Building a Web 2.0 Portal with ASP.NET 3.5 (Paperback)

Description 

If you think you're well versed in ASP.NET, think again. This exceptional guide gives you a master class in site building with ASP.NET 3.5 and other cutting-edge Microsoft technologies. You learn how to develop rock-solid web portal applications that can withstand millions of hits every day while surviving scalability and security pressures -- not just for mass-consumer homepages, but also for dashboards that deliver powerful content aggregation for enterprises.

Written by Omar AL Zabir, co-founder and CTO of Pageflakes, Building a Web 2.0 Portal with ASP.NET 3.5 demonstrates how to develop portals similar to My Yahoo!, iGoogle, and Pageflakes using ASP.NET 3.5, ASP.NET AJAX, Windows Workflow Foundation, LINQ and .NET 3.5. Through the course of the book, AL Zabir builds an open source Ajax-enabled portal prototype (available online at www.dropthings.com), and walks you though the design and architectural challenges, advanced Ajax concepts, performance optimization techniques, and server-side scalability problems involved.

You learn how to:

• Implement a highly decoupled architecture following the popular n-tier, widget-based application model
• Provide drag-and-drop functionality, and use ASP.NET 3.5 to build the server-side part of the web layer
• Use LINQ to build the data access layer, and Windows Workflow Foundation to build the business layer as a collection of workflows
• Build client-side widgets using JavaScript for faster performance and better caching
• Get maximum performance out of the ASP.NET AJAX Framework for faster, more dynamic, and scalable sites
• Build a custom web service call handler to overcome shortcomings in ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 for asynchronous, transactional, cache-friendly web services
• Overcome JavaScript performance problems, and help the user interface load faster and be more responsive
• Solve scalability and security problems as your site grows from hundreds to millions of users
• Deploy and run a high-volume production site while solving software, hardware, hosting, and Internet infrastructure problems

Building a Web 2.0 Portal with ASP.NET 3.5 also presents real-world ASP.NET challenges that the author has solved in building educational and enterprise portals, plus thirteen production disasters common to web applications serving millions of users. If you're ready to build state-of-the art, high-volume web applications, this book has exactly what you need.

 

Preface

1. Introducing Web Portals and Dropthings.com

     Defining a Web Portal

     Defining a Web 2.0 Portal

     Using a Web Portal

     Navigating Dropthings

     Using ASP.NET AJAX

     Using C# 3.0 and .NET 3.5

     Summary

2. Architecting the Web Portal and Widgets

     Using a Widget Framework

     Adding Widgets

     Maximizing the First-Visit Experience

     Rendering a Second-Visit Experience

     Improving ASP.NET AJAX Performance

     Adding Authentication and Authorization

     Preventing Denial-of-Service Attacks

     Summary

3. Building the Web Layer Using ASP.NET AJAX

     Implementing the Start Page of a Web Portal

     Building a Custom Drag-and-Drop Extender for a Multicolumn Drop Zone

     Implementing WidgetContainer

     Building Widgets

     Page Switching: Simulating a Nonpostback Experience

     Using the Profile Object Inside a Web Service

     Implementing Authentication and Authorization

     Implementing Logout

     Summary

4. Building the Data and Business Layers Using .NET 3.5

     Introducing LINQ to SQL

     Building the Data Access Layer Using LINQ to SQL

     Introducing Windows Workflow Foundation

     Building the Business Layer Using WF

     Implementing the DashboardFacade

     Summary

5. Building Client-Side Widgets

     Delaying Server-Side Widget Loading

     Content Proxy

     Building a Client-Side RSS Widget

     Building a Client-Side Flickr Widget

     Summary

6. Optimizing ASP.NET AJAX

     Combining Multiple Ajax Calls into One Call

     Timing and Ordering Ajax Calls to the Server

     Using HTTP GET Calls Instead of HTTP POST

     Working with the this Function

     Summary

7. Creating Asynchronous, Transactional, Cache-Friendly Web Services

     Scalability Challenges with Web Services

     Asynchronous Web Methods

     Modifying the ASP.NET AJAX Framework to Handle Web Service Calls

     Developing Your Own Web Service Handler

     Making an Asynchronous and Cache-Friendly Proxy

     Scaling and Securing the Content Proxy

     Summary

8. Improving Server-Side Performance and Scalability

     Instrumenting Your Code to Identify Performance Problems

     Optimizing the HTTP Pipeline

     Optimizing ASP.NET 2.0/3.5 Before Going Live

     Optimizing Queries in the ASP.NET Membership Tables

     Optimizing the ASP.NET 2.0/3.5 Profile Provider Before You Go Live

     ASP.NET Production Challenges

     Redirecting Traffic from an Old Web Site to a New One

     Summary

9. Improving Client-Side Performance

     Understanding Web Caching

     Content Delivery Networks

     Optimizing Internet Explorer JavaScript Performance

     Reducing the Web Service Call Payload

     Loading the UI on Demand

     Using Read-Ahead Caching for Ajax Calls

     Hiding HTML Inside <textarea>

     Summary

10. Solving Common Deployment, Hosting, and Production Challenges

     Deploying Your Web Site in a Web Farm

     Thirteen Production Disasters That Could Happen at Anytime

     Choosing the Right Hosting Provider

     Choosing a Web Site Monitoring Tool

     Configuring Proper Performance Counters

     Summary

Index