required field. Imagine being able to dynamically replace data on a Web page without having to force the user to access another page or restart completely. With ASP.NET, all this and more is possible! The exercises illustrated in this chapter will demonstrate to you the power of ASP.NET.