Are You Fresher & Looking For Way To Start With Microsoft .NET

This article primarily focuses on students and beginners who want to get started with the .NET Framework and its related technologies.

Students often ask me this question, How can they learn Microsoft .NET technology, and how to get started and improve their skills on the same? This article will guide you with more detailed explanations and useful resources including links for the articles and YouTube videos to start and improve your skills related to .NET

In this article, you will have a learning part as well as an assignment part. In the learning part, you will learn about .NET, and in the assignment part, I will give you a small task to complete on your own.

Microsoft .Net Framework Version History

Microsoft .NET supports multiple languages including VB.NET, C#, and F#. C# is the most popular among them and there are more jobs in C#. In this article, we will focus on C# only. Visual Studio 2015 (or 2017) is the major tool used to build .NET applications.

.NET Framework can be used to build various applications. .NET Framework has come a long way. The following table lists various versions and the features announced in that version.

.Net Framework Version	Visual Studio IDE	Features
.Net Framework 1.0	Visual Studio .Net	· CLR 1.0 (Common Language Runtime)· Console/Windows Forms and Object-Oriented Web Application development
.Net Framework 1.1	Visual Studio 2003	· Mobile ASP.NET controls· Features added for ASP.NET and ADO.NET· Enables Code Access Security in ASP.NET applications· Build-in support for ODBC
.Net Framework 2.0	Visual Studio 2005	· CLR 2.0· Partial Class· Nullable Types· Data tables· Added more features for ASP.NET
.Net Framework 3.0	Expression Blend	· WPF(Windows Presentation Foundation)· WCF (Windows Communication Foundation)
.Net Framework 3.5	Visual Studio 2008	· LINQ (Language Integrated Query)· ASP.NET AJAX· Web Protocol support for building WCF services which include AJAX, JSON, REST· Base Class Library· Entity Framework· ASP.NET MVC 1.0,2.0
.Net Framework 4.0	Visual Studio 2010	· CLR 4.0· ASP.NET MVC 2.0,3.0· Dynamic Language Runtime· PLINQ(Parallel LINQ)
.Net Framework 4.5	Visual Studio 2012	· Windows Store Application development· ASP.NET MVC 4.0· Asp.NET Web API, SignalR· Asynchronous support· Features added to .NET CLR 4.0, WCF, WPF· Support for new HTML5 form types for ASP.NET· Garbage Collector· Managed Extensibility Framework
.Net Framework 4.5.1	Visual Studio 2013	· JIT (Just in Time) Improvements· ADO.NET Connection Resiliency· ASP.NET App Suspensions· Automatic binding redirections for assemblies· ASP.NET MVC 5.0
.Net Framework 4.6	Visual Studio 2015	· New JIT(Just in Time) compiler for 64 bit called as RyuJIT· High DPI for WPF and Windows Forms· Support TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2· ASP.NET 5 (ASP.NET Core)· Support Cloud-based application development· ASP.NET MVC 6
.Net Framework 4.6.1	Visual Studio 2015 Update 1	· Cryptography· Features added to ADO.NET· Improved performance for WPF· ASP.NET Core
.Net Framework 4.7	Visual Studio 2017	· ASP.NET Core 2.0· ASP.NET features added like Object Cache Extensibility and memory monitoring.· Improved reliability of WCF application and WCF serialization· High DPI support for Windows Forms

Reference links

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/whats-new/#v47
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework_version_history

.NET is a Microsoft technology to build Web and Windows applications.

.NET Framework supports three types of software development.

1. Web Application Development
2. Windows Forms Application Development
3. Windows App development

We will see all of these one in detail and how to get started with them.

Microsoft has an IDE tool, Visual Studio, that is used to build most of the .NET applications. You can write .NET applications using other IDEs as well but we will use Visual Studio in this article. The current version of Visual Studio is Visual Studio 2017 but we will use Visual Studio 2015 in this article.

Visual Studio comes in several versions but Visual Studio Community is free.

Download and Install Visual Studio 2015

To download Visual Studio 2015 click on this link, register for free, and download the community version.

Click on this link to download Visual Studio 2015.

If you still need help, here is a YouTube video that explains how to install Visual Studio 2015.

If you want to use Visual Studio 2017, download it here: Download Visual Studio 2017

Note. If you already have a previous version of Visual Studio installed on your machine, you can use that as well.

