ASP.NET 2.0 Web Parts in Action is a book written for developers who want to master every aspect of these new features, and guides the reader through the learning process using a clear and linear language.

The writing approach is very methodical, initially exposing each concept with examples and use cases which let the reader understand where each feature can be employed and then applying the newly learned concepts to real life patterns. Throughout the book the reader is guided through the development of a custom portal which lets him put in practice the topics discussed in each chapter.

Written by: Darren Neimke
Pages: 344
Publisher: Manning Publication
ISBN: 1-932394-77-X

Introduction

The book is light and easy to read, since focusing only on the aspects directly concerning the Web parts framework, and thus requiring an understanding of the ASP.NET fundamentals from the reader. It is made of ten chapters logically divided in two sections, where the former treats the fundamentals of the web part framework, such as Web parts, connections, the WebPartManager control, zones and personalization – each discussed in a dedicated chapter - and the latest explains how to apply all those concepts to enhance the editing experience and further customize the portal.

The latest chapters of the second section are then dedicated to the deployment of the portal, explaining how to resolve common issues, trace errors, managing the online portal, and applying ASP.NET common features to the web part framework. Finally the book ends with an in-depth analysis of the concept of Web Portal in the way it is used today by the major portal websites like Google, MSN and Yahoo, with attention to additional features they are actually offering like Ajax functionality.

Portals and web parts

The first section of the book is made of six chapters, starting with an introduction to the notion of portals and to the specific portal the reader is going to build throughout the book, as well as how Web parts take part in their development.

The second chapter is dedicated to Web parts, the fundamental building blocks of the framework, explains how to create them using different approaches, starting from standard ASP.NET controls up to user and custom controls and explaining in the remainder how they work internally.

The third chapter introduces connections, how to use them statically and dynamically to make Web parts talk to each other and exchange data.

The fourth chapter is entirely dedicated to the WebPartManager control, and explains how it takes part all along the page lifecycle to manage and expose events as well as keep trace of all Web parts related components living in the page.

The fifth chapter talks about zones, the containers for Web parts, and classifies the different built-in zones offered by the framework to accomplish the most common tasks as well as how to build custom zones to change or add new functionality.

Finally, the sixth and last chapter of the first section talks about personalization, a vital component of every web portal allowing users to customize each aspect of the portal itself. Personalization is one of the new features of ASP.NET 2.0 and is explained clearly with attention on how personalization data is persisted and how to work with it.

Extending the portal framework

The second section of the book is made of four chapters and is dedicated to an in-depth discussion about the extensibility of the portal framework. It starts with the seventh and eighth chapters which guide the reader trough the practices of customization of the portal, how to make it more user friendly, applying enhancements to the usability through custom implementations of the standard components and enhancing user interface by extending all of the concepts learned in the previous chapters.

The ninth chapter is completely dedicated to the deployment of a finished portal, and talks about how to plan the deployment, how to perform health monitoring of the live site and finally how to prevent and recover from malfunctioning using the features offered by the underlying framework as well as implementing custom solutions.

The latest chapter is a vast discussion about portals in general, starting with thoughts about the portal developed throughout the book, going through an analysis of the most famous and successful portals available at the present time and concluding with the features available in those portals and still missing from those offered by the one developed in the book, with suggestions and concrete examples about how to seamlessly integrate them in our portal.

The book ends with a short section about the Microsoft Live.com portal and an appendix which guides the less experienced user through the basic steps for the creation of an ASP.NET project to host a portal.

Conclusions

ASP.NET Web Parts in Action is a must read book for every developer who wants to extend his knowledge of the ASP.NET framework towards the development of custom web portals exploiting the great potentiality offered by the Web parts framework. It targets both the experienced and the novice Web parts developer, since it treats all topics starting from the most basic concepts up to the most advanced ones, giving all the tools needed to master Web parts for building professional portals.

It contains a great amount of well written examples targeting real life scenarios, thus involving the reader in something really interesting. Furthermore, applying all the concepts learned in the book to the construction of a real portal whose features are enhanced and extended all along the book is a great way of stimulating the readers in the profound understanding of the topics discussed, challenging them in the application of those concepts supported by the complete code shipped with the book as well as available for download from the author’s website.

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