New and Enhanced Features

This section describes technologies that previously were available as independent installations and are now included in the .NET Framework version 1.1. This section also describes key changes to existing technologies.

ASP.NET Mobile Controls

ASP.NET Mobile Controls (formerly the Microsoft Mobile Internet Toolkit) extends the .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET by providing support for mobile (wireless) devices such as cell phones and personal data assistants (PDAs). The .NET Framework version 1.1 release incorporates the mobile controls into the .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET distributions.

Because mobile controls are now a part of the .NET Framework, the terminology has changed to match the conventions used in .NET documentation, and the mobile controls documentation has merged into the larger .NET Framework documentation set. The name Mobile Internet Toolkit is replaced by ASP.NET Mobile Controls.

ASP.NET Mobile Controls extend ASP.NET server controls such that they adapt to the mobile device on which the Web application is rendering. Through browser detection, the mobile controls conform to the capabilities of individual devices ranging from full-featured PDA browsers to small, 5-line × 20-character cell phone displays. This adaptive rendering feature handles many of the tedious device-specific rendering decisions and frees you to focus on your Web application logic.

Changes in ADO.NET

The .NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC, which previously was available as a Web download only, now ships with the .NET Framework under the namespace System.Data.Odbc.

Note   Developers using the .NET Framework version 1.0 still must download the .NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC from https://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads (namespace = Microsoft.Data.Odbc).

The .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle now ships with the .NET Framework under the namespace System.Data.OracleClient. Developers using the .NET Framework version 1.0 can download the .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle from https://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads.

In addition, ADO.NET now includes the following features:

  • The DataReader object now exposes a HasRows property to determine if rows were returned without having to call Read. For more information, see Retrieving Data Using the DataReader.
  • The Connection object now has an EnlistDistributedTransaction method to enable manual enlistment in distributed transactions. For more information, see Performing Transactions.

Side-by-Side Execution

The .NET Framework version 1.1 supports side-by-side execution. Side-by-side execution is the ability to store and execute multiple versions of an application or component on the same computer. This means that you can have multiple versions of the runtime, and multiple versions of applications and components that use a version of the runtime, on the same computer at the same time. In addition, subsequent installations of other versions of the .NET Framework or of a component will not affect the applications already installed. For more information, see Side-by-Side Execution.

Side-by-side execution does not imply that a managed application is compatible with other versions of the runtime or of a component. Rather, it means that a managed application can choose the runtime and the components it executes with, and that multiple versions of the runtime, applications, and components can coexist on the same computer. It is up to you to decide which versions of the runtime and which components a particular application will use.

Changes in .NET Framework Security

In version 1.0 and 1.1, applications that receive less than full trust from the runtime code access security system cannot call shared managed libraries unless the library writer specifically allows them to through the use of the AllowPartiallyTrustedCallersAttribute attribute. If you plan on using libraries from partially trusted code, you need to be aware that some libraries will not be available to your code. In version 1.1, System.Web.dll, System.Web.Mobile.dll, and System.Web.RegularExpressions.dll are included in the list of assemblies that have the AllowPartiallyTrustedCallersAttribute and can be called from partially trusted code. For more information, see Using Libraries from Partially Trusted Code.

Default security policy has been changed so that applications executing from the Internet zone and assigned to the Internet Zone code group now receive permissions associated with the Internet permission set. As a result, applications from the Internet now receive sufficient permission to execute. In the .NET Framework 1.0 Service Pack 1 and Service Pack 2, such applications received the permissions associated with the Nothing permission set and could not execute. For more information, see Default Security Policy.

ASP.NET Security in Hosted Environments

ASP.NET now supports partial trust in Web-based applications, offering greater security for multiple applications that are hosted on a single Web server. Although the operating system account under which an application runs imposes security restrictions on the application, the code access security system of the common language runtime can help enforce additional restrictions on selected application resources based on policy that you specify. You can use this feature in a shared server environment to isolate separate applications and with standalone servers where you want applications to run with the minimum necessary privileges.

ASP.NET provides a <trust> configuration directive that helps you configure code access security levels for your applications. If your partially trusted ASP.NET applications call shared managed libraries, those libraries must contain an AllowPartiallyTrustedCallersAttribute attribute that allows calls from partially trusted code. For more information, see Using Libraries from Partially Trusted Code.

IPv6 Support in the .NET Framework

The .NET Framework version 1.1 supports the emerging update to the Internet Protocol, commonly referred to as IP version 6, or simply IPv6. This protocol is designed to significantly increase the address space used to identify communication endpoints in the Internet to accommodate its ongoing growth. IPv6 is supported in the System.Net namespace, ASP.NET, and XML Web services. For more information, see Internet Protocol Version 6.

See Also

ASP.NET Application Security in Hosted Environments | AllowPartiallyTrustedCallersAttribute | Default Security Policy | Using Libraries from Partially Trusted Code | System.Data.Odbc Namespace | Retrieving Data Using the DataReader | Performing Transactions | Side-by-Side Execution | Inside the ASP.NET Mobile Controls | Secure Coding Guidelines | Configuration Options for XML Web Services Created Using ASP.NET | Internet Protocol Version 6