ASP.NET 3.5 as an Alternative to CGI

Microsoft’s alternative to a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is ASP.NET, now in version 3.5. As a unified web platform, ASP.NET provides what you need to develop applications that hold state and use the information that you put into the HTML form. Instead of sending form information into a vacuum when you click a submit button, your data goes where it can be stored temporarily or permanently. Usually, when we think of saving state, we imagine writing the data to a storage device like a hard drive. Using a word processor, every time you save your file, you save its state. Using ASP.NET, you can do the same thing with information from anyone who uses your web application. This allows you to build applications where the information entered can be stored for use with either the next HTTP request or with a whole set of data entered by users all over the world—that’s quite a feat compared with saving state in your word processor file.
ASP.NET’s state-management facilities provide you with the tools that you need to control state. You do not necessarily want to save all states of a web page, but you certainly want to save the state of data entered by users and perhaps the URL of a page. Having state
management allows you to do this.

It seems that the term state is used in different ways in programming. I’ve heard of everything from “State Machines” to “State Design Patterns.” What

Answer: An object’s state refers to a condition of the object. For example, a Boolean can have two states–true or false. When you enter information into an input form, the information you enter reflects the current state of that form. To save that state, you have to put it somewhere that will hold that state until you need it. One place you can put state data is in a variable, and it can hold it for you temporarily. For permanent storage of a state, you can use a database or some other file you can store on a hard drive.

ASP.NET 3.5: Key Skills & Concepts

• Moving from client-side to server-side computing
• Understanding thin client
• Understanding stateless HTTP
• How ASP.NET 3.5 is an alternative to HTTP and CGI
• How server-side applications work with your browser
• Understanding the organization of the Microsoft .NET framework
• How to set up your computer or LAN to run ASP.NET applications
• The advantages of an ASP.NET hosting service
• What languages can be run with ASP.NET