ASP.NET 3.5 is equipped with a built-in security system, standard design templates, and easy configurations for database connections, which make it the ideal language for building a content management system. With the strong community support for the ASP.NET platform, you can be assured that what you write today will be around and supported for years to come. You can imagine how easy it is to get lost in the myriad features especially if you are a newcomer.

This book shows you how to make use of ASP.NET's features and create a functional Content Management System quickly and conveniently. You will learn how to build your site and see the different ways in which you can customize your code to fit your needs. With this book in hand, you can easily set up users and groups, create valuable content for your users, and manage the layout of your site efficiently. All you need is a basic understanding of coding and a desire to learn, and this book will take care of the rest.

This book will teach you to get your site up and running quickly, and maintain its content even if you have little or no web design or programming experience. It will give you all the knowledge you need to use the tools as well as the code required to make yourself a strong developer far beyond your site. It begins with setting up your programming environment and coding a Content Management System. You will learn how to install and configure a database and connect it to your CMS. You will be able to create content and manage the layout of your site, and also make it available beyond the browser. At the end of this book, you will have designed and built a CMS that allows you to administer an Articles section, Images and Files sections, as well as a full set of Administrator tools for your site.

What you will learn from this book?

• Set up your programming environment and jump right into coding a completely functional Content Management System
• Install and configure a database and connect it to your Content Management System
• Learn all about n-tier architecture and how it can work within Content Management Systems
• Set up users and groups within your application and learn about the management tools
• Create and manage valuable content within your site for the users and learn how to make it available beyond the browser
• Learn all about Master Pages, Content Placeholders, Themes/Skins, and managing the layout of your site
• Begin digging into site navigation and looking into the concepts of inheritance
• Use Administrator privileges to manage your site from a single point

Approach

This step-by-step tutorial shows the reader how to build an ASP.NET Content Management System from scratch. You will first learn the basics of a content management system and how to set up the tools you need to build your site. Then, you start building your site, setting up users, and adding content to your site. You will be able to edit the content of your site and also manage its layout all by yourself. Towards the end, you will learn to manage your site from a single point and will have all the information you need to extend your site to make it more powerful.

Filled with plenty of code snippets and screen images to keep you on track as well as numerous additional samples to show you all the exciting alternatives to explore, this book prepares you for all the challenges you can face in development.

Who this book is written for?

This book is for beginner to intermediate ASP.NET users who have managed to learn Visual Web Developer and want to take on their first real-world application. It will help those who have used SQL Server Express, completed a few sample projects, and now wish to explore a Content Management System.

About the Author

Curt Christianson

Curt Christianson has been involved in the tech community since the mid 1990s and has been a professional developer for more than a decade. He is an active community contributor on the Asp.net forums as well as a Forum Moderator. He is currently in his 6th Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award cycle for his work with ASP/ASP.Net. He is writing a number of open source add-ins and Starter Kits. He's based in Wisconsin, U.S.A. as a professional developer as well as contributing to books and articles, both printed and on the Internet.

Curt is in the process of entering into the life of a married man thanks to his better half Jessyca. They plan on settling down with lots of little ones running around, providing the mosquitoes don't carry them all off first or the winter chill doesn't get them.

Jeff Cochran

Jeff Cochran is a Senior Network Specialist for the City of Naples, Florida. A large part of his job includes web design and coding, as well as web server management. Jeff has nearly two decades of experience with the Internet, having started one of the first Internet Service Providers in Southwest Florida, and has worked with Windows and Unix-based web servers. Now primarily concentrating on Windows technologies, Jeff has been a Microsoft MVP for Microsoft's Internet Information Server for nearly a decade and is active in the ASP Classic and ASP.NET communities as well.

Jeff has been married for twenty years to Zina, a graphic designer and, according to most accounts, the driving force that keeps him focused on... Oh look - A Pony! In the off-hours, Jeff and Zina spend much of their time remodeling a 1950s bungalow in Naples, Florida, trying to keep the rain out and the cats in. Jeff also has a long-term addiction to classic pinball machines, tropical fish, and off-road vehicles, all of which compete with home repairs for a share of his income.