What’s New in
ASP.NET 4.5
Ori Calvo, 2012
John Bryce Hi-Tech College
Ori.calvo@gmail.com
http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/oric/
Objectives
Part 1 - ASP.NET Web Forms 4.5
 Part 2 - IDE Enhancements
 Part 3 - ASP.NET MVC 4

Prerequisites
ASP.NET Developer
 Good understanding of HTML and HTTP
 Good understanding of C# Language

Getting Started

Install Visual Studio 11 Beta
◦ http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/11/enus

Some new features require Windows 8
Consumer Preview
◦ http://windows.microsoft.com/enus/windows-8/download
◦ And then install Visual Studio 11
ASP.NET Web Forms 4.5
Strongly Typed Data Control
 Model Binding
 Unobtrusive validation
 HTML5 Updates
 Core Runtime and Framework

◦ Bundling and Minification
◦ Support for Web Sockets API
Strongly Typed Data Controls
Still uses the <%# and %> syntax
 Uses a new “ItemType” attribute
 New syntax is supported under a web
control template

◦ Item
◦ BindItem
IntelliSense works !!!
 Invoking a method is supported

Model Binding
New data binding mechanism
 A data bound control can specify

◦ Select/Update/Insert/Delete methods

Method’s parameters are automatically
bound to control state
◦ Can bind parameters to other value providers

Validation is supported through
DataAnnotation
Is it MVVM?

New model binding makes ASP.NET feels
like an MVVM framework
◦ Each control is bound to an ItemType (A.K.A
ViewModel)
Use AutoMapper to switch between
Model and ViewModel
 Can it be testable too?

◦ See my blog:
http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/oric/archive/2
012/02/22/asp-net-web-forms-and-mvvm.aspx
KnockoutJS
Open Source project developed by Steve
Sanderson
 An MVVM library
 Can bind HTML elements to a JavaScript
ViewModel
 Install through NuGet

ASP.NET Web API
“Stop looking at HTTP through the
eyes of WCF”
More control over HTTP
 Simplifying configuration
 More testability
 Multiple formats on a single service
 OData support

Bundling and Minification
Must be enabled at Application_Start
 Can bundle a whole directory

◦
◦
◦
◦

Alphabetical order 
Known libraries are moved to top 
Can be customized
Minification can be skipped
Consider a NuGet package named
“Cassette”
◦ http://getcassette.net/
Web Sockets
Bi-directional, full-duplex communication
channel
 Over a single TCP socket
 Requires implementation by both web
server and web browsers

◦ IIS 8
◦ IE 10

See sample
Small Improvements

HTML Encoded Data-Binding
◦ Use <%#:
◦ More secured
◦ Not the default

Unobtrusive Validation
◦ Cleaner page
◦ Small page

HTML5 Updates
◦ TextBox.TextMode new values
◦ FileUpload supports multiple files
IDE Enhancements
HTML Editor
 JavaScript Editor
 CSS Editor
 Page Inspector
 Publishing
 IIS Express

HTML Editor
Smart Tasks inside source view
 New HTML5 snippets
 Extract to user control
 IntelliSense inside attributes
 Automatic renaming of matching tag
 Event Handler generation
 Smart indentation
 Auto reduce statement completion
 Refactoring effects markup too

JavaScript Editor
Code outlining
 Brace Matching
 Go to definition
 Implicit references
 DOM IntelliSense

CSS Editor
Hierarchical indentation
 Intellisense for CSS Hacks
 Ctrl+K,C
 Color picker
 Vendor specific prefixes
 Snippets for browser specific settings

Page Inspector
Determine which server-side code has
produced the HTML markup




Install through Web Platform Installer
Right click a file and select “View in Page
Inspector”
Renders web pages directly into visual studio
Allows you to examine source code and
HTML
More IDE Enhancements

Browser chooser
◦ Multiple

Image Thumbnails
ASP.NET MVC – Brief Overview
View
Controller
Routing
System
Extensibility
Partial View
Action
Route
Model
Metadata
HTML Helper Filter
Route Handler
Value Provider
Inline
Template
Model State
Constraint
Model Binder
Razor
Method
Selector
Temp Data
Provider
View Bag
Temp Data
Dependency
Resolver
View Engine
Action Result
ASP.NET MVC 4
New Project Templates
 Better Mobile Support
 Display Modes and View Switcher
 Recipes
 Task Support for Asynchronous
Controllers

Project Templates

Default Project Template
◦ Modern looking
◦ Richer UI through jQuery UI dialog
◦ Adaptive Rendering

Mobile
◦ Incorporate jQuery Mobile scripts

Single Page Application
◦ Integrates upshot & Knockout
◦ Come to next session 

Web API
Better Mobile Support
Adaptive Rendering
 Display Modes
 View Switcher
 Mobile Template Project

Display Modes

Useful when adding mobile support for
existing web site
◦ Install-Package jQuery.Mobile.MVC
Allows view/layout selection depending
on the browser
 Can override current browser “User
Agent String”

◦ Can be used to implement a “View Switcher”

Can register custom display modes
JQM – Server vs. Client centric
JQM can be used for both type of
application
 The challenge is to create a real
Mobile/Web application

◦ Need to preload all application views
◦ Views should be filled by client code
 KnockoutJS
◦ What if server is down?
 HTML5 Offline Web Applications
Summary

ASP.NET Web Forms
◦ New data binding mechanism

ASP.NET MVC 4
◦ Better mobile support

Visual Studio
◦ Better JavaScript development support
◦ Lots of nice/small improvements
Read more

Course 1373 at John Bryce
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/
 http://www.hanselman.com/blog/
 http://www.asp.net/mvc
 http://jquery.com/
 http://jquerymobile.com/
 http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/oric/

Thank You !!!