Note This article has tons of information and I am going to give you steps and links to other articles and resources.

Getting started with C# OOP (Object Oriented Programming)

The first thing we need to learn is C# language and OOP concepts. C# language is a modern, simple, and object-oriented programming language. Object-oriented programming is the combination of classes, objects, and a few other features.

Start with my article which explains C# OOP in detail

Here are some more free ebooks in C# language.

• Programming C# for Beginners
• Programming C# 5.0

Web Application development

After you've learned C# language basics, we will start with web development using ASP.NET. You can build web applications using ASP.NET Web Forms and ASP.NET MVC. These days, ASP.NET MVC is more popular but it's not a bad idea for you to know ASP.NET Webforms as well.

Index 1 ASP.NET Web Forms development

Step 1. Creating the ASP.NET Web Form Application

Here is an article written by Nimit Joshi that is written for beginners: A Getting Started With ASP.NET Web Application.

Go through the above links and try to create your first web form application and run it to test if it's working.

Step 2. Know about the ASP.NET page life cycle

So, now you've just finished your first ASP.NET web application. Now, it's time to learn how ASP.NET works and understand a page life cycle. Read the article ASP.NET Page Life Cycle in detail by Anupam Jain.

Step 3. Know about ASP.NET server controls

Now, let's go a little more advanced and learn how to work with Server-side controls and use them in ASP.NET web applications. A website needs controls for actions and data input. For example, a TextBox is used to accept user input. A Radio button is used to provide a selection, a Button is used to click for some action, and a Grid is used to display data in a tabular form. All these controls run on the server and are called Server-side or Server controls or ASP.NET Server controls.

Visual Studio IDE allows you to use the Toolbox and simply drag and drop these controls from the Toolbox to your Web pages. To learn more about Server controls, read this MSDN article: ASP.NET web form server controls for example.

Step 4. Know about ASP.NET session

Now, it’s time to learn ASP.NET sessions. A browser session in a website is used to store the user information from the login until logout. The information is stored in the browser memory. For example, an online booking website keeps a list of all items we have selected, adds them to a shopping cart, and once we buy or log out, the items disappear.

Here is a C# Corner article that explains ASP.NET sessions in more detail: How To Create and Use Sessions in ASP.NET.

Step 5. Getting started with SQL server

Most of the Web applications are data-driven and you need a database to store the data. Microsft SQL Server is one of the most popular and used databases when building ASP.NET Web applications.

You will need to download and install SQL Server here: Download SQL Server. Please make sure to read space and memory requirements. You can also use the SQL Server Expression version, which is light and free to use.

Check this YouTube video below, which explains in detail How To Install SQL Server 2012 Express Version.

After installing, check this link to get started with SQL Server

Check my article for more details on working with SQL Server. You can download my free eBook from the Csharp Corner link

Step 6. Creating and working with Database and user Login

Now it’s time to create your complete web application with user Login and CRUD (Create/Read/Update and Delete data from SQL Server Database) operations. Check out my article, which explains in detail how to create a simple website with User login and CRUD operation.

This article also explains authentication and authorization in ASP.NET.

Step 7. Assignment

I hope, now you have enough understanding of how to build your simple website using ASP.NET. Here is an assignment for you.

Project Name: Online Bus Ticket Booking

This project has two user roles - First is Admin, and the second is customers. The project allows customers to book their travel tickets online.

Admin part

Administrator users of the website can add city information, bus information, bus routes (From City to To City), Bus details(bus information/Bus ticket price per city to city details), No of Seats per bus, Available seats per bus on booking date, Bus Available and Booked status.

Customer

Customers can search available buses for booking tickets by Bus Name/ Traveling City From and To / Date of traveling with one way or return and by price.

• There needs to be a search feature that will list all available buses and bus details.
• For search and details, customers don't need to be logged in. Any user can search and check for available bus and their routes.
• But for booking, the Customer needs to be logged in, The Customer can register to the web application for booking tickets.
• After a customer is logged in, he or she can book a Bus Ticket by entering the number of seats they need, the date of travel, and From City and To City.
• No need for payment details for now.
• Customers can register and book tickets. Admin can view all booked information.

