- What Is ASP.NET?
- Installing the .NET Framework, Visual Web Developer, and SQL Server 2008
- A Brief Tour of Visual Web Developer
- Summary
- Q&A
- Workshop
Installing the .NET Framework, Visual Web Developer, and SQL Server 2008
Three components need to be installed before we can start building ASP.NET applications:
- The .NET Framework—Contains the ASP.NET engine, which is used to handle requests for ASP.NET pages. To install the .NET Framework engine, your computer must be running Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, or Windows 7.
- Visual Web Developer—The tool of choice for creating, editing, and testing ASP.NET pages.
- SQL Server 2008—A powerful database engine that is used extensively from Hour 14, "Accessing Data with the Data Source Web Controls," onward.
The book's CD includes the installation program for Visual Web Developer. Because Visual Web Developer is designed for developing ASP.NET websites, installing it automatically installs the .NET Framework and other required ASP.NET tools. You can also optionally install SQL Server 2008.
To begin the installation process, insert the CD into your computer. This brings up the installation program starting with the screen shown in Figure 1.4.
Figure 1.4 Start the installation process by inserting the CD into your computer's CD-ROM drive.
Click the Next button twice to advance past the welcome and license terms screens. At this point you should see the screen shown in Figure 1.5. From here, you can choose whether to install Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express Edition. Installing SQL Server 2008 is optional in the sense that Visual Web Developer will install successfully with or without it; however, the latter half of this book's examples rely on SQL Server 2008 being installed. Therefore, make sure that this check box is selected.
Figure 1.5 Make sure to install SQL Server 2008 Express Edition.
Figure 1.6 Specify the folder in which to install Visual Web Developer.
The next screen (see Figure 1.6) enables you to specify in what folder to install Visual Web Developer as well as what products will be installed and the disk space required.
After double-checking that the correct packages are being installed, click the Install button to begin the installation process. The overall installation process will take several minutes. During the installation, you are kept abreast with what package is currently being installed as well as the overall installation progress (see Figure 1.7).
Figure 1.7 Monitor the installation's progress.