ASP.NET 4.5 and Visual Studio 2012

Getting Started with ASP.NET 4.5 Web Forms (5 Tutorials) (ASP.NET website)

This tutorial series will teach you the basics of building an ASP.NET Web Forms application using ASP.NET 4.5 and Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web.

Model Binding and Web Forms (ASP.NET website)

This tutorial series shows how to build an ASP.NET 4.5 Web Forms application that uses model binding.

Using Page Inspector in ASP.NET Web Forms (ASP.NET website)

This topic introduces Page Inspector (visual mapping between the browser, source view, and CSS) within the context of a Web Forms project.

Intro to ASP.NET MVC 4 with Visual Studio 2012

This tutorial will teach you the basics of building an ASP.NET MVC Web application using Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web.

ASP.NET MVC 4 Mobile Features

This tutorial will teach you the basics of how to work with mobile features in an ASP.NET MVC 4.

Using Page Inspector in ASP.NET MVC (video)

This video shows the benefits of using Page Inspector in ASP.NET MVC web applications.

Features No One Noticed in Visual Studio Express for Web (Scott Hanselman's blog)

This blog entry covers the Browser chooser in the toolbar, image file thumbnails in Solution Explorer, CSS color picker, Page Inspector, and more.

My Top 5 Visual Studio Designer Improvements for ASP.NET 4.5 Development (Telerik) (Telerik blog)

This blog entry reviews JavaScript IntelliSense, jQuery IntelliSense and documentation, Page Inspector, CSS vendor-specific IntelliSense, CSS color selection.

The Top Features in Web Pages 2

This article documents common tasks that you can perform using new features in ASP.NET Web Pages.

Updated validation in Web Pages v2

This blog entry is the first in a series of three that explores the new Validation helper in ASP.NET Web Pages 2.

Asynchronously reading and writing HTTP requests and responses

ASP.NET 4.5 can read, write, and flush a stream asynchronously. This asynchronicity lets you send data to a client incrementally without tying up operating system threads.

Asynchronously Reading and Writing HTTP Requests and Responses (What's New whitepaper)

Support for WebSockets protocol

Methods in the new System.Web.WebSockets namespace provide support for WebSockets protocol, which lets you read and write both string and binary data.

Support for WebSockets Protocol (What's New whitepaper)

Support for asynchronous modules and handlers

The new async and await keywords make it easier to write asynchronous HTTP modules and asynchronous HTTP handlers. Updates to asynchronous development include:

ClientDisconnectedToken: A CancellationToken that asynchronously notifies the application when a client has disconnected from the underlying web server.

TimedOutToken: A CancellationToken that asynchronously notifies the application when a request has run longer than the configured request timeout value.

ThreadAbortOnTimeout: If you want your application to control the behavior of timed out requests, set this property to false. When the property is set to true (the default), ASP.NET aborts the thread that is servicing the request when the request times out.

Abort: Use this method in your application to forcibly terminate the underlying TCP connection of a request. Any outstanding I/O will fail.

Support for await and Task-Based Asynchronous Modules and Handlers (What's New whitepaper)

Using Asynchronous Methods in ASP.NET 4.5 (tutorial)

Using Asynchronous Methods in ASP.NET MVC 4 (tutorial)

async (C# Reference) (MSDN Library)

await (C# Reference) (MSDN Library)

Support for OAuth and OpenID

OAuth and OpenID let you create sites that permit users to sign in with credentials from other sites, including Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, and Windows Live.

Model binders

Web Forms now supports model binding, which lets you bind data controls directly to data-access methods. ASP.NET automatically converts data from form fields, query strings, cookies, session state, and view state into method parameters. You can use these parameters to select data from or make updates to the database. (This technique is similar to model binding in ASP.NET MVC.)

Model Binding and Web Forms (tutorial series)

Model Binding (What's New whitepaper)

Model Binding Part 1 - Selecting Data (video)

Model Binding Part 2 - Filtering (video)

Unobtrusive JavaScript for client-side validation

Unobtrusive validation moves the code for client-side validation into a single external JavaScript file, which makes pages smaller and faster to load. It also provides better caching of script files.

Unobtrusive Validation (What's New whitepaper)

Fallback support for content distribution networks (CDNs) in the ScriptManager control

When you set the EnableCdn property of the ScriptManager control, the control tests whether the script was loaded successfully from the CDN. If not, the control falls back to loading the script from an alternate (local) location.

ASP.NET 4.0 ScriptManager Improvements (blog entry)

Announcing the Microsoft AJAX CDN (blog entry)

Improved paging in the GridView control

The new AllowCustomPaging and VirtualItemCount properties of the GridView control let you customize paging functionality. These new properties remove the need for the control to retrieve all rows from the data source each time a new page is displayed.

AllowCustomPaging (MSDN Library)

VirtualItemCount (MSDN Library)

New and enhanced site templates

A new Personal Site template provides pages for a blog, a photo gallery, and Twitter content. The Starter Site template has been updated to let users log in to your site by using Facebook, Twitter, and Windows Live. The Web Pages 1 site templates have also been upgraded to run on Web Pages 2.

The Top Features in Web Pages 2 (ASP.NET website)

Validation

New options for validating user input are available, including client-side validation (which helps improve the performance of your site). New validation classes (ValidationHelper and Validator) help you specify validation rules by using just a few lines of code.

The Top Features in Web Pages 2 (ASP.NET website)

Membership and authentication

Web Pages supports new OAuth and OpenID authentication providers, which let users log in using external sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Windows Live. The new Starter Site template includes examples of how to use the new providers.