Steps. If you complete this part then your website is completed. Once completed, please share with me the status of your project completion in the comment box below in this article. I will follow up with you.

Index 2. ASP.NET MVC Application development

Now, let’s focus on developing ASP.NET MVC web applications. In ASP.NET MVC, MVC stands for Model View and Controller.

As a fresher or Computer Science student, if you never worked on developing your website applications using .NET, then this is the right time for you to get started and work on developing your web application.

Check this C# Corner article for Getting Started with ASP.NET MVC by Nitin Pandit

Step 1. Creating your first ASP.NET MVC Application

Check this link for creating your first ASP.NET MVC web application

Step 2. Know about entity framework and MVC

Here is my presentation image which describes Entity Framework with its features.

Now, it’s time to work with ASP.NET MVC and Entity Framework.

In the previous ASP.Net web forms sample, you might have used ADO.NET but now I want you to use Entity Framework. Here is an article with sample code that explains ASP.NET MVC with Entity Framework by Vincent Maverick Durano.

Step 4. Know about ASP.NET MVC and Web API

Here is my presentation image which describes Web API with its features.

Now, it’s time to work on Web API. Read this article to learn ASP.NET MVC with Web API by SAINESHWAR BAGERI.

Step 5. Getting started with SQL server

Your Web application will not be completed without a database. The database is used to store and retrieve data.

In this article, I recommend using the SQL Server database to store and retrieve data.

If you do not have SQL Server on your machine, I recommend you download SQL Server. It is free to download. You can download the SQL Server free edition from this link.

Check this below YouTube video which explains in detail how to install SQL Server 2012 Express version

After installation, this link to Getting Started with SQL Server.

Check my article for more details on working with SQL Server. You can download my free eBook from the Csharp Corner link.

Step 6. Working with ASP.NET MVC CRUD

For all Web or Windows Form applications, once you get to know how to create your application, then your important task will be to work on the CRUD operations

CRUD Stands for

• C (Create): Insert new record to Database Tables.
• R (Read): Select records from Database Tables.
• U (Update): Update record to Database Tables.
• D (Delete): Delete records from Database Tables.

Check this article for more details on working with ASP.NET MVC CRUD operations from the Csharp Corner link by Vithal Wadje.

Index 3. ASP.NET MVC and AngularJS Application development

Step 1. Working with AngularJs

We might be familiar with the Model, View, View Model (MVVM) and what Model, View, and Controller (MVC) are. AngularJs is a JavaScript framework that is purely based on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The AngularJs Model View Whatever (MVW) pattern is similar to the MVC and MVVM patterns. In our example, I have used Model, View, and Service. In the code part let's see how to install and create AngularJs in our MVC application. If you are interested in reading more about AngularJs then kindly go through the following link.

Note. Now, Angular2 and Angular 4 are available. Angular is not required but if you have time, give it a try and get familiar with Angular.

Follow this link: Getting Started with AngularJS.

Step 2. Working with ASP.NET MVC and AngularJS

Now it’s time to work with ASP.NET MVC and AngularJS. If you work with ASP.NET MVC and AngularJS applications, your application will be super powerful with performance, and you can also create SPA (Single Page Applications) using AngularJS in MVC.

I recommend you first start with my article, which explains AngularJS Filtering, Sorting, and Animations

Step 3. Working with ASP.NET MVC CRUD

For all the Web or Windows Form applications, once you get to know how to create your application, then your important task will be to work on the CRUD operations

CRUD Stands for

• C (Create): Insert new record to Database Tables.
• R (Read): Select records from Database Tables.
• U (Update): Update record to Database Tables.
• D (Delete): Delete records from Database Tables.

Check my article for more details on working with ASP.NET MVC CRUD operations using AngularJS and Web API from the Csharp Corner link.

Here you can find a few more articles of mine that explain working with ASP.NET MVC and AngularJS.

Step 7. Create your own ASP.NET MVC and AngularJS shopping cart application

Note. You can create the below Shopping Cart application using ASP.NET MVC or with the combination of ASP.NET MVC and AngularJS.

Hope so now you are familiar with working on the ASP.NET MVC web application and now it’s time for your homework and you need to do it on your own. So here are your project details.

PROJECT: Online Shopping Cart Web Application using ASP.NET MVC (AngularJS is optional)

This project has 2 types of users: one is Admin, and another is a Customer.

