Chapter 1 of Zak Ruvalcaba’s Build Your Own ASP.NET Website Using C# and VB.NET introduces .NET, explains how classic ASP.NET pages run, and walks through a small Web Forms example in both C# and VB.NET. It is a 2004-era guide updated on SitePoint in 2024—not a current installation guide for ASP.NET Core.
What Chapter 1 covers
SitePoint’s Chapter 1, “Introduction to .NET and ASP.NET,” was published on April 27, 2004, and updated on February 12, 2024. It is an excerpt from Ruvalcaba’s book, Build Your Own ASP.NET Website Using C# and VB.NET. The chapter frames .NET as Microsoft’s software-development platform, encompassing the .NET Framework and tools for building services and client applications. It also notes that the platform supported more than twenty programming languages at the time—a historical description, not a current count.
The chapter’s main practical idea is the relationship between server code and what a visitor sees: ASP.NET executes on the web server, which sends ordinary HTML, JavaScript, and CSS to the browser. The browser does not need to execute the server-side C# or VB.NET code.
What ASP.NET means in this chapter
Ruvalcaba describes ASP.NET as “a server-side technology for developing Web applications based on the Microsoft .NET Framework.” Here, ASP.NET means classic ASP.NET on the .NET Framework, using Web Forms—not ASP.NET Core.
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How a Web Forms page is served
- A browser requests an `.aspx` page from a web server.
- The server processes ASP.NET directives, code, and server controls.
- The server returns rendered browser markup, such as HTML, along with any client-side JavaScript or CSS.
- The browser displays that response; it does not receive the server-side page logic as executable C# or VB.NET.
This explains why the example uses an `
The historical setup: Windows, IIS, and the .NET Framework
The chapter’s setup reflects its original period. It assumes Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Professional, or Windows 2000/2003 Server; Internet Information Services (IIS); the .NET Framework SDK; and a text editor such as Notepad or Web Matrix. It presents Microsoft Access or MSDE as database options. Visual Studio .NET is mentioned as an optional environment for more serious development.
In this workflow, IIS runs the site locally so the developer can request pages, debug them, and configure the application before deployment. These are legacy prerequisites: they should not be treated as instructions for installing or developing a modern ASP.NET Core application. Current ASP.NET Core tooling and cross-platform practices are a separate subject.
Create the chapter’s first page
The example saves a Web Forms page as FirstPage.aspx. Its server-side `Page_Load` handler assigns the current date and time to a server label. The two language versions perform the same task.
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<asp:Label ID="lblTime" runat="server" />
<script runat="server">
Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
lblTime.Text = DateTime.Now.ToString()
End Sub
</script>C# version
<asp:Label ID="lblTime" runat="server" />
<script runat="server">
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
lblTime.Text = DateTime.Now.ToString();
}
</script>To try the example in the environment the chapter describes, place the `.aspx` file where the local IIS site can serve it, then request it through IIS—for example, using a localhost address mapped to that location. The page’s handler runs on the server, and the browser receives rendered HTML, including a span containing the time. The output is a date-and-time string; its format depends on the runtime environment’s formatting conventions.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to read this chapter today
Read it as an introduction to the architecture and vocabulary of classic ASP.NET Web Forms. Its central server-rendering idea remains useful for understanding web applications, but its specific page model, server controls, runtime, and Windows/IIS setup are historical. For a new project, consult current ASP.NET Core documentation rather than following this chapter’s installation path.
SitePoint identifies its online chapters as excerpts and directs readers to the book, Build Your Own ASP.NET Website Using C# and VB.NET. The next chapter moves on to page structure, view state, namespaces, directives, and comparisons between VB.NET and C#.
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