Figure 5-15. Default page with theme at runtime in VB.NET

Encoder PDF417 in VB.NET Figure 5-15. Default page with theme at runtime

By utilizing themes within your application, you will be successful in maintaining a consistent look and feel. We have one topic remaining that you can add to your arsenal to help you in this ongoing challenge.

Skins are similar to themes in that they aid in the visual layout and consistency of a web application. The main difference is that a skin refers to the server controls that are being used. Skins can be used in conjunction with .css files or images. To demonstrate using a skin within your application, we are going to continue to build on the code and examples used thus far.

Creating a skin is very similar to creating a theme. Just as you created a theme, right-click on the Theme1 folder and choose Add New Item. From the Add New Item window, select a skin file and name it MySkin.skin (Figure 5-18).

After the skin file is added to the web project, it will look similar to the .css file when you added themes. Again, the main difference is that with a skin file you are going to address the server controls in your application. For this example, we focus on the Button control by adding the following to the skin file: <asp:Button Runat="server" ForeColor="#004000" Font--Names="Verdana" Font-Size="Small" BorderStyle="Solid" BorderWidth="1px" BorderColor="#004000" Font--Bold="True" BackColor="#FFE0C0" /> Notice that we define the forecolor, font name, font size, border width, border color, and back color of all the Button Server controls. At this point, your code is still enabled with the Theme1 at the application level from the previous example, so all you need to do is run the web application again. When the web page is displayed, navigate to the only page where you have a Button control, ContactUs.aspx, and let s look at the style difference (Figure 5-19).

Notice the Button control with its new style (Figure 5-20).

Summary

In this chapter, you have learned through demonstration how master pages, themes, and skins will help in your overall development of websites and keep a consistent look and visual structure. As web applications grow in size and complexity, it is more difficult to maintain this consistency. However, using master pages with themes and skins will greatly aid in efficiency and time to completion.

t the core of any software application, whether it is a Windows application or a web application, is the data, which is possibly the most vital element. The data is key because of the need for data-driven web applications with dynamic pages. It is the data itself that gives the pages their dynamic feature, in that what they display is the actual data in some type of format. When you design these types of web applications, it does not make much sense for you to have redundant code to extract or add data to the data store. The .NET Framework 2.0 provides a complete library to help you manipulate the data. This chapter discusses all the fundamental aspects of data access and ADO.NET and will give you a vital understanding of how data should flow in your web application. We cover the following topics: Data access architecture Data controls Data binding

Prior to a discussion of any details regarding ADO.NET and examples of communicating with the data in your applications, let s take a look at the fundamental structure of the entire picture. The data access architecture relies on two primary layers, or tiers. The first layer consists of the included components or mechanisms within the framework of .NET, called the data providers. Data providers are components specific to the data store or data source. They act as a bridge to the data source in that they are optimized for the specific type of data. For instance, a data provider can come in the form of SQL Server, Oracle, or XML. The second layer is the section where you will utilize the controls, or components, to provide the data access functionality, called the data access layer and the web application layer. Within each of the layers of the architecture reside different components that work together, ultimately to provide the entire system with a methodical way to manipulate the data from the presentation or web pages to the data store and then back again in a cycle. To better understand this concept and architecture, refer to Figure 6-1.