ASP to ASP.NET Migration Guide
Thinking about building a site with ASP.NET?
Looking to learn more about ASP.NET?
This page provides resources for ASP developers who are interested in learning more about building web sites with ASP.NET. There are four sections:
Evaluating ASP.NET
Getting Started with ASP.NET
Migrating ASP Applications to ASP.NET
Getting your Questions Answered
Are you thinking about using ASP.NET but looking for more information before making a decision? You may find the following links useful:
There are a ton of online resources available, from free tools to samples and tutorials, as well as books and newsletters.
If you are using Visual Studio .NET to build ASP.NET applications, we recommend you start by visiting Introduction to ASP.NET Web Applications in Visual Studio .NET.
If you are not using Visual Studio .NET, we recommend three steps to get started:
- Install Visual Web Developer: Visual Web Developer is a free tool for developing ASP.NET applications.
- Run through some tutorials:
- Visual Web Developer Guided Tour: The Visual Web Developer Guided Tour is an introductory tutorial which will take you from building your first ASP.NET page to integrating data and creating web services.
- ASP.NET Quickstart Tutorials: The Quickstart tutorials show you some of the advanced features of ASP.NET including caching, session state management, security, and deployment.
- Explore the ASP.NET Starter Kits: The ASP.NET Starter Kits are five samples applications available complete with source code to show you how to build real-world sites using ASP.NET. You might also be interested in DotNetNuke, a free content management system built on ASP.NET.
Introductory Articles and Webcasts
More resources:
Some developers may wish to migrate their existing ASP code to ASP.NET. The following is a list of resources that can help with this task.
Migration Assistants
- ASP to ASP.NET Migration Assistant: The ASP to ASP.NET Migration Assistant is a utility to assist developers in migrating their applications from ASP to ASP.NET. It does not make the conversion process completely automatic, but it will speed up a developers project by automating some of the steps required for migration.
Articles
Webcasts
Below is a list of frequently asked questions, if you dont see your question answered here, please consult the following discussion forums:
- How much does ASP.NET cost?
ASP.NET is part of the Microsoft .NET Framework. The .NET Framework is a feature of Windows, and is available for download at no charge from this site. You can develop ASP.NET sites using a text editor, but if youre looking for a development tool please see Which development tools support ASP.NET?
- What operating does ASP.NET run on?
ASP.NET runs on Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP Professional. Windows XP Home is also supported for development only using Visual Web Developer Express Edition tool (which is available for download) or Visual Studio 2005.
- How do I get ASP.NET?
You can get ASP.NET by installing the Microsoft .NET Framework. The .NET Framework is available in either a redistributable or SDK format. See this overview to learn more and install the .NET Framework.
- Whats the difference between ASP and ASP.NET?
ASP (Active Server Pages) and ASP.NET are both server side technologies for building web sites and web applications, but ASP.NET is not simply a new version of ASP. ASP.NET has been entirely re-architected to provide a highly productive programming experience based on the .NET Framework, and a robust infrastructure for building reliable and scalable web applications. For an overview of ASP.NET enhancements click here.
- Are there any pre-built applications or code samples available for ASP.NET?
The ASP.NET Visual Web Developer Starter Kits are sample applications available complete with source code to show you how to build real-world sites using ASP.NET using Visual Studio or Visual Web Developer Express Edition. You might also be interested in DotNetNuke, a free content management system built on ASP.NET. Lastly, there is CommunityServer, a platform for rapidly enabling online communities, which includes discussion forums, e-mail lists, newsgroups, blogs, file galleries, and more.