ASP.NET

30-Sep-10 1:52

Ok I'll try to keep this short as I know a lot of you are busy like myself. The compnay I work for is going to implement a intranet site, of which I'll be solely working on it (lucky me). So it's going to be up to me to get everything working and looking good. The problem I have is I haven't done web programming in about 8+ years. I'm thinking going the ASP route will be easiest as I've been doing a lot of VB and C# in the past 2 years. However I'm not really sure what it is I'm going to need to get this site up and going. Do I just need to get my boss to get IIS up and running or is there more? This is the first time I'm going to be on this side of the site as well so it's going to be a learning exp. Any help or tips is greatly appreciated.

Not Active30-Sep-10 2:35

30-Sep-10 2:35

Many of your questions can't really be answered since we have no background on what your requirements are. Is the site data-driven? Do you require a high degree of user interaction? Are their memberships involved, i.e. login and registration?

By ASP I'm hoping you really mean ASP.NET. These are two completely different technologies that require different tools and knowledge. I would advocate ASP.NET with C#. Some will argue that the language doesn't matter, however, there are more samples of higher quality in C# than in VB.NET, something you will need if you are learning/re-learning web development.

I know the language. I've read a book. - _Madmatt

MacRaider430-Sep-10 3:00

30-Sep-10 3:00

See I told you it's been a while. Yes it will be ASP.Net and more than likely using C# as I've been using that more lately. Well as of right now the plan is to make the site mostly informational. Will need to have it connect to a database for some info, not sure if it will be SQL or Access as of now. There will be no log in or registration involved as of this point in time. As I get more proficient in the web realm again I'll be adding some training modules to the site (probably a good 1 - 2 years away as this is more of a side project). Again it's been a long time for me so I don't know if these modules are something I'll be able to do easy enough in ASP (once I learn more obviously) or use something like Director (Am I dating myself or what Big Grin | :-D

)
I think I mentioned, but it will be a intranet site so I won't have to worry about outside people looking at it.
Biggest road block is my boss thinks Windows Server 2000 is the greatest thing and everything else doesn't work. We just got 2 2008 servers (for development as we upgrade) and he's convinced that nothing works and that it's just plain junk. I'm just so lucky, what can I say.

Consider DotNetNuke

David Mujica30-Sep-10 3:14

David Mujica

30-Sep-10 3:14

Since it seems that at first you want to make it informational, then later maybe add some custom programming I would seriously consider DotNetNuke.

There is a good learning curve, but it gives you a BIG head start in delivering a functional Intranet.

http://www.dotnetnuke.com/[^]

I've used it in the past and found it to be really great.

Good luck.
Thumbs Up | :thumbsup:

Not Active30-Sep-10 3:41

30-Sep-10 3:41

I wouldn't recommend DotNetNuke to anyone. One, it's VB.NET where he is more familiar with C#. Two, its an overblown bloated framework for people who don't understand how to do web development. The OP wants to learn, not just follow a template

I know the language. I've read a book. - _Madmatt

ScottM130-Sep-10 20:51

ScottM1

30-Sep-10 20:51

Seconded

DiscoJimmy1-Oct-10 2:41

DiscoJimmy

1-Oct-10 2:41

Thirded.

We set up a site here at work recently and someone suggested DotNetNuke. So far it's been lots of the hassles and restrictions you get with magic black box solutions, and none of the benefits. I'm given to understand that if you want non-programmers to constantly be changing the content on your site, it can be handy, but otherwise it's a real PITA. Myself, I prefer more bare bones, flexible solution. If you already know C# I'd suggest just doing a basic ASP.NET site. It's not as rapid and clean as Ruby on Rails or CakePHP, but it works.

ScottM11-Oct-10 2:44

ScottM1

1-Oct-10 2:44

I remember trying DotNetNuke and thinking that Sharepoint was better OMG | :OMG:

Fabio Franco1-Oct-10 5:07

Fabio Franco

1-Oct-10 5:07

Fourthed?

MacRaider41-Oct-10 6:20

1-Oct-10 6:20

Yeah I think I'm going to avoid DotNetNuke, I'd rather learn how to do things and have more control...

Fabio Franco1-Oct-10 6:31

Fabio Franco

1-Oct-10 6:31

"I'd rather learn how to do things and have more control"

That's the best decision you'll ever make.

MacRaider430-Sep-10 3:45

30-Sep-10 3:45

Ok ultra newbie question... I've read some through thier site and I'm still not sure the answer to this, thus the ultra newbie question. I would still need to run IIS or is this something similar? Remind me never to voulenteer for something again...

Not Active30-Sep-10 3:47

30-Sep-10 3:47

It runs on IIS. I would avoid this framework though.

I know the language. I've read a book. - _Madmatt

Not Active30-Sep-10 3:45

30-Sep-10 3:45

I would certainly try convincing the boss to pull his head out of the sand and actually look at the facts, Server 2008 is an improvement over 2000.

I would also recommend avoiding Access for web development. SQL Server, even SQL Express, which is free, will give you better performance and potential for upgrading in the future. You may want to consider ASP.NET MVC. It will provide good modularity and testability. What version of Visual Studio will you be using? What framework version?

Depending on what these training modules consist of you may want to consider Silverlight.

I know the language. I've read a book. - _Madmatt

MacRaider430-Sep-10 3:53

30-Sep-10 3:53

Ok we are using VS 2010 though I do have a copy of 2005. One of the new 2008 Servers does have SQL Server 2008 on it. Would just need to convince the other programmer/DBA that I should use that rather than Access. Though this does bring up a question and one new to me thus the reason I'm asking. Right now everyone is on "Domain A" the new servers are on "Domain B", would they be able to interact. Obvously there is no one here I can ask that question to as you may have guessed from thinking 2000 is the best thing ever.
I've been using Aptana as my HTML editor since HomeSite isn't avaiable any more Sigh | :sigh:

yes I know I need to upgrade too, but at least I'm willing to.
As far as framework, I can honestly say I haven't even thought that far ahead yet.
The training would be for the inhouse applications we use, so would need to dummy something up to look like it but with obviously limited functionality for training.

Not Active30-Sep-10 4:03

30-Sep-10 4:03

Domain A access Domain B is a question of the trust relationships established between the domains. Something your network people should have set up, other wise no, the two domains will not be able to communicate and authenticate between each other.

There is plenty of info available comparing Access and SQL Server, but essentially Access was designed as a desktop database for single user usage, not what you want for a high availability web application. Access also doesn't support features like stored procedures that can be used to increase performance of the application.

I know the language. I've read a book. - _Madmatt

MacRaider430-Sep-10 4:24

30-Sep-10 4:24

Ok so that will be a big NO on the domains so it looks like my only choice will be Server 2000 running what ever version of IIS it will alow me to. Though we did just pull a server off line that was 2000 so maybe I can convince him to turn that into the "web server" and I can hopefully install SQL Server Express on that. I kinda figured SQL was the better choice for the above mentioned reasons.