asp.net FAQ

Difference between ASP.NET WebForms and ASP.NET MVC?

ASP.NET Web Forms uses Page controller pattern approach for rendering layout. In this approach, every page has it's own controller i.e. code-behind file that processes the request. On the other hand, ASP.NET MVC uses Front Controller approach. In this approach a common controller for all pages, processes the requests.

Please briefly explain ASP.NET Page life Cycle?

ASP.NET page passes through a series of steps during its life cycle. Following is the high-level explanation of life cycle stages/steps.

Initialization: Controls raise their Init event in this stage.Objects and variables are initializes for complete lifecyle of request.

LoadViewState: is a post back stage and loads the view state for the controls that enabled its view state property.

LoadPostBackData: is also a post back stage and loads the data posted for the controls and update them.

Load: In this stage page as well as all the controls raise their Load event. Till this stage all the controls are initialized and loaded. In most of the cases, we are coding this event handler.

RaisePostBackEvent: is again a postback stage. For example, it's raise against a button click event. We can easily put our code here to perform certain actions.

SaveViewState: Finally, controls state is saved in this stage before Rendering HTML.

Render: This is the stage where HTML is generated for the page.

Dispose: Lastly, all objects associated with the request are cleaned up.

For very detailed explanation of Page Life Cycle is explained here.

What is the difference between custom controls and user controls?

Custom controls are basically compiled code i.e. DLLs. These can be easily added to toolbox, so it can be easily used across multiple projects using drag and drop approach. These controls are comparatively hard to create.

But User Controls (.ascx) are just like pages (.aspx). These are comparatively easy to create but tightly couple with respect to User Interface and code. In order to use across multiple projects, we need to copy and paste to the other project as well.

What is the concept of view state in ASP.NET?

As in earlier question, we understood the concept of postback. So, in order to maintain the state between postbacks, ASP.NET provides a mechanism called view state. Hidden form fields are used to store the state of objects on client side and returned back to server in subsequent request (as postback occurs).

Difference between Response.Redirect and Server.Transfer?

In case of Response.Redirect, a new request is generated from client-side for redirected page. It's a kind of additional round trip. As new request is generated from client, so the new URL is visible to user in browser after redirection.

While in case of Server.Transfer, a request is transferred from one page to another without making a round trip from client. For the end user, URL remains the same in browser even after transferring to another page.

Please briefly explain the usage of Global.asax?

Global.asax is basically ASP.NET Application file. It’s a place to write code for Application-level events such as Application start, Application end, Session start and end, Application error etc. raised by ASP.NET or by HTTP Modules.

There is a good list of events that are fired but following are few of the important events in Global.asax:

• Application_Init occurs in case of application initialization for the very first time.
• Application_Start fires on application start.
• Session_Start fires when a new user session starts
• Application_Error occurs in case of an unhandled exception generated from application.
• Session_End fires when user session ends.
• Application_End fires when application ends or time out.

What are the different types of Validation controls in ASP.NET?

In order to validate user input, ASP.NET provides validation server controls. All validation controls inherits from BaseValidator class which contains the common validation properties and methods like ControlToValidate,Enabled, IsValid, EnableClientScript, ValidationGroup,Validate() etc.

ASP.NET provides a range of validation controls:

• RequiredFieldValidator validates compulsory/required input.
• RangeValidator validates the range. Validates that input falls between the given range values.
• CompareValidator validates or compares the input of a control with another control value or with a fixed value.
• RegularExpressionValidator validates input value against a defined regular expression pattern.
• CustomValidator allows to customize the validation logic with respect to our application logic.
• ValidationSummary displays all errors on page collectively.

What are the types of Authentication in ASP.NET?

There are three types of authentication available in ASP.NET:

• Windows Authentication: This authentication method uses built-in windows security features to authenticate user.
• Forms Authentication: authenticate against a customized list of users or users in a database.
• Passport Authentication: validates against Microsoft Passport service which is basically a centralized authentication service.

What are Session state modes in ASP.NET?

ASP.NET supports different session state storage options:

• In-Process is the default approach. It stores session state locally on same web server memory where the application is running.
• StateServer mode stores session state in a process other than the one where application is running. Naturally, it has added advantages that session state is accessible from multiple web servers in a Web Farm and also session state will remain preserved even web application is restarted.
• SQLServer mode stores session state in SQL Server database. It has the same advantages as that of StateServer.
• Custom modes allows to define our custom storage provider.
• Off mode disables session storage.

