ASP.NET and Web Services

Chapter 13

ASP.NET and Web Services

So far, we've seen how Visual Basic .NET can render data with Windows Forms and in console applications. We're now going to look at how we can render Web pages, using the same techniques we've learned when building a Windows Forms application. I'll also describe Web services, which are used to communicate with interfaces of remote components. If the use of Web services sounds strange, hang on until you reach the second part of the chapter. Web services are going to become the next big thing on the Internet, and Microsoft .NET is poised to make this happen.

Web Forms (the controls and classes .NET provides for building Web pages) and Web services (programmable application logic accessible by standard Internet protocols) are part of the framework for Internet functionality included in Visual Basic .NET and are known by the umbrella term ASP.NET. If you have previously worked with Active Server Pages (ASP), you will be surprised at how much different and more efficient ASP.NET is. ASP.NET encompasses a completely new programming object model. It replaces the Visual Basic 6 WebClasses and DHTML pages. Not only that, but the ASP.NET programming model is also more consistent and easier to use.