I just came across an article titled "At a Glance: ASP.net vs. PHP."  Let's be clear up front: I don't know diddly-squat about PHP.  I'm not here to start yet another language battle, in a war that will never be won :)  However, I do have some comments for the article regarding ASP.NET.  And, since there doesn't seem to be a way to post comments on the "Market Day" site, you get the benefit of reading them here :)

Ian Wilson writes:

In order to develop with ASP.Net one must obtain the extremely expensive Microsoft Visual Studio Programming Suite.

I won't argue that Visual Studio 2005 Professional or Team Edition is very expensive when compared to free.  However, the author fails to mention that you can develop ASP.NET using one of the free Visual Studio Express Editions, or even your favorite text editor.  What can you do with an Express Edition?  Just aboutanythingyou canimagine.  If you really need features that aren't available in the Express Editions, chances are you're developing for a company that can afford to pay for the upgrade.  For the individual Web developer, check out Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition and one of the many starter kits that are available.

One of the arguments the author uses for PHP is the wealth of community resources.  I believe the same argument is true for ASP.NET.  Check out my list of free tools and resources.  There are lots of other great sites and online blogs for ASP.NET developers.

ASP.NET is a viable solution, even for individual developers who are community-minded, budget-conscious, and into open source.  Happy coding!

Speaking of great apps that keep getting better, there's an interesting mojoPortal vs. DotNetNuke post over at mojoPortal.  Also, take a look at the interesting comments from a DNN user (www.wwwcoder.com). 

Joe reports that a new release is just around the corner.

dasBlog continues to improve.  The list of new features is very impressive.  I was able to upgrade without much effort.  If you're looking for simple-to-use and yet very powerful blog application, dasBlog is worth a look.  Also, check out the dasBlog documentation.

I just watched a very cool web cast for SubSonic (aka ASP.NET ActionPack).  Inspired by Ruby on Rails, it delivers to ASP.NET some of the same features such as rapid prototyping and data scaffolding.  Here's a quote from the SubSonic Community site:

This is our first step to try and pull the fun that Ruby On Rails is back into .NET. ASP.NET is getting bogged down with sooooo much ... "bloat" that it's hard to do our work on a daily basis without feeling like our code is not "best practice". We got into this because we thought it was fun - let's make it that way again!

Add the assembly, update your web.config, add a couple files, and away you go.  Out of the box it supports SQL 2K/2K5, MySQL, and the EnterpriseLibrary.  SubSonic also includes built-in code generators for your apps that must live in a Medium Trust environment.  Definitely worth a closer look.

1. Convert your 1.1 project to 2.0 using the VS 2005 conversion wizard (just open the project in VS 2005)
2. Close VS 2005
3. Edit your .csproj or .vbproj file with a text editor
4. Find the line that reads <ProjectType>Local</ProjectType> and change it to:
   
   [C#]
   
   <ProjectTypeGuids>{349c5851-65df-11da-9384-00065b846f21};{fae04ec0-301f-11d3-bf4b-00c04f79efbc}</ProjectTypeGuids>
   
   [VB.NET]
   
   <ProjectTypeGuids>{349c5851-65df-11da-9384-00065b846f21};{F184B08F-C81C-45F6-A57F-5ABD9991F28F}</ProjectTypeGuids>
   
   

Get a focused, first look at the features and capabilities in Microsoft Visual Basic 2005, Visual Studio 2005, and the .NET Framework 2.0. If you currently work with Visual Basic 6, these authors fully understand the adoption and code migration issues you'll encounter. They'll step you through a quick primer on .NET Framework programming, offering guidance for a productive transition. If you already work with .NET, you'll jump directly into what's new, learning how to extend your existing skills. From the innovations in rapid application development, debugging, and deployment, to new data access, desktop, and Web programming capabilities, you get the insights and code walkthroughs you need to be productive right away.

• Html Content Management
• Blogs
• RSS Feed Aggregator
  
• Event Calendar
• Search
• Image Gallery
• File Manager
• Localization
• Skinnable Design
• Host Multiple Sites From One Database

I forgot to mention in my previous post an important aspect of the Web Part Framework.  There is the concept of Web Part Zone controls that allow you to set up containers for Web Part controls or other specialized management features.  Specifically, there is a WebPartZone container class used for Web Part controls, an EditorZone used to change properties on selected Web Part control instances, a CatalogZone used to add new Web Parts to a page, and a ConnectionsZone that can be used to manage connections between Web Parts.

There are five Web Part display modes: Browse, Design, Catalog, Editor, and Connections.  Under Design mode, for example, users can drag and drop (IE) web parts around on the page.  Under Catalog display mode, the CatalogZone container is visible and users can choose from a list of available Web Part controls to add to one of the available WebPartZone containers on the page.

Web Parts Control Set Overview on MSDN

One of the best new features in ASP.NET 2.0 I have seen this week is the new Web Part Framework.  I assumed this was only for building SharePoint components.  Not at all.  This is a very rich tool set of components and controls that allow you to easily build a web portal application.  For example, you can allow users to:

• Edit the layout of your page by dragging and dropping Web Parts around on the page
• Add Web Part controls to a page (and restrict which controls are available to add)
• Collapse/Minimize Web Parts
• Remove/Hide Web Parts
• All changes are automatically stored away in the Personalization framework so that they are remembered each time the user returns to your site

Adding the Web Part Framework to your site appears to be extremely easy.  There are some base classes you can implement for maximum functionality, but you don't have to.  You can take your existing User Controls and drop them on the page inside Web Part containers and the framework will automatically provide a wrapper around your controls.

Another great feature is that Web Parts can communicate with each other.  It is possible to allow a user to dynamically add a Web Part to a page and it automatically detect and consume data exposed by one or more other Web Parts on the page.

One thing to note: Not only is SharePoint not required, but Web Parts created in ASP.NET 2.0 are currently not compatible with the current version of SharePoint.  The next version of SharePoint will be based on the Web Part framework in ASP.NET 2.0, and there may be a service pack in the meantime to allow 2.0 Web Parts to be used.

One of the cool new features in VS 2005 I’ve seen a couple of presenters use is Code Snippets.  Basically, it is a customizable code generation tool that allows you to type some quick short hand or alias, and VS 2005 will automatically expand it into a block of code.  For example, if you type “foreach” and press TAB a couple of times, you’ll get a new foreach block with customizable types and variable names.  You just have to see it for yourself.

There are a number of built-in Code Snippets (just do a help search in VS 2005), but you can also create your own.  As a matter of fact, someone has already started an online library of code snippets at GotCodeSnippets.net.  Also, there is a Code Snippet editor named Snippy (of course) that will help you build your own Code Snippets and add them to VS 2005.