ASP.Net Page Life Cycle Events:

ASP.Net Page Life Cycle Events:

At each stage of the page life cycle, the page raises some events, which could be coded. An event handler is basically a function or subroutine, bound to the event, using declarative attributes like Onclick or handle.

Following are the page life cycle events:

• PreInit . PreInit is the first event in page life cycle. It checks the IsPostBack property and determines whether the page is a postback. It sets the themes and master pages, creates dynamic controls and gets and sets profile property values. This event can be handled by overloading the OnPreInit method or creating a Page_PreInit handler.
• Init . Init event initializes the control property and the control tree is built. This event can be handled by overloading the OnInit method or creating a Page_Init handler.
• InitComplete . InitComplete event allows tracking of view state. All the controls turn on view-state tracking.
• LoadViewState . LoadViewState event allows loading view state information into the controls.
• LoadPostData . during this phase, the contents of all the input fields defined with the

  tag are processed.
• PreLoad . PreLoad occurs before the post back data is loaded in the controls. This event can be handled by overloading the OnPreLoad method or creating a Page_PreLoad handler.
• Load . the Load event is raised for the page first and then recursively for all child controls. The controls in the control tree are created. This event can be handled by overloading the OnLoad method or creating a Page_Load handler.
• LoadComplete . the loading process is completed, control event handlers are run and page validation takes place. This event can be handled by overloading the OnLoadComplete method or creating a Page_LoadComplete handler.
• PreRender . the PreRender event occurs just before the output is rendered. By handling this event, pages and controls can perform any updates before the output is rendered.
• PreRenderComplete . as the PreRender event is recursively fired for all child controls, this event ensures the completion of the pre-rendering phase.
• SaveStateComplete . state of control on the page is saved. Personalization, control state and view state information is saved. The HTML markup is generated. This stage can be handled by overriding the Render method or creating a Page_Render handler.
• UnLoad . the UnLoad phase is the last phase of the page life cycle. It raises the UnLoad event for all controls recursively and lastly for the page itself. Final cleanup is done and all resources and references, such as database connections, are freed. This event can be handled by modifying the OnUnLoad method or creating a Page_UnLoad handler.

• ASP.Net Page Life Cycle:

  When a page is requested, it is loaded into the server memory, processed and sent to the browser. Then it is unloaded from the memory. At each of this steps, methods and events are available, which could be overridden according to the need of the application. In other words, you can write your own code to override the default code.
  The Page class creates a hierarchical tree of all the controls on the page. All the components on the page, except the directives are part of this control tree. You can see the control tree by adding trace= "true" to the Page directive. We will cover page directives and tracing under 'directives' and 'error handling'.
  The page life cycle phases are:
  • Initialization
  • Instantiation of the controls on the page
  • Restoration and maintenance of the state
  • Execution of the event handler codes
  • Page rendering
  Understanding the page cycle helps in writing codes for making some specific thing happen at any stage of the page life cycle. It also helps in writing custom controls and initializing them at right time, populate their properties with view-state data and run control behavior code.
  Following are the different stages of an ASP.Net page:
  • Page request . when ASP.Net gets a page request, it decides whether to parse and compile the page or there would be a cached version of the page; accordingly the response is sent
  • Starting of page life cycle . at this stage, the Request and Response objects are set. If the request is an old request or post back, the IsPostBack property of the page is set to true. The UICulture property of the page is also set.
  • Page initialization . at this stage, the controls on the page are assigned unique ID by setting the UniqueID property and themes are applied. For a new request postback data is loaded and the control properties are restored to the view-state values.
  • Page load . at this stage, control properties are set using the view state and control state values.
  • Validation . Validate method of the validation control is called and if it runs successfully, the IsValid property of the page is set to true.
  • Postback event handling . if the request is a postback (old request), the related event handler is called.
  • Page rendering . at this stage, view state for the page and all controls are saved. The page calls the Render method for each control and the output of rendering is written to the OutputStream class of the Page's Response property.
  • Unload . the rendered page is sent to the client and page properties, such as Response and Request are unloaded and all cleanup done.