Installation


Installation of Web Matrix is simple, and takes place in several steps. Inserting the Web Matrix CD (included in the back of this book) will bring up a web page outlining the installation steps. If the web page doesn't appear, then just run the startcd.exe program from the CD directly – this will launch the start page.

Installing Microsoft .NET

Before you can install Web Matrix you need to install the .NET Framework. If you've already got this installed then you can skip this step. The version on the Web Matrix CD is .NET Framework 1.0. From the main start page from the CD you'll see a set of steps, labeled 1 to 4. If you follow these in order you end up doing more work than is necessary, so skip straight to Step 4.

Note

The .NET Framework SDK, installed in Step 4, includes the .NET Framework, the MSDE database setup utility, the ASP.NET quickstart code samples, and the .NET Framework documentation. The only thing it doesn't include is Web Matrix, which we'll install from Step 2.

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  1. Pick the right hand link, to install the Microsoft .NET Framework Software Development Kit (SDK). This installs .NET version 1.0, plus all of the documentation:

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  2. Click Open to start the installation. You may receive this warning:

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    This just tells you that you haven't got a web server installed on the machine. Don't worry about this, as Web Matrix comes with its own web server, so you don't have to install a web server separately.

    Note

    If you have IIS installed on your system, you can use either the IIS web server, or the web matrix web server once you've installed Web Matrix – the Web Matrix installation doesn't overwrite anything, and the two co-exist nicely.

    So if you do see this message, just press Continue and you should see the following:

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  3. Press Next to start the installation wizard:

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  4. Select I accept the agreement, and press Next to continue:

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  5. Make sure that both optional checkboxes are ticked, and press Next:

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  6. Leave the settings at their defaults, and press Next. This starts the SDK installation, and it's time to go and make a cup of coffee – watching the install screen is rather dull.

    Note

    Once this stage of the installation is finished, you can, and should, take time to install the service packs (which are updates designed to fix small bugs and potential security holes in the Framework). You can either install just the first service pack from the CD (as linked in Step 1), or you can go to the Microsoft Windows Update site (http://www.windowsupdate.com) and download the most recent service packs.

Installing the Database Server Software

Once the SDK installation has finished, you need to install the database server software – this will allow you to run the sample applications, as well as create your own databases.

  1. Select the Microsoft .NET Framework SDK program group, and then select Samples and QuickStart Tutorials.

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  2. From the resulting page, select Step 1: Install the .NET Framework Samples Database:

  3. You'll then be prompted with the following – select Open. This will install the database software.

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  4. After rebooting your system, if you have IIS installed on your system, you can continue to Step 2 of the quickstart installation, and install the samples and tutorials. Included in this installation are four sample databases, one of which we'll be using later on, so we recommend that you then run Step 2 in the installation.

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Installing the Sample Databases Manually

If you don't have IIS installed on your system, you can install it (on compatible operating systems) by following the instructions in Appendix A, then follow Step 2. For those of you who don't have the option of installing IIS (if you're running Windows XP Home Edition, or if you simply don't want to install IIS), you need to run some different code to install the database we'll use later in the book. You need to run a small installation script, available with the Chapter01 code download for this book (the details of how to download the code for this book are in the Introduction).

To install the databases using the installation script file in the code download for this chapter, open the Chapter01 folder, within the BegWebMatrix downloaded folder. Run the InstallDatabases.bat file, and the installation script will run and install the databases. When it's finished running, you will see the following screen:

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Important

This script is also very useful if ever you need to restore the sample databases, for example, if you've inserted or deleted data from the sample databases and want to return them to their initial state. Whenever you want to do this, simply re-run this script, and the Northwind, Pubs, Grocer To Go, and Portal databases will be restored.

Note

After this installation, you will have a database configured to run with the instance name of (local)\NetSDK, and you will have access to four sample databases on that server. You'll find out more about what this actually means in Chapter 8.

Installing Web Matrix

At this stage you now have both .NET and database software installed. All that's left is Web Matrix. Now you can switch back to the screen from the CD (if it's closed just run startcd.exe from the root directory of the CD), and scroll to Section 2:

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  1. To install Web Matrix click the first link, to give the following:

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  2. Click Open to start the installation:

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  3. Click Next to continue:

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  4. Enter your User Name and Organization (you can leave this blank if you like). By default the Web Matrix will be available for all users who use the computer, but you can make it available only to yourself. I'd recommend leaving the default here. Press Next to get to the features screen:

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  5. Since Web Matrix is very small and has all of its features included, there's not much to choose here. Just leave the settings as they are and press Next to perform the installation.

  6. Once complete you can check to see if the installation was successful by running Web Matrix – there will be a new menu under the Programs menu from the Start button – it will be labeled Microsoft ASP.NET Web Matrix:

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Upon starting Web Matrix you'll see the following screen:

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We'll look at these options a little later, but now you know it works, let's carry on looking at the installation options.

Tours and Tutorials

As part of the set up routine from the Web Matrix CD there are three extra features. The first is a video, with some interviews with users of Web Matrix, telling you how great it is.

The Web Matrix Guided Tour

The second is the guided tour – a set of HTML pages explaining how some of the features can be used.

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ASP.NET Quickstart Tutorial

The third is the tutorial for ASP.NET itself.

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You don't need to explore any of these in detail yet, so let's carry on with the installation. However, once you've started using ASP.NET it's worth spending some time browsing through the ASP.NET QuickStart Tutorial. It's full of great examples of ASP.NET.

Visit the Web Site

The home of ASP.NET is shown in the last step of the installation screen:

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This site is maintained by the Microsoft team that develops ASP.NET, and should be on your Favorites list. Not only is it where new announcements are made, where articles are posted, and where controls are available, but it also provides a set of forums. These are invaluable for getting help with ASP.NET problems, and it's well worth joining.




Beginning Dynamic Websites with ASP. NET Web Matrix
Beginning Dynamic Websites: with ASP.NET Web Matrix (Programmer to Programmer)
ISBN: 0764543741
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 141

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