Admin part

Admin users can add categories and subcategories. A subcategory belongs to a category. Items belong to a subcategory and category. Admin users can add items to a subcategory. For example, in the Electronics category, Household Items is a subcategory that can have items like a camera, smartphone, TV, and computer.

Items details include

• Name
• Description
• Price
• Sub Category
• Category
• Quantity

Admin users can add, update, and delete categories, subcategories, and item details.

Customer

Customers of the website can search the shopping cart for items and buy them. The search results will display matching items based on name and category. The Item details will include name, price, and availability.

A customer doesn't have to be logged in to search for items.

A customer can add several items to his/her shopping cart and at this time, a customer has to provide login information including Email, Password, and Name.

Customers can also see the history of their items purchased.

No need for the payment details for now.

Note. You will need to create a database and its tables, columns, and relationships. Once your application is completed, please share it with me. Also, feel free to post comments on this article if you have any questions about the assignments.

Sample Help: You can use my article, Shopping Cart Using ASP.NET MVC for reference. Please don't download the source code. Try to learn and write your code.

Index 4 ASP.NET Core

Are you looking to learn ASP.NET Core and AngularJS? Here you can find my list of articles which will explain to you all in detail on working with ASP.NET Core.

ASP.NET Core is a new open-source and cross-platform framework for building modern cloud-based Internet-connected applications, such as web apps, IoT apps, and mobile backends.

• NET Core 1.0 MVC 6 Using WEB API And AngularJS
• Getting Started With ASP.NET Core 1.0 RC2 And Angular2
• NET Core1.0: Insert/Select To Database Using Angular2 And WEB API
• Getting Started With ASP.NET Core Template Pack
• NET Core Angular 2 EF 1.0.1 Web API Using Template Pack
• NET Core And Angular 2 Master Detail HTML Grid Using Web API And EF 1.0.1

Windows Forms Application development

If you are looking for a Windows Forms application, you can also do that using. NET. I have already mentioned that it’s good to start with C# coding. If you want to learn C# OOPs concept, then read my article which explains in detail about getting started with C# OOP in Details.

Note,.In this article, I have used the Microsoft .NET Console application development

Step 1. Creating your first Windows Form

Follow this link to create your first C# Windows Forms application.

Step 2. Working with Windows for controls

Follow this link to create and work with Windows Forms Controls.

Step 3. Working with CRUD Operations and DataGridView in C# Winforms Application

You can read my article, which explains in detail how to work with CRUD Operations in Windows Forms.

This article will explain

• In this sample demo, we will learn how to perform CRUD operations for Student Profile Management using DatGridView WinForms.
• How to upload and insert/edit images for Students to SQL Server Database.
• How to display images from SQL Server to the DataGridView Image Column.
• Edit and delete the Image column in DataGridView.
• Create DataGridView dynamically using my DataGridview Helper Class (Refer to my previous article for DataGridView helper Class Create a DatagGridView helper class using C# ).
• We will be using DAL Class and BizClass for performing CRUD operations.
• How to display a round shape image to the DataGridview Student Profile Image Column.

Windows App development

For Windows App development, we will be using the Universal Windows Platform (UWP). UWP application is the combination of C# and XAML Code. Note in this article we are only working with C# code.

Check these links to get started with UWP

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/get-started/your-first-app
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/get-started/create-a-hello-world-app-xaml-universal

Here we have one more detailed article by Mahesh Chand the founder of C# Corner. I recommend you to read his article for Getting Started with UWP application development.

Hope now you are ready to develop your own UWP Application. Are you looking for some simple game development using UWP? Then read my article which explains developing Windows 10 Universal App For Name Puzzle Game

• https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/asmabegam/vs2015-rc-windows-universal-app-for-name-puzzle-game/
• https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/asmabegam/vs2015-rc-windows-universal-app-with-windows-10-technical-pr/

Other Microsoft Technologies

If you want to know more about other important Microsoft technologies, here is a list of some in-demand technologies.

• Microsoft Azure
• SharePoint
• Dynamic CRM
• Power BI
• BOT Framework
• Data Platform
• Cloud
• Office Development
• Windows PowerShell
• Power BI

I hope you like this article. If this article helps you, kindly leave me your comment, and also let me know when you are working on any related projects.