The Top Features in Web Pages 2 (ASP.NET website)

Mobile display modes

A new Display Modes feature lets you create device-specific pages. The pages are rendered automatically based on the device that makes the request, such as a mobile device.

The Top Features in Web Pages 2 (ASP.NET website)

Selection mapping

When you select markup in the source, the corresponding output is automatically highlighted in Page Inspector, and vice versa.

Sandbox testing of CSS/DOM changes

Page Inspector lets you modify CSS properties and DOM element attributes and see the changes reflected immediately in the browser. These changes are not persisted and the original source files are unaffected.

Update bar

When you change the page source, an update bar appears at the top of the viewer. The Update Bar prompts you to click the bar (or press CTRL+ALT+ENTER) to save the changes and refresh the rendered view.

Page Inspector in the default browser list

Page Inspector appears as an option in the drop-down list of browsers next to the Start Debugging icon in Visual Studio.

Improved IntelliSense

As you type, IntelliSense reduces the options that are displayed to only the ones that contain the string that you typed. Matches can occur at the beginning, middle, or end. IntelliSense and validation have been updated to conform to the latest HTML5 and W3C standards.

Auto-reduce statement completion (What's New whitepaper)

Tag completion when renaming tags

If you change a tag name (for example, <p> to <list>), the editor changes the corresponding beginning or end tag (for example, </p> automatically becomes </list>.

Automatic renaming of matching tag when you rename an opening or closing tag (What's New whitepaper)

Smart indentation for empty elements

IF the insertion pointer is between an empty pair of tags (for example, <p></p>), when you press ENTER, the editor creates a new line. It puts the insertion point in an indented position on the new line, as in the following example:

<p>    |</p>

Smart Indent (What's New whitepaper)

Event handler generation in source view

When you edit an event name in source view, you can use IntelliSense to create an event handler in the code that has the correct signature.

Event handler generation (What's New whitepaper)

Collapse/expand (outlining)

The expand and collapse feature (outlining) from the HTML page editor in Visual Studio has been added to CSS sections and commented section headings in .css files.

Custom regions (What's New whitepaper)

Hierarchical indentation

Parent and child relationships are now indented in the editing pane so that the CSS hierarchy is clearer.

Hierarchical indentation (What's New whitepaper)

CSS Editor Hierarchical Indentation (video)

Comment/Uncomment

The keyboard shortcuts for commenting and uncommenting in the HTML editor (CTRL+K, CTRL+C, and CTRL+K, CTRL+U) are now available in the CSS editor. (When a partially selected commented block is uncommented, the whole block is uncommented.)

Commenting and uncommenting support (What's New whitepaper)

Snippets for vendor-specific extensions to CSS

Snippets facilitate the entry of vendor-specific extensions like -ms-, -moz-, and -webkit-.

Snippets (What's New whitepaper)

CSS Snippets (video)

Conformance with W3C standards

The Visual Studio 2012 CSS schema follows W3C standards. For a complete list of the CSS modules supported in Visual Studio 2012, see the resource link.

Supported CSS module list

Vendor-specific prefixes in IntelliSense with tooltip help for each

Typing a hyphen in the CSS editor displays a list of all Mozilla, Internet Explorer, Opera, and WebKit vendor-specific prefixes. If you select a prefix in the list with the mouse pointer, a tooltip displays help text for the selected entry.

Visual Studio 2012 RC is released - The Big Web Rollup (Scott Hanselman blog)

SQL Server Express LocalDB as the default database

SQL Server Express LocalDB replaces SQL Server Express as the default database engine for development. SQL Server Express LocalDB is a lightweight version of SQL Server that has many of the programmability features of a SQL Server database.

Local Data Overview (MSDN Library)

Table Designer

A new Table Designer allows you to define a table by using a graphical designer, a script, or both. The script updates automatically as you change the table design in the graphical designer.

How to: Create Database Objects Using Table Designer (MSDN Library)

Dynamic Data enhancements

Dynamic Data now supports Entity Framework enumerations and spatial data types.

Import publish settings files from hosting providers

You can download a file from your hosting provider that contains the settings you need to publish your project, and you can import that file into Visual Studio so that you don't have to enter the values manually.

How to: Deploy a Web Project Using One-Click Publish in Visual Studio

Store encrypted credentials in publish profiles

Information tied to a publish profile is now stored in a separate .pubxml file for each profile, and by default passwords are stored in a .pubxml.user file that is not included in source control.

Publish Profiles section in What's New in ASP.NET 4.5 and Visual Studio 2012

Preview file and database changes before they are actually made on the destination server

The new preview feature enables you to see which files will be copied or deleted and what database changes will be applied to the database, and you can cancel before the changes are applied. In the case of file operations, you can selectively cancel updates or deletions of specific files.

How to: Deploy a Web Project Using One-Click Publish in Visual Studio

Additional publishing enhancements

- A cleaner and simpler publish user interface.

- The ability to run Entity Framework Code First migrations from the publish dialog.

- The ability to update connection strings in the Web.config file at publish time (including complex EF connection strings).

- Prompting for untrusted certificates during publish.

- Automatic conversion of Visual Studio 2010 publish profiles to Visual Studio 2012 format.

- The ability to publish from the command line using a publish profile. Example syntax follows.

   msbuild mywap.csproj /p:DeployOnBuild=true;PublishProfile=MyProfileName

Web Deployment Overview for Visual Studio and ASP.NET

How to: Deploy a Web Project Using One-Click Publish in Visual Studio