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:
• Connection: Establishes a connection to a specific data source
• Command: Executes a command against a data source. Exposes Parameters and can execute within the scope of a Transaction from a Connection.
• DataReader: Reads a forward-only, read-only stream of data from a data source.
• DataAdapter: Populates a DataSet and resolves updates with the data source.
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.

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 < table >, and the DataList wraps the contents in either an HTML < table > or < span > 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

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

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 < processModel > 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.

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 applic

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

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.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of viewstate?

The primary advantages of the ViewState feature in ASP.NET are:
1. Simplicity. There is no need to write possibly complex code to store form data between page submissions.
2. Flexibility. It is possible to enable, configure, and disable ViewState on a control-by-control basis, choosing to persist the values of some fields but not others.
There are, however a few disadvantages that are worth pointing out:
1. Does not track across pages. ViewState information does not automatically transfer from page to page. With the session
approach, values can be stored in the session and accessed from other pages. This is not possible with ViewState, so storing
data into the session must be done explicitly.
2. ViewState is not suitable for transferring data for back-end systems. That is, data still has to be transferred to the back
end using some form of data object.

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

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.Redirect() :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.

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.

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.

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.
If I'm developing an application that must accomodate multiple security levels though secure login and my ASP.NET web appplication is spanned across three web-servers (using round-robbin load balancing) what would be the best approach to maintain login-in state for the users?
Use the state server or store the state in the database. This can be easily done through simple setting change in the web.config.
StateConnectionString="tcpip=127.0.0.1:42424"
sqlConnectionString="data source=127.0.0.1; user id=sa; password="
cookieless="false"
timeout="30"
/>
You can specify mode as “stateserver” or “sqlserver”.
Where would you use an iHTTPModule, and what are the limitations of any approach you might take in implementing one
"One of ASP.NET's most useful features is the extensibility of the HTTP pipeline, the path that data takes between client and server. You can use them to extend your ASP.NET applications by adding pre- and post-processing to each HTTP request coming into your application. For example, if you wanted custom authentication facilities for your application, the best technique would be to intercept the request when it comes in and process the request in a custom HTTP module.

What event handlers can I include in Global.asax?

Application_Start,Application_End, Application_AcquireRequestState, Application_AuthenticateRequest, Application_AuthorizeRequest, Application_BeginRequest, Application_Disposed, Application_EndRequest, Application_Error, Application_PostRequestHandlerExecute, Application_PreRequestHandlerExecute,
Application_PreSendRequestContent, Application_PreSendRequestHeaders, Application_ReleaseRequestState, Application_ResolveRequestCache, Application_UpdateRequestCache, Session_Start,Session_End
You can optionally include "On" in any of method names. For example, you can name a BeginRequest event handler.Application_BeginRequest or Application_OnBeginRequest.You can also include event handlers in Global.asax for events fired by custom HTTP modules.Note that not all of the event handlers make sense for Web Services (they're designed for ASP.NET applications in general, whereas .NET XML Web Services are specialized instances of an ASP.NET app). For example, the Application_AuthenticateRequest and Application_AuthorizeRequest events are designed to be used with ASP.NET Forms authentication.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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:

xmlns="urn:schemas-dynamicdiscovery:disco.2000-03-17">

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.