ASP.NET Prerequisites

To create ASP.NET applications, you must prepare your , the one you will be using to develop your applications. Everything you need is free. To start, your computer should run one of the following operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows XP Professional (no Home Edition)
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (any version)

Also, you should (according to Microsoft, "must"; but you will see in our lessons that we will be using different browsers to test our pages) install the latest Internet Explorer browser. The minimum you should have is Internet Explorer 5.5 but, unless you have any particular reason, you should install the 6.0 version.

To support databases (even if you don't intend to create web-based databases), you must install MDAC 2.7 or later, which is a free download from the Microsoft web site. Normally, you may have MDAC installed already but just in case you need it...

Along with one of the above operating systems, you must install Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 or later. Normally, during the installation of the operating system, you would have been prompted to install it. Otherwise, you can install it from Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs -> Add/Remove Windows Components -> Internet Information Services (IIS) and follow the steps:

Once the operating system and these components are ready, you must install the .NET Framework. It is likely to be installed already. If you want to check, you can open the Add/Remove Programs from Control Panel and you should see an entry for Microsoft .NET Framework:

You can also see its entry in the Start menu. If you don't have it already, you can download it (free) from the Microsoft web site at http://www.asp.net.

1. Open the Inetpub folder, and find a folder named wwwroot
2. Create a new folder, like "MyWeb", under wwwroot.
3. Use a text editor to write some ASP code, save the file as "test1.asp" in the "MyWeb" folder
4. Make sure your Web server is running - its status can be checked by going into the Control Panel, then Administrative Tools, and double-click the "IIS Manager" icon
5. Open your browser and type in "http://localhost/MyWeb/test1.asp", to view your first ASP page