Summary

In this chapter, you learned how to work with Site Maps. The first section discussed the SiteMapDataSource control. You learned how to declaratively represent different sets of nodes in a Site Map with this control.

Next, the SiteMap and SiteMapNode classes were examined. You learned how to create new Site Map nodes dynamically by handling the SiteMapResolve event. You also learned how to programmatically retrieve the current Site Map node in a page.

The next section discussed several advanced features of Site Maps. You learned how to display different Site Map nodes to different users depending on their roles. You also learned how to merge SiteMap files located in different subfolders. Finally, you learned how to extend Site Maps with custom attributes.

We also built two custom Site Map providers. We created an AutoSiteMapProvider that automatically builds a Site Map that reflects the folder and page structure of a website. We also created a SqlSiteMapProvider that stores a Site Map in a Microsoft SQL Server database table.

Finally, you learned how to use ASP.NET Site Maps with Google SiteMaps. In the final section of this chapter, you learned how to create a custom HTTP Handler that converts an ASP.NET Site Map into a Google SiteMap so that you can improve the way that Google indexes your website's pages.