Chapter 3. Data Source Controls and Data Binding

One of the features of ASP.NET 1.0 that so excited developers was the introduction of server-side data binding. This had probably the greatest effect of all the new features in reducing the code required to build data-driven pages, when compared with previous versions of ASP (and other dynamic Web page technologies). No longer do you need to write masses of intermingled markup, literal text, and code to build HTML tables in your pages to display data. And, as an added advantage, data binding usually provides improved performance as well.

ASP.NET 2.0 continues the process of reducing the requirements for code and developer effort. It provides new controls that remove the need to write those almost identical chunks of data access code that fetch the data you need from the data store. And it also considerably simplifies the previously cumbersome syntax for server-side data binding.

In this chapter and the next , we look at the main areas where ASP.NET 2.0 changes the data access, data binding, and data output models used in ASP.NET 1.x. In this chapter we'll cover the following:

• An overview of "code-free" data binding and data updating techniques

• The new data source controls that expose data without requiring any data access code

There is also a new feature in the .NET Framework that can be useful when working with data in your Web pages and applications: a facility to add data source connection strings to a new section of a web.config file, which allows them to be encrypted for security purposes. This topic is covered, along with other configuration topics, in Chapter 13.

Meanwhile, we start off in this chapter with a brief "wow factor" look at just how easy it is to display and edit data using the combination of a data source control and a GridView control. This will also give you a good overview of the new controls and techniques that are explained in more detail throughout the rest of this chapter